Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 4
4 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi This was perhaps how the Jews and Christians who seem to have forgotten the struggles of their very own prophets, unwit- tingly, came to be united in thought and action against their com- mon enemy, Islam. The scenario is succinctly presented in the words of the Promised Messiah(as), Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam : ‘Christians are out to destroy Islam and ready to use lies and fabrications in ways most subtle, and on all occasions and with the help of ever new techniques all directed to beguile and lead people astray. Christians are defaming and lampooning the Holy Prophet(sa), the perfect man who proved himself the pride of holy men of all times and chief among saints and apostles of the world. They hesitate not to caricature him in theatrical shows. They try and project a most hateful image they can invent of him. The worst that vicious and unchaste minds can think of is levelled against Islam and the Holy Prophet(sa) of Islam to lower them in the eyes of the world. . . . . . . . . . The campaign is backed by the most complex fabrica- tions and the most carefully planned devices that Christians can design. It is pursued mercilessly, with no thought of expenditure involved. It does not exclude some most shameful devices which decency forbids us to detail. It is a campaign let loose on a large scale and pushed by the worst possible wizardry by Christian peoples. ’ (Victory of Islam, pp. 3,4) Contemporary Western Orientalists have also admitted to the ul- terior motives of their counterparts throughout the centuries. Maxime Rodinson, a French orientalist, in his book simply entitled Mohammed, admits to the motives of the Western writers though he very cunningly excludes himself from this category. He openly denounces the Koran as the book of Allah, though he says that he respects the faith of the Muslims and adds: But I do not share it and I do not wish to fall back as many orientalists have done, on equivocal phrases to disguise my real meaning. (Rodinson, Mohammed p. 218). Hans Kung, another outspoken German theologian, also sub- mits to the Christians’ real motives of the study of the Qur’an , even