Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 44
44 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi Similarly he writes : ‘Muhammad allowed his henchmen a free rein. ’ (p. 184). How low indeed Rodinson has stooped to give spurious and feigned accounts of facts and incidents in the life of the Holy Prophet(sa) of Islam. Maxime Rodinson is no different from other orientalists of the same coalescence when he jumps on the bandwagon and accuses the Holy Prophet(sa) of being licentious. He is alleged to have had desires for young and beautiful women : ‘Even so, knowing what we do of his amorous provilities later on in life, we can scarcely imagine that there were not plenty of times when he. . . committed adultery in his heart. ’ (p. 55). The West has, with very few honourable exceptions, through 14 centuries ignored all that was patently good and beneficent in the life of the Holy Prophet(sa) and in Islam and, when confronted by his example and his doctrine, has taken shelter behind flimsy and untenable excuses. One of the favourite subjects of the Western orientalists has been to persistently level calumnies at the Holy Prophet sa that in his later life he became licentious. That is an enormity that has only to be contemplated to be immediately rejected as utterly incompatible with his life and character. The affirmation that polygamy negates high spirituality carries no weight. It should be remembered that in none of the great religious systems has polygamy been forbidden in the scriptures of a religion. All the Jewish prophets, including Moses(as), had a plurality of wives. No one has ever alleged that be- cause of this they could not be accounted as leading virtuous lives. This subject has become one of ridicule and titillation on the part of the mischief-makers, namely the Western orientalists, who have channelled this view and portrayal to the world. The Western scholars who have expressed honourable views through logical and rational thinking are not fully exposed to the masses and their writ- ings go relatively unnoticed. For example, Professor Laura Veccia