Rushdie - Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts - Ahmadiyya Muslim

210 Pages·2006·1.32 MB·English

by  Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi

Rushdie⎯Haunted by his unholy ghosts
By: Arshad Ahmedi

First published in 1997
By: Avon Books, London
(ISBN: 1 86033 481 4)

Second Revised Edition Published in 2006
By: AulhorHouse™ and AuthorHouse™ UK Ltd.
[ISBN: 1-4259-5093-0 (sc)]
Printed in the United States of America Bloomington, Indiana

Third Edition Published in 2007
By: Islam International Publications Limited
“Islamabad”
Sheephatch Lane
Tilford, Suurey GU10 2AQ
United Kingdom

Printed at:

© 1997, 2006, 2007 Mohamed Arshad Ahmedi.

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any
means without the written permission of the author.

ISBN: 1 85372 925 6
The moving fi nger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a word of it.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
(Translated by Edward Fitzgerald)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................XIII
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................XV
FOREWORD .............................................................................XIX
PART I
CHAPTER ONE: EARLY ATTACKS ON ISLAM
AND THE HOLY PROPHET (SA) ...........................................3
COMPARISON OF ATTACKS ..................................................5
THE SHADOWS BEHIND RUSHDIE .....................................7
CHAPTER TWO: THE CRUSADES ..............................................9
CRUSADES, COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM ............13
ISLAMIC COMPARISON .......................................................14
CHAPTER THREE: HATRED FOR ISLAM ...............................18
CHAPTER FOUR: LITERARY ATTACKS ON ISLAM .............22
COLONIALISM AND CHRISTIANITY .................................23
SUPERIOR WESTERN CULTURE? ......................................25
MUSLIM LIBERAL THOUGHT ............................................27
CHAPTER FIVE: THE APPEARANCE OF
THE REFORMER OF THE AGE ...........................................31
DISAPPOINTMENT AND FEAR OF THE WEST .................32
POINT OF CONTENTION ......................................................34
COMPARISON .........................................................................35
CHAPTER SIX: PLANS TO RECONSTRUCT
MUSLIM THOUGHT .............................................................37
THE NEW LIBERAL ‘SCHOLAR’ .........................................38
ISLAM’S SELF-SUFFICIENCY .............................................39
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE WESTERN ORIENTALISTS .............42
MAXIME RODINSON ...........................................................42
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE PROPHET .........................43
ATTACKS ON THE HOLY QUR’AN ....................................46
DR. NORMAN DANIEL ........................................................48
IMAGE OF ISLAM (1100-1350) .............................................49
DEATH OF THE PROPHET ....................................................51
SELF-INDULGENCE ..............................................................51
COERCIVE EFFIGY ................................................................53
SIMILARITY OF THE ORIENTALISTS ................................54
PROFESSOR WILLIAM MONTGOMERY WATT ................55
CHAPTER EIGHT: NEW BREED OF ‘SCHOLARS’ .................59
DR. MICHAEL NAZIR-ALI ....................................................59
SIMILAR ATTACKS ................................................................60
CONTEMPORARY ATTACKS ...............................................61
CHAPTER NINE: NEW WORLD ORDER .................................62
MUHAMMAD’S CHARACTER MALIGNED ......................63
SATANIC INFLUENCES ........................................................64
BACKGROUND TO WESTERNISED ‘ELITE’ .....................65
PART II
CHAPTER TEN: SALMAN RUSHDIE -
A BRIEF LIFE-SKETCH ........................................................69
CHAPTER ELEVEN: SALMAN RUSHDIE -
THE MAKING OF AN OGRE ................................................71
GRIMUS ...................................................................................72
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN ....................................................75
SHAME ....................................................................................83
THE SATANIC VERSES ........................................................89
CHAPTER TWELVE: THE FICTION OF
THE SATANIC VERSES ........................................................93
MAXIME RODINSON ............................................................95
DR. NAZIR ALI .......................................................................96
MONTGOMERY WATT ..........................................................96
KAREN ARMSTRONG ...........................................................98
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: RUSHDIE’S TREATMENT
OF THE SATANIC VERSES ................................................100
SALMAN FARSI ...................................................................102
FURTHER ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE PROPHET ....105
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BLASPHEMY, APOSTASY
AND HERESY ......................................................................109
THE ‘BURNING’ ISSUE SURROUNDING
THE SATANIC VERSES .................................................109
BLASPHEMY AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH .....................111
THE TEACHING IN THE BIBLE .........................................112
COMPARISON WITH RUSHDIE .........................................112
BLASPHEMY IN THE 20TH CENTURY .............................115
ISLAMIC TEACHING ON BLASPHEMY ...........................119
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE MEDIA GOES
TO TOWN OVER THE FATWA ...........................................123
RELIGION CONFUSED WITH CULTURE? .......................124
FAIR COMMENT BY THE MEDIA .....................................128
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: RUSHDIE TURNED
INTO AN ICON ...................................................................130
RUSHDIE FOREWARNED ...................................................132
A MOST POIGNANT OBSERVATION ................................132
AUTHOR OF HIS OWN DESTINY ......................................134
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: RUSHDIE’S DEFENCE
OF THE SATANIC VERSES ................................................136
RUSHDIE ISSUES STATEMENT .........................................138
RUSHDIE’S SUPERFICIAL REVERSAL ............................139
HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES ..............................144
EAST, WEST ..........................................................................147
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: RUSHDIE BEGINS TO
COME OUT IN THE OPEN .................................................148
NOBEL PRIZE FOR RUSHDIE ? .........................................151
WHO KILLED THE WRITER? .............................................152
CONCLUSION ............................................................................155
THE FUTURE .............................................................................158
TOLERANCE IS A TWO-WAY STREET .............................159
CONCLUSION – REVISED .......................................................166
RUSHDIE’S RAISON D’ÊTRE ............................................166
REAL REASON FOR WRITING THE SATANIC VERSES .....170
NEW BREED OF RUSHDIE’S ..................................................172
EPILOGUE ..................................................................................177
APPENDIX A -
RUSHDIE’S STATEMENTS ................................................179
APPENDIX B -
GLOSSARY ...........................................................................181
REFERENCES ............................................................................187