Afterthoughts On Salman Rushdie Episode
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
15 August 2022
Perceptive Readers Might Be Aware That
The Pork-Eating, Non-Ritualistic Rushdie Didn't Relinquish Islam And God Until
He Wrote The Satanic Verses
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" Isn't it strange that for our
religious symbols, totems and books, we kill those who never hurt us
personally." These words of the French historian and orientalist Maxime
Rodinson struck me like a blitzkrieg the moment I heard Rushdie was stabbed by
a 24-yr-old young man who wasn't even born when The Satanic Verses hit the
stands in 1988. This young zealot never met Rushdie and there was nothing
personal, let alone enmity, between the two individuals. Yet, Hadi Matar
thought of stabbing the great writer for disparaging his and scores of Muslims'
fragile beliefs.
Novelist Salman Rushdie
----
Once again the question, 'How can religious
beliefs be so overwhelming as to instigate a fanatic to kill or hurt someone
who never hurt him' is on the minds of all sane people in the world.
This also engenders a corollary as to why
more and more people are leaving religions and gods and calling themselves
atheists. Mind you, it's not their schoolboy atheism or fashionable non-belief.
It's a thoughtful and conscious decision, NOT taken in a state of anger or
hurry. Seeing the zealotry and absolute insanity of the followers of all faiths
and the extreme improbability of a Supreme Being, people, who can use their
brains and think independently, are leaving faiths and gods to live peacefully.
Perceptive readers might be aware that the
pork-eating, non-ritualistic Rushdie didn't relinquish Islam and god until he
wrote The Satanic Verses, which's actually a boring book and never intended to
ridicule Islam. He was just an indifferent ' Muslim.' But when this book
assumed perceived blasphemous dimensions and Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa
to kill him, he left Islam because he got disillusioned with the whole
religious charade. Otherwise, if you remember, he even apologized and went on
to call himself a ' born-again Muslim, ' though he later wrote that his
conversion to Islam was his biggest mistake.
The madness of Muslims all over the world
alienated Rushdie from Islam, Allah and all man-made faiths and their
fabricated gods. His 'educated' Muslim friends turned enemies just because they
thought that Salman insulted Muhammad and Quran.
Religious people hurt others more than
irreligious people do. I was born a south-paw. I'm now an ambidexter. Once in
Kuala-Lumpur (Malaysia) while eating with my left hand at a Muslim professor's
place, I was nudged by the professor to use my right hand while eating as
Muslims, esp. in Malaysia, consider it unIslamic if someone uses his/her left
hand while eating. Otherwise also, Islam looks down upon those who use their
left hand as they believe Iblees (Satan) is a south-paw. I'm still friends with
that Malaysian Muslim, now in London, but I didn't forget that insult. A
meaningless religious belief embittered our relationship.
The same thing happened in India, when an
'educated' Hindu lady offered Prasad to me, I naturally extended my left
hand. She didn't give me Prasad and still doesn't speak to me. Not to
hurt foolishly religiously people of all faiths, I began to use my right hand
though Muslim zealots cut the tip of my middle finger. Alas, they were never my
enemies.
It's your religious belief that makes you
perceive the other person as your enemy. To all religious people, their
so-called enemies and adversaries are actually perceived and presupposed foes.
On this forum, one gentleman is pretty
miffed with me. I'm a pariah to him because I criticize his faith, though
personally we've never met. It's because of his inveterate religious beliefs
that make him denigrate me. I don't mind, because I know that he's governed by
Islam, Quran, Muhammad, Hadees and Sunnah. He's not to be blamed. His faith
must be blamed. He's blinded by Islam and the obscure verses of Quan.
This reminds me of Salman Rushdie's famous
quote, " Something was badly amiss with the spiritual life of the
planet......Too many demons inside people claiming to believe in god."
Think over it and introspect. It's time for all the believers to reassess the
patterns, peculiarities and potholes of their beliefs.
-----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam,
Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to
Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/rushdie-hadi-matar-zealot/d/127714
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