A Ridiculous Reaction

Ayatollah Khomeini and the supporting Ulama are also guilty of insulting Islam. Their actions misrepresented Islam to the world, portraying it as a violent and uncivilized religion. Rushdie wrote his book in the name of secularism, but Muslim scholars reacted in the name of Islam, resulting in a global defamation of the religion. Those who have read Salman Rushdie’s book can attest to its superfluous writing style, lacking any literary charm for the reader. Several reviewers have criticized the book, claiming that it is a below-average academic work and that Rushdie is not a proficient English writer. Auberon Waugh, a renowned British literary critic, even went as far as to state that “Mr. Salman Rushdie deserves to be punished for bad English.” Serious commentators in the West have used terms like ‘dense,’ ‘impenetrable,’ and ‘unreadable’ to describe it. Khushwant Singh, in his review, remarked, “Even as a novel, ‘The Satanic Verses’ is not readable.” However, given the substandard nature of the book, it would have been better to ignore it, allowing it to fade away naturally. Dr. Abdul Karim Mohd. Al-Hasan Bakkar has expressed in his writing that the best criticism of Salman Rushdie’s book would have been to ignore it simply. Salih al-Qasim, a well-known writer from Jordan, also made a valid point that many books in the past have been ignored by religious scholars, allowing Islam to remain strong and revered, while books that blasphemed against Islam faded into obscurity.