Islam and Rushdie

Attitudes regarding the Islamic faith and Muslims are in a process of change in America. More and more, people are showing an interest in learning the basic teachings of Islam.

The Times (Dec. 13) presented two disparate answers to the question “what is Islam?” One a positive portrayal of a Muslim who is living his faith, the other a confused and bitter attack against the Islamic world view.

First, there was the article (“Sermons on the Island: Muslim Chaplain Gives Guidance to All Faiths at Prison”) outlining the life of imam Abu Ishaq Abdul-Hafiz, a man who is devoting his life to helping the Muslim and non-Muslim inmates incarcerated in the federal prison system. The article succeeds in presenting Islamic practice for what it is--faith, compassion and a devotion to truth.

At the opposite end of the spectrum we (as Muslims) suffer through Salman Rushdie’s self-righteous denunciation of what he refers to as “Actually Existing Islam” (“Free Speech Is the Whole Ballgame,” Commentary).

From Rushdie’s vantage point, “true” Islam resides in a secular land where truth is relative, an Islam that is divorced from Allah and the Koran. Rushdie is anti-literalist because he doesn’t actually believe in the words contained in the Koran. That’s why he promotes the idea that the revelation at one time contained “satanic verses.”

It is this delusion that has ruined Rushdie’s life. The pen is mightier than the sword. Unfortunately, for Rushdie, he has turned his pen into a sword, turned in toward himself.

MUSTAFA NOVIKOFF

Desert Hot Springs