Rushdie's coffin, from an exhibit in Tehran
"Ask yourself the question that if the Kashmir problem were resolve tomorrow, if Israel-Palestine reached a lasting peace, do we believe that al-Qaeda would disband? Do we believe that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad would put their guns down and beat them into plough-shears and say we would now be farmers because our job is done. I mean the point about is that is laughable, right? And the point about that is that that is not their project. Their project is power. This is a power grab by the most obscurantist, revanchist, old-fashioned, medievalist idea of modern culture that attempts to drag the world back into the middle ages at the point of modern weaponry ..." - Salman Rushdie, in "'Brutality, Incompetence And Cynical Duplicity,'" Outlook India, December 19 (thanks to Axel).
"Ask yourself the question that if the Kashmir problem were resolve tomorrow, if Israel-Palestine reached a lasting peace, do we believe that al-Qaeda would disband? ...This is a power grab by the most obscurantist, revanchist, old-fashioned, medievalist idea of modern culture that attempts to drag the world back into the middle ages at the point of modern weaponry ..." - Salman Rushdie
Wow.. Rusty is like a chameleon..he has changed his mind about the Islamists..it took a little deeper thought on his part and a little longer than normal. About five years back he was one of the strong advocate of handing Kashmir back to Pakiland and Israel back to the people of "Palistan". I'm not sure where one stands with Rusty.
Their project is power.
They are rebels without a cause; but watch it they are rebels with the Cause. It's something to do, after all.
Salman in his novels tried to rationalize Islam, to put a thought around it. It's the thought that counts and Salman doesn't, and he didn't get that central thought.
The thought is total takeover, underpinned by a psychosexual subtext. Islam is the only way this could be done, because reversion to pre-Cave Man animalism has to be packaged in a hypermoral doctrine, all fake and tarted up for action, ready for interviews with the media, for intense coffee shop exchanges with eager-to-please naive Infidels, and yes for the murder scenes.
The battle cry of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah that night was: "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
-- Tabari VII:141
Let's party!, screamed Mohammed. And so they did. And are now and will continue to do so.
It's the will of the Cause. And Salman Rushie is trying to make sense of this crap?
Killing is a way of life for those people.
They are raised from birth to hate the "other" and kill them.
What would they do if the world suddenly became perfect in their view? Probably die from boredom.
Robert:
Please check your email. I realize that you get many emails, but the one I sent you is important and requests your assistance on an unrelated matter.
Thankfully,
Kafir NB
Hmmm, Salman Rushdie?... Must mean he's evolving and ready to cast off a false faith that's willing to kill him for being a "creative, artistic, and freedom-loving" individual.
Can we dare hope that there are more muslims out there who are willing to ask questions beyond that of "Why doesn't hamas hit better with those dang rockets?..."
Rushdie must have realized that cringing to Islam only made the beheaders happy.
I welcome the return of his spine.