Pope’s apology to Muslims unnecessary : Salman Rushdie

New York: Remarks against Islamic jihad and Prophet Mohd by pope Benedict 16th and his apologies later were unnecessary, said Salman Rushdie. He also said that Koran needs to be revised and be freed from the clutches of fundamentalist mullahs. The pope in his speech at Rosenburgh university in Germany had criticized prophet Mohd as the creator of jihad and that Mohd’s achievements were not in agreement with God’s will. Rushdie strongly criticized Islamic terrorism and said that Muslim women should discard the Purdah and free themselves. Rushdie who is under death threat of fatwa from Islamic cleric was speaking at the function organised by the center for enquiry, New York and later during the interview given for CNN-IBN channel.

He expressed his anger against Islam during his 45 minutes speech. Iranian religious leader, Ayatolah Khomeini had declared fatwa against Rushdie for publishing his book the “satanic verses”. Rushdie stayed in hiding for sometime in UK and later moved to the US.

Rushdie’s verbal attack against Islam comes at a time when the whole western world is innumerably discussing on the topic of relation between Islam and terrorism. Through his volatile speeches, Rushdie gave a kick to the fatwa prevailing against him. He has strongly criticized the koran. He says nobody has tried to understand the koran in an un-biased manner. Unless the Koran is re-invented by the moderate Muslim scholars, the whole Islam religion will remain a freeze culture. Rushdie has backed former British foreign secretary Jack Straw’s opinion that Muslim women should abandon the Purdah. He said that the Purdah oppresses the Muslim women. Jack Straw had said that the woman who wears a veil over her face cannot communicate properly with others. There was a big uproar in UK for his comments. Rushdie said that he was born in the sub-continent during a time where the whole Muslim world had discarded the Purdah. If my grand mother were told to use a Purdah, she would have beaten up that person. He said that during his childhood, in India and Pakistan no Muslim woman wanted to wear the Purdah.

There should be open discussion on the subject of jihad and prophet mohd even if there would be some commotion as an outcome. Rushdie was mentioning the pope’s comment a few weeks ago.