The Secret Society: Descendants of Crypto-Jews in the San Antonio ...

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His sweepingly critical accusations of the Muslim community, in particular, reinforce the
cultural, political, and religious misunderstandings already in place between the East and the
West, and dangerously privilege Rushdie’s secularism to an international audience. For
example, during the controversy over The Satanic Verses, Rushdie issued an apology and
formally converted to Islam. 4
However, given that in a 1995 interview with The Times,
Rushdie proclaimed his conversion to Islam “the biggest mistake of my life,” his apology
takes on the color of insincere political expediency. 5
Despite this statement, however, one
would be hard pressed to find an interview in which Rushdie does not offer his views on
Islam and Islamic ideals. Rushdie actively and consciously plays the role of “rational”
Muslim for the Western media who seek him out as spokesperson for the Muslim
community. Ironically, however, Rushdie himself disavows his membership to the Muslim
faith or community, so that his role as spokesperson rings of charlatanism.
As a representative example of the contradictory literary and political roles the author
plays, I will close-read Midnight’s Children’s representations of veiling, primarily with
regard to the character Jamila Singer, as legitimate criticisms of absolutism, but not of
Muslim religious and cultural practice. I will then focus on the role that Rushdie has recently
played in the media with regard to the veil controversy going on in England, and I will
demonstrate how his public statements reveal the religious intolerance behind his secularist
ideals. Finally, I will discuss the significance of genre—the novel versus the print media—in
determining the repercussions of Rushdie’s loudly professed views.