Dawn: The alarm went off on Monday morning, the radio came on and all I heard was, “It’s been described as the most serious insult to Islam ever! People have been killed, and protests are mounting.”
I thought ‘What’s happened? Has Satanic Verses been turned into a cartoon?’ I switched the TV on and heard people talking about a film.
I had to rush and get on the tube, as I walked into the carriage everyone was reading a newspaper with this same story on the front, I heard one man say to his friend, “They’re offended again”, his friend replied, “What’s new?”
I watched the film, and it’s the most serious insult to film making ever. It is a badly made, amateur pantomime of a film. Clearly a joke in itself. But what is even more outrageous – is the reaction to it.
My mum is religious. Very religious, fanatical about her religion. She’s done Hajj 12 times, prays all day and fasts even when it’s not Ramazan. If she saw the film she wouldn’t like it, but would she go and shoot four people because of it? No way. Because she is a rational, open-minded human being, and she’s so religious she doesn’t watch films, at least ones which don’t include Omar Sharif.