Anti-Islam?

¡¨By articulating a grievance, I could help, or so I hoped, to build bridges of understanding.¡¨ (Imaginary Homelands, by Rushdie) 

To mock at idol worship
--->  religion: a powerful tool in the hands of rulers 
---> deities or objects:
        Dh Tyuo (ªÙ§Q¤l) , Matsu palanquin (¯«Ãâ) 
---> superstition, extremity

Hazratbal, Mosque

Entrance of the Sacred Relic Chambers

Entrance Door of the Sacred Relic Chambers

Interior View of the Sacred Relic Chambers

Some hairs from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad

He can do anything unscrupulously to get the money or achieve his goal. (2848, last par) 

It's clear that the moneylender's business is violent and threatening. He is faithful to Islam externally, but he still runs usury business which is strictly forbidden by Qur¡¦an. When he gets the hair, instead of returning it, he keeps it to his desk. He persuades himself the Prophet would not have approved of this relic-worship because the Prophet abhors the idea of being deified. That¡¦s his way to make his statement consistent. 

He can do anything unscrupulously to get the money or achieve his goal. (2848, last par) 

It's clear that the moneylender's business is violent and threatening. He is faithful to Islam externally, but he still runs usury business which is strictly forbidden by Qur¡¦an. When he gets the hair, instead of returning it, he keeps it to his desk. He persuades himself the Prophet would
not have approved of this relic-worship because the Prophet abhors the idea of being deified. That¡¦s his way to make his statement consistent. 

'And after all,¡¦ Hashim told himself, the Prophet would have disapproved mightily of this relic-worship. He abhorred the idea of being deified! So, by keeping this hair from its distracted devotes, I perform¡Xdo I not?¡Xa finer service than I would by returning it! Naturally, I don¡¦t want it for its religious value¡KI¡¦m a man of the world. I see it purely as a secular object of great rarity and blinding beauty. In short, it¡¦s the silver vial I desire more than the hair. (2846-47) 

The truth is he desires the silver vial more than the hair. The prophet¡¦s hair is a secular object rarity and blinding beauty which belongs to one of his collector¡¦s mania. 

His keeping the hair violates Muslim law, and profanes the religious value. Under the hair¡¦s great influence, Hashim changes his life style and becomes weird. When the inversion comes, he begins to pray ¡§for the first time of his life¡¨ and forces his family members to do as the same. 

At five o¡¦clock the next morning the moneylender forced his family to rise, wash and say their prayers. From then on, he began to pray five times daily for the first time in his life, and his wife and children were obliged to do likewise. (2847-48)

Also, he orders his family and servants to read Qur¡¦an, which is ¡§the only volume left untouched before¡¨ in their house.

He ordered each member of his family to read passages from this book for at least two hours per day. (2848 par 1, L5~6)

It seems that Hashim becomes a religious man because of reading Qur¡¦an, but it¡¦s not true. He is pious on his behavior not from the bottom of his heart. He starts to behave abnormally when he gets the hair. Besides threatening his debtors, he yells at his family and abuses them. (2849 par 5)

Anyhow, the moneylender¡¦s occupation is not compatible with the society of Muslim. In a word, Hashim's reverence for religious worship is represented as hypocritical.

Irony2

Huma tries to save her family, but the plan failed out of Atta¡¦s voice. As the thief comes to Hashim¡¦s house, Atta cries out ¡§Thief! Thief! Thief!¡¨ oddly for three times. 
(2851 par 3, L5)

Is it coincidence or the power of the magic hair? It just happens and Huma can¡¦t stop the disaster.

Irony3

The prophet¡¦s hair has the numinous and supernatural power which handles the fate of Hashim¡¦s family and Shiekh¡¦s in the story. Or we can say their destiny is influenced by the hair and the natural cause.

Is the hair so powerful? 

People would usually overextend and reinforce its mysterious strength, even if it¡¦s only a trivial thing. Here, Rushdie uses the juxtaposition of the rich Hashim¡¦s house and the poor Sheikh¡¦s to set a contrast. The glassy contentment of the household is to be shattered which is a foreshadowing of the coming of their tragedy. Compared with Hashim¡¦s luxurious house, Sheilkh¡¦s family live in all darkness (blackness).

All around him in his study was the evidence of his collector¡¦s mania¡K (2846 par 2 from the bottom)

¡K.blackness.
(2844 par 4, L 6 ¡§Shiekh¡¦s needy world¡K¡¨ ) 

¡Kinto the light-repellent gullies of the most wretched and disreputable part of the city. 
(2852 par 2, L6~7)

Atta and Huma have a wealthy life; ironically, Shiekh¡¦s four sons are crippled by their father to make their living.

For, with a parent¡¦s absolutist love, he had made sure they were all provided with a lifelong source of high income by crippling them at birth, so that, as they dragged themselves around the city, they earned excellent money in the begging business.
(2850 par 3 from the bottom, L5~8 )

¡Kthat they were all sound of limb and strong of wind, as whole as they might have been if their father had not thought to smash their legs in the first hours of their lives. 
(2852 par 2 from the bottom, L4~6 )

Is the miracle fortunate to them?
Probably it is, but not all the persons involved think so. When the miracle happens to Sin¡¦s four sons, they are furious because they lose their power to earn their living after having the sound bodies.

They were, all four of them, very properly furious, because the miracle had reduced their earning powers by 75 per cent, at the most conservative estimate; so they were ruined men. (2852 par 2 from the bottom, L6~9) 

Irony4

Is the hair fortunate or unfortunate? 
The hair symbolizes the sacred image of the Prophet of Mohammed, and it¡¦s an ironic object in this story. Its relocation is from the shrine (a holy place), to the outside world (the profane place), and to the moneylender¡¦s locked study (the profane place), back to the shrine (a holy place) again. The relic should be put into the shrine, it is profaned and violates its holy nature when it is stolen. Hashim¡¦s family¡¦s reverence for icon is hypocritical, and they are subjected to the general carnage. The force of the hair seems to have been replaced its meaning through its transplantation. 
Many people suppose that they would be blessed if they hold the icon, but it¡¦s not right. No matter the hair has the might or not, it deeply influences human being¡¦s heart and behavior. 

Beyond human desire, people would like to hold the icon and hope they could have good luck. Hence they would forget the genuine importance easily and to be lost in their desire. This is a parable which teaches us to break with iconoclasm and superstition. 

All in all, the goal of religion is to help people lead a better life not to believe it blindly.