"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how
             they shall think."(Arthur Shopenhauer). If one could train people how to think, he/she could control their thoughts, actions, and beliefs. Thus, religion gives one or a few selected men the power over millions of others; and power corrupts. Although one associates religion with good, holy and pure, it is not always used for pure causes. While religion in its true form can be used to do bring out the good in all people, it can also be used as a weapon.
             Throughout history wars have been fought, innocent men, women, and children have been slaughtered in the name of God and religion. Does God, "the merciful, the compassionate"(The Koran) revel at the death of innocent men? Was God's glory magnified all that much as the crusaders took the city of Jerusalem? Or is it man who benefits at the cost of his fellow human being? Consequently, the main theme which religion was meant to transcend to man is often manipulated, and people ignorant as any other animal follow it blindly.
             And blind obedience, along with other misuse of religion, is what Salman Rushdie comments on in the story "The Prophets Hair", in the book "East West". One theme, which Rushdie implies through the Prophets Hair is fundamentalism, which he himself was a victim of. In the story, Hashim the moneylender finds the sacred relic containing a hair from the prophet Mohammed, and over night is transformed into a devout muslim.
             For example, "At five o'clock the next morning the moneylender forced his family to rise and say their prayers...Huma saw the servants, under her father's direction, constructing a great heap of books in the garden and setting fire to it...the only volume left untouched was the Quran."(Rushdie 46) In contrast to Hashim's actions, the Quran does not state
             that one should force religion...