JK Rowling is accused of Islamophobia after passage of book is shared online

JK Rowling has been accused of Islamophobia after an extract of her 2014 crime novel The Silkworm was shared to Twitter.

The Edinburgh-based author, 55, who writes the Cormoran Strike books under the male pseudonym Robert Galbraith, wrote a passage in the second book of the series where detectives suggest that a ‘woman in a burqa’ fed a murder victim ‘halal takeaway’ before death.

The passage continued: ‘Can you think of another way of totally concealing your face and body that wouldn’t make people challenge you?’ 

It comes following accusations of transphobia against the Harry Potter writer after she slammed an article that used the term ‘people who menstruate’ instead of ‘women’.

The row worsened after her new book Troubled Blood was released on Tuesday, which tells the tale of a man who dresses as a woman to kill his victims – a trope in literature that’s been criticised by activists for perpetuating negative stereotypes about transgender people. 

Now, she has come under fire again over her 2014 book, which has been accused of playing into both Islamophobic and transphobic prejudices, after British writer Laurie Charles posted an extract of the novel on Twitter.

The novel tells the tale of Cormoran Strike and his young assistant, Robin Ellacott who are trying to solve the murder of novelist Owen Quine who has written a poison pen book about almost everyone he knows.

In the extract, Strike and Robin are discussing the case on the tube, opposite a hijab-wearing woman who is described to have ‘liquid brown eyes’. 

Strike tells Robin that two witnesses saw a woman in a burqa enter the building where the murder victim lived.

She then writes the woman wearing a burqa ‘could have been a man’ and that she was seen ‘carrying halal takeaway’.

The detectives ponder if the killer removed the victim’s stomach after his murder to hide the fact he had eaten halal food.

Meat is granted halal status when the animal is blessed before being slaughtered, but livestock is raised no differently than non-halal food, meaning there would be no way for forensic teams to tell if the contents of a corpse’s stomach was halal.  

‘JK Rowling made her f***** up attacks against trans people and threatened to sue anyone who called her transphobic because she’d already sent her manuscript off to the publisher and wanted to preempt the inevitable criticism of this,’ Laurie wrote.

The post quickly racked up more than 1,300 retweets with many accusing the writer of racism.

‘So apparently Rowling is just racist as well. What a surprise, transphobes tend to be obsessive bigots, huh,’ said one.

‘Not just transphobic but Islamophobic too… I regret ever spending money on Harry Potter,’ added another. 

‘Ewwwww how does she manage to be racist and transphobic in one paragraph?’ wrote a third.

Many also shared their confusion over the use of ‘halal takeaway’ in the script. 

‘”Halal takeaway” – true sign of someone who’s never eaten a meal without boiled potatoes in or let ‘foreign’ spices pass their lips,’ said one

‘The halal and the removal of (murder victim’s) guts??? I’m so confused,’ added another. 

‘Holy f***, I mean I’m less concerned about the transphobia in that passage than I am about the blatant Islamophobia…’ commented one.

A representative for JK Rowling refused to comment when contacted by FEMAIL. 

In June, the Harry Potter author hit the headlines after she mocked an online article using the words ‘people who menstruate’ instead of ‘women’.

She was hit by what she described as ‘relentless attacks’ after she wrote: ‘I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’

The novelist then penned a deeply personal essay to address the controversy, revealing she was sexually assaulted in her 20s and saying she still feels the scars of ‘domestic violence’ in her first marriage.

Rowling’s remarks sparked backlash from a range of stars including Ron actor Rupert Grint, Emma Watson who played Hermione in the film franchise, Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry and Eddie Redmayne, who stars in her Fantastic Beasts films.

Little, Brown Book Group are owned by Hachette, one of several publishers involved in Miss Rowling’s children’s book The Ickabog.

In June, several of those involved in The Ickabog, are said to have staged their own rebellion during a heated meeting where staff had announced they were no longer prepared to work on the book.

Rowling has also been accused of classism after another extract of her new book was shared, after readers brand the author ‘patronising and deeply snobbish’ for writing a working class character’s dialogue differently

Troubled Blood, also written under Rowling’s pseudonym Robert Galbraith, was released Tuesday and sees detective Cormoran Strike work out what happened to missing GP Margot Bamborough.

The book originally came under fire for featuring a ‘transvestite serial killer’ called Dennis Creed, who murders his victims while wearing female clothing and a wig, sparking furious backlash online, amid accusations of transphobia against the author. 

Earlier this week, journalist and Current Affairs Editor of Pink News, Nick Duffy has started a fresh row  about Rowling, , using a working class dialect, spelled differently,  to reflect the accent of one of her characters. 

An extract shared on Twitter by Nick revealed that a line in the book from a character called Janice reads: ‘Well, ‘e ‘ad these ‘ead pains and ‘e was def’nitley nervous. Depressed maybe,’ said Janice.’ 

Furious Twitter users quickly branded the Edinburgh-based writer ‘patronising’ and ‘deeply snobbish’.