Satanic verses.
Satanic Verses is an epic novel of magical realism written by the British nationalized Indian author, Salman Rushdie. Upon its publication in 1988, it became one of the most controversial books in recent history due to its outlandish use of Islam. Actually, the author tried to make an interposition of the Qur'an exposed in the biography of the prophet Muhammad elaborated by Hunayn Ibn Isḥāq (809 - 873).
About the author, Salman Rushdie
Ahmed Salman Rushdie was born into a wealthy Kashmiri family in Bombay, India, on June 19, 1947. After turning 13 he was sent to the UK to study at the prestigious Rugby School boarding school. In 1968 he obtained a master's degree (specializing in Islamic subjects) in history at King's College, Cambridge University.
Before turning to writing, Rushdie worked in advertising. His first novel, Grimus (1975), marked the beginning of a career as brilliant as it was controversial. His second novel, Children of midnight (1980) catapulted him to literary success and earned him prominent awards. To date, Rushdie has published eleven novels, two children's books, a story and four non-fiction texts.
Source Satanic Verses
Miguel Vila Dios (2016) explains in The Satanic Verses and the story of the three goddesses mentioned in the Qurʾān, the origin of the title. "The term was coined by William Muir in the mid-nineteenth century to designate two verses supposedly included by Muhammad in the sura 53 or The deployment… But, later replaced by the Prophet before the reprimand of Gabriel, the Angel of Revelation ”.
This incident is known in Islamic Tradition as qiṣṣat al-garānīq, whose most accepted translation is "the story of the cranes". Vila redefines it as "the story of the sirens", because the birds have the heads of women. Most historians point to Ibn Hišām (died 799) and Al-Tabarī (839 - 923) as the main sources for Ibn Isḥāq in his account within the biography of the Prophet Muhammad.
The argument of the detractors of the incident
The biography of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Isḥāq was only transmitted orally, as no manuscript was preserved. Thus, the oral condition of its passing from one generation to the next increases the difficulty for researchers to track the accuracy of the account. How much has been changed from the original narrative? It is almost impossible to determine.
The incident was rejected by almost all Muslim scholars between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries; a position held to this day. The most frequent argument in detractors is the orthodox Muslim principle of infallibility of biblical portraits in the transmission of Divine Revelation. Consequently, the incident had almost completely disappeared until Rushdie rekindled the dilemma with his novel.
The controversy of Satanic Verses
Patricia Bauer, Carola Campbell and Gabrielle Mander describe in their article (British, 2015) the sequence of incidents unleashed after the publication of the novel. Because the satirical narrative exposed by Rushdie enraged millions of Muslims around the world, who called the work blasphemous. To such an extent that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran urged his followers to kill the author and his editorial collaborators.
Terrorist attacks and breakdown of diplomatic relations
Violent demonstrations occurred in countries like Pakistan. Copies of the novel were burned in many Islamic countries - including the United Kingdom - and the work was banned in many countries. There were even terrorist attacks against bookstores, publishers and translators in countries such as Japan, England, the United States, Italy, Turkey and Norway.
Consequently, the ambassadors of the European Economic Community withdrew their ambassadors from Iran (and vice versa). The tension only eased in 1998 after Iran suspended the fatwa in the middle of a process of normalization of diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. Despite this, to date Rushdie has avoided traveling to countries where his book was banned and his personal situation has never fully normalized.
Salman Rushdie.
Salman Rushdie's position amid the storm
In an interview with the New York Times (published December 28, 1990), the Indian writer stated:
“For the past two years I have been trying to explain that the role of Satanic Verses it was never insulting. Gabriel's story is a parallel of how a man can be destroyed by the loss of faith.
Rushdie adds,
"... the dreams in which the so vociferous < > they take place, they are portraits of their disintegration. They are explicitly referred to in the novel as punishments and rewards. And that the figures of dreams that torment the protagonist with their attacks on religions are representative of his initiation process. They are not representations of the author's point of view ”.
The discussion generated by Satanic Verses, Is it justified?
It is very difficult to come across completely objective claims in research with a religious background. In your article What upsets Muslims about The Satanic Verses, Waqas Khwaja (2004) describes the ambiguity and complexity of the subject. According to Khwaja, “… it is important to ask why most Muslims are unable to see Satanic Verses solely as a work of science fiction ”.
It is probably impossible for Muslims to see the line between Rushdie's satirical narrative and the abuse. In any case, questions arise whose answers vary according to the educational and / or spiritual formation of the reader. Who is the book for? Is a cultural difference the cause of a comic and satirical perception in one group of readers, while for others it is ridiculous and heretical?
Divergent responses in a multicultural society
Article Reading mixed reception: the case of The Satanic Verses by Alan Durant and Laura Izarra (2001) points out key points of the case. Scholars argue: “… social conflicts over meaning that arise as a result of divergent responses made by different cultural groups in a multicultural society. Or by diverse reading practices in a context of increasingly globalized media ”.
The book's marketing strategies may also have helped fuel the dispute over Satanic Verses. Well, publishing houses strive to position their products internationally as part of a global circulation of cultural goods. However, science fiction will always have different connotations for readers according to their social circumstances, as well as subsequent settings and values.
Summary and analysis of Satanic Verses
The complex and layered plot focuses on two Muslim Indian protagonists living in London, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha. Gibrieel is a successful film actor who has suffered a recent attack of mental illness and is in love with Alleluia Cone, an English climber. Saladin is a radio actor known as "the man with a thousand voices", with a troubled relationship with his father.
Farishta and Chamcha meet during a Bombay – London flight. But the plane is shot down by an attack by Sikh terrorists. Later, it is discovered that the terrorists accidentally detonated the bomb that precipitated the plane. At the beginning of the book, Gibreel and Saladin appear as the only survivors of the plane crash in the middle of the English Channel.
Two different paths
Gibreel and Saladin reach English shores. Then they separate when the second is taken into custody (even though he claims to be an English citizen and a survivor of the flight), accused of being an illegal immigrant. Poor Chamcha grew grotesque bumps on his forehead and is the target of expletives from the officers. It is perceived as an apparition of evil and treated like scum.
In contrast, Gibreel — enveloped in an angelic aura — has not even been questioned. Saladin does not forget that Gibreel did not intercede for him, then he takes the opportunity to escape while he was hospitalized. Unfortunately, bad fortune seems to haunt him, as he is fired from his job. Everything seems to be going terribly wrong until Gibreel's intervention fully restores his human form.
Gibreel's dreams
As Gibreel descended, he is transformed into the angel Gabriel and has a series of dreams. The first is a revisionist history of the founding of Islam; it is the details of this segment that are most unacceptable to many Muslims. One of the most histrionic passages of the visions tells of the pilgrimage of a group of Muslim worshipers from India to Mecca.
Supposedly, Gabriel was supposed to part the waters for the devotees of Allah to continue on their way, instead, they all drowned. In another dream, the character named Mahound - based on Muhammad - tries to found a monotheistic religion in the middle of a polytheistic town, Jahilia.
The apocryphal legend of Mahound
Mahound has a vision in which he is allowed to worship three goddesses. But, after confirming (after a dispute with the Archangel Gabriel) that this revelation was sent by the devil, he recants. A quarter of a century later, one of the disciples stops believing in the Mahound religion.
Quote by Salman Rushdie.
Although, by now, the people of Jahilia (actually, it is an analogy of Mecca) are completely converted. Additionally, prostitutes in a brothel take the names of Mahound's wives before being shut down. Later, when Mahound falls ill and dies his final vision is being one of the three goddesses. Obviously, this is another very offensive section for Muslims.
Quarrels and reconciliations
Eventually, Gibreel reunites with Alleluia. However, an angel orders him to leave his beloved and preach the word of God in London. Then, when Farishta is about to begin his work, he is run over by the car of an Indian film producer, who wishes to hire him for a starring role as an archangel. Later, Gibreel and Saladin meet again at a party and begin to plot with each other.
The quarrels are finally resolved when, having the opportunity to let him die, Gibreel decides to rescue Saladin from a burning building. Earlier, Saladin had also dismissed various chances to assassinate Farishta. After the altercations, Chamcha returns to Bombay to reconcile with his dying father.
Karma?
Saladin's father bequeaths him a huge sum of money. So, Chamcha decides to find his old girlfriend to reconcile with her. In this way, he exchanges his spiteful cycle for a circle of forgiveness and love. In parallel, Gibreel and Alleluia also travel to Bombay. There, in the midst of a fit of jealousy, he murders her and eventually commits suicide.