Book Review, THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

The satanic verses is a great but controversial book

Salman Rushdie is a great writer. He is my favorite and I love his books. I first read the Satanic Verses abroad, but now I find the book is available easily in a down loadable edition from the net. The book was published in 1988 and over the last 2 decades has earned for it a commendation as a great book. The book has despite its literary merit generated a lot of controversy. It is considered blasphemous by a fringe minority of Muslims and Iran even took the extreme  steps to ban the  book and issue a fatwa against it.

  The theme of the book is quite complicated as Rushdie creates characters and dreams and action and reaction.  Basically the story line runs somewhat like this. Two Indians are flying in a plane  on a winters day. Rushdie uses weird names and the characters are so named as well.  They are  Saladin Chamcha and Gibreel Farishta. The plane in which these two are travelling crashes and both the men descend on the English coast.     Both the men are the only survivors. From here the story picks up  and Rushdie transforms both the men. into different characters . In between the angel Gabriel also appears and  Rushdie  creates weird situations with discussions. Its really fascinating stuff and one must be wide awake to read this book as Rushdie creates characters with multiple names.

    Rushdie's prose is first class though a little staid and old fashioned, but it is intoxicating stuff. His references to Islam are perhaps hidden in couched language.  In Rushdie's book angels are demons and demons are angels. The book is one long fantasy. Not many writers can write such a convoluted plot and present it. so skillfully. Rushdie does a wonderful  job through out his 561 pages. Sometimes the book makes heavy reading , but that perhaps is inevitable as it is Rushdie's style of writing.

 Rushdie is a muslim and an Indian and he deserves our accolades for an excellent book. One thing that stands out is that Rushdie is a master writer and perhaps after Naipaul the greatest Indian literary giant  of our times.   It may come as no surprise to readers that he was knighted in England. He has also been honored by France and the USA. Who knows like Naipaul he may even win the Nobel prize.

The Muslim World Revolted against "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie: A Misunderstanding ?

Background Salman Rushdie is an Indian born author who is settled in England. In 1989 his book 'The Satanic Verses' was published. The book created a storm in the Muslim world and resulted in the spiritual head of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini announcing a Fatwa for the head of Salman Rushdie. This fatwa is important as it was the first time that a government in modern times had endorsed a demand to kill a particular individual, in this case Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie and the “Satanic Verses” Rushdie was born a Muslim and yet chose to write The Satanic Verses. The title of the book itself fuelled Muslim anger who felt that the Satanic Verses referred to the Koran itself. Most who had not read the book were easily aroused thinking that Rushdie had committed a sacrilegious act by referring to the Koran as The Satanic Verses. The fact that it was written by a Muslim was like adding salt to the wounds. The Title of the Book Mislead Muslims The title of the book is indeed a misnomer and had Rushdie and his publisher clarified the title as to its real meaning, there is a chance that Muslim anger would not have raised to the heights that it did. For most Muslims the book for referring to the Koran as the Satanic Verses was the work of the Devil. Actually Rushdie was referring to some verses in the Koran that have been exorcised. The prophet Muhammad had ordered the removal of these verses from the Koran as he realized that they were not the words coming from god.

These verses now do not form part of the Koran, but are described by Ibn Ishaq, who wrote the first biography of Muhammad. Many other writers have alluded to these verses. The disputed verses permitted worship to 3 pre Islamic goddesses from Mecca namely Allat, Uzza and Manah. As these verses went against the grain of the monotheism of Islam Muhammad had them removed. Actually Rushdie was referring to these verses as the Satanic Verses and not to the Koran itself.

Mistake by the Publisher and Rushdie The problem is that Islamic scholars do not use the words Satanic for these exorcised verses but Gharaniq( Birds). The words Satanic Verses are not used in Islam and the common man without any clarification from Rushdie or the publisher assumed that Rushdie meant the entire book as the satanic verses, when in reality he was referring only to the exorcised verses. Another matter was that the word Verses in the book title when translated into Arabic was translated as Ayat. This term is used by Muslims only to refer to the Koran. Last Word Thus many Muslims who read the title felt that Rushdie was referring to the entire Koran as the Satanic Verses. This is not to defend Rushdie, who made many derogatory references to Islam and Muhammad by referring to the prophet as Mahound a word used by Christians to describe Muhammad during the crusades. But the title of the book was a misnomer and Rushdie and his publisher became the center of ire of all Muslims worldwide.

Was Rushdie a Coward not to Attend the Jaipur Festival.

http://yield2me.com/-59055.htm

There was a literary festival at Jaipur.268 writers attended it and Salman Rushdie author and writer of the Satanic verses was invited. In fact Rushdie was to be the  star of the Festival. There is no doubt that Salman Rushdie  an Indian Muslim is a writer of class and occupies a high place in the field of literature.

It was known that a fringe element in India consisting of die hard Muslims were opposed to his coming to India. In addition the Congress government with its own agenda of supporting the Minority community played a dirty card. At their behest The Jaipur Police  created an imaginary  bogey of a threat to Rushdie’s life and also spread the canard that hired killers from mumbai underworld were coming to assassinate him. All this was hogwash.

But Rushdie should have known better. He panicked like a chicken despite many eminent persons telling  him not to worry and there was no threat. Yet Rushdie decided to skip the meet. Taslima the well known Bengali writer who has faced the wrath of the Islamists bravely, has tweeted in her blog that Rushdie was a coward not to come. She writes that cancelling his visit to India was another cowardly act after he had apologised to the Mullahs to get out of the Fatwa issued against him.

The fact is that Rushdie panicked unnecessarily and he could have easily made it to the Jaipur festival and in the bargain struck a blow for freedom