The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. The title refers to the Satanic Verses, an attempted interpolation in the Qur'an described by Ibn Ishaq in his biography of Muhammad (the oldest surviving text). The authenticity of these Satanic verses has been disputed by the earliest Muslim historians.[1]
The novel caused much controversy upon publication in 1988, as many Muslims considered that it contained blasphemous references. Singapore was the first country and India the second country to ban the book. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, a Shi'a Muslim scholar, issued a fatwa that called for the death of Rushdie and claimed that it was the duty of every Muslim to obey, despite never having read the book.
On February 14, 1989, the Ayatollah broadcast the following message on Iranian radio: "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses book, which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Qur'an, and all those involved in its publication who are aware of its content are sentenced to death."[2]As a result, Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese language translator of the book was stabbed to death on July 11, 1991; Ettore Capriolo, the Italian language translator, was seriously injured in a stabbing the same month; and William Nygaard, the publisher in Norway, survived an attempted assassination in Oslo in October of 1993. On February 14, 2006, the Iranian state news agency reported that the fatwa will remain in place permanently.[3]
In the United Kingdom, however, the book garnered great critical acclaim. It was a 1988 Booker Prize Finalist, eventually losing to Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_(novel)
5 Comments
gwaanIt is very hard for a non-Muslim to understand why this book is considered so offensive by Muslims. I shall try my best to explain.
The vast majority of Muslims have no problem with interrogating and criticising many of the negative elements apparent in the modern manifestation of Islam. In fact, that is something that a lot of us do anyway. Rushdie's work follows the narrative of the sacred texts of Islam almost exactly. What Muslims took offense to was Rushdie's deliberate attempt to rewrite the entirety of Muhammad's life in an abusive and obscene manner. For example, in his novel Rushdie refers to Muhammad as Mahound - a term coined in the Middle Ages in Christendom to describe the Prophet as a devil. Furthermore, he describes Muhammad's wives as prostitutes and whores, and implies that the mosque in Medina was little more than a brothel. For Muslims, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and his wives, is a paradigm for Muslim behaviour and identity. That is why so many Muslims took personal offense at Rushdie's words.
All that being said, the reaction by some Muslims to the publication of the Satanic Verses was completely over the top and wrong - both from an objective and an Islamic perspective. If they had ignored the book it would have never received the attention it did. One of the sad things about the response to the book was that voices of moderation were completely drowned out. Many Muslims were caught between the intolerant and hateful rhetoric of the Ayatollah, and a response from the secular press and media which not only tarred all Muslims with the same brush - as intolerant, hateful, bigots - but which also seemed to contain strong elements of cultural racism. However, in 1989, at the height of the Rushdie affair, the great British Muslim - Zaki Badawi - called on Muslims to spurn the book but spare the man, and declared that he would not hesitate to offer the novelist sanctuary in his own home. In this spirit I will not upvote this - but I will not downvote it either.
jwrayI understand of course why anybody might be offended by an attack on their revered authority figure, but the overreaction to this book was ridiculous. Monty Python's Life of Brian is just as critical of Christianity.
gwaanThe truth about the Rushdie affair: http://www.videosift.com/video/Salman-Rushdie-Apostasy-and-Khomeinis-Fatwah
jwray*discard
siftbotSelf-discarding this video (discard called by original submitter jwray)
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