The Satanic Verses (Salman Rashdie, 1988)

The Satanic Verses (Salman Rashdie, 1988)

If there was no controversy surrounding "The Satanic Verses", the likelihood of me reading it would be almost zero. It would not come up under my radar and if, for whatever reason, it did, I doubt I'd read it. Even after all the noise surrounding it, it took me such a long time to finally grab a copy and read it.

And what a drag to read. Boring, messy, and every sentence feels like Rushdie is trying TOO hard. The story, if we can even call it that, is about two characters, one Gibreel, a Bollywood superstar and Chamcha, a British-Indian voice actor. Both are in a plane, when it explodes, and they magically float to the ground, alive, and a start of a metamorphosis in them, Gibreel turning into an angel, while Chamcha slowly changing into a devil figure, with horns and goat feet.

Filled to the brim are secondary characters, each with ten thousand pages of background dedicated to them, and stories jumping from one idea to another, and if that was not enough to make you lose interest, you also have other sort of stories that have very little to do with the main story. One of these have to do with Prophet Mohammad, and is the main source of the controversy surrounding the book. Rushdie changes Mohammad's name to Mahound, maybe to escape criticisms, but he refers Mahound as The Prophet and changes some names, but I don't know to what end really. Mahound is actually the name the west used for Mohammad and usually as a negative reference, so in a way, Rushdie is actually being more offensive. The parts about Mohammad are also offensive, for variety of reasons, but probably the most offensive part is a whorehouse in Mekkah that has twelve prostitutes taking the name of the Prophet's wives and acting out sexual fantasy for the clients as the wives.

To me, I was a little bit annoyed by his depiction of Salman the Persian, one of the Prophet's companion, and a man I respect for he left the comforts of his home in Persia and an influential future he had there, and then travelled from country to country, on a spiritual journey, facing hardships, such as being sold into slavery. But he eventually came to the Prophet and was not only a smart companion but also a significant contribution to one of the battles as a tactician. He was also the first person to translate the Quran into a foreign language (into Persian). And he has one of my favorite hadiths contributed to him,

"The Prophet (SAW) made a bond of brotherhood between Salman and Abu Darda. Salman paid a visit to Abu Ad-Darda and found Um Ad-Darda dressed in shabby clothes and asked her why she was in that state. She replied, "Your brother Abu Ad-Darda is not interested in (the luxuries of) this world." In the meantime Abu Darda came and prepared a meal for Salman. Salman requested Abu Ad-Darda to eat (with him), but Abu Ad-Darda said, "I am fasting." Salman said, "I am not going to eat unless you eat." So, Abu Ad-Darda ate (with Salman). When it was night and (a part of the night passed), Abu Ad-Darda got up (to offer the night prayer), but Salman told him to sleep and Abu Ad-Darda slept. After sometime Abu Darda again got up but Salman told him to sleep. When it was the last hours of the night, Salman told him to get up then, and both of them offered the prayer. Salman told Abu Ad-Darda, "Your Lord has a right on you, your soul has a right on you, and your family has a right on you; so you should give the rights of all those who has a right on you." Abu Ad-Darda came to the Prophet and narrated the whole story. The Prophet said, " Salman has spoken the truth.""

But in Rushdie's book, Salman is portrayed as a skeptic of Prophet Mohammad and eventually a coward.

There are many faults with the book, but aside from the offensive parts, which I can tolerate, is that it was just boring. If the Muslims had ignored it, I doubt many would have even known about it. But Rushdie should not have been surprised at the outcome. His book IS offensive and calling it "The Satanic Verses" is making it appear even more offensive than it actually is.

2/5