The Satanic Verses

First and foremost, let me say that this is not a book promoting Satan, filled with verses celebrating Satan, or even one demoralizing Christianity. People seem to get worked up when I tell them what I’m reading. This is a novel – most of the verses in question are poetry and rhymes used diabolically, and therefore are satanic in the sense of extremely evil or wicked in contrast to connected with Satanism. Yes, there is plenty of religious imagery, and yes, at times the characters question whether or not the verses came from Satan himself. This mention of the creature of Satan does not make this a Satanic (in the connected with sense) any more than the mention of him makes Milton’s Paradise Lost a Satanic poem.

As a Christian, I do believe that Satan is real and that there are dark, demonic things going on in this world. If I had had any indication that this book was associated with the occult or in some way glamorized Satan to the point of worship I would have immediately removed it from my reading list. But having read work by Salman Rushdie before and being familiar with his style of writing, in conjuction with the fact that this book is so highly acclaimed and has been for over 20 years, I was not worried. And now, having finished the novel, I have found that I was correct.

Rushdie is known for writing in the style of magical realism. Think about things like Big Fish or the short stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or even The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where the mythological and supernatural mix in with the everyday like it is normal. We all know that you can’t literally open a wardrobe and find another world with talking satyrs, and that men don’t turn into giant fish upon their death – but when reading or watching or hearing these types of “fairy tales” you must suspend your disbelief and consider these fantastical things to be truth for the sake of the story. This is how you must read Rushdie. The main premise of this book is that two Indian actors were on board a flight that was hijacked, and as it blew up they fell towards the English channel, clutching one another, and miraculously survived. There were side effects, however – Gibreel Farishta takes on angelic qualities, believing himself to be the Angel Gibreel (Gabriel) while Saladin Chamcha takes on devilish qualities. Chamcha is taken away by police as Farishta does nothing to stop them, which causes Chamcha to become so angry that his devilish qualities overtake him and he literally turns into a cloven hoofed and horned goat of a man for a period of time. For the remainder of the novel Chamcha is plotting revenge on Farishta for abandoning him, while Farishta is diagnosed as schizophrenic and has visions of himself as the angel giving revelations to a variety characters. The novel is an interesting concoction of good vs. evil, the opposing cultures of India and England, personal relationships, and the innermost desires of men, told through magical and allegorical lenses.

This book was confusing at times – as I am neither Indian nor British, and so much of the vernacular was specific to these countries. The interweaving of storylines and the Dickensian connections between characters made it hard to follow what was going on and who was doing it, but I managed. There aren’t going to be any quizzes on it like when I read another of his novels in college, so that’s a plus.

I chose to read this book because of its cultural impact. One of the visionary side-stories is based on the story of Mohammed, and depicts him as somewhat of a false prophet who agrees to include the acceptance of the worship of certain pegan goddesses into the religious text as part of a business deal. The story of these “satanic verses” in the Qur’an caused an uproar among many Muslims, who considered it blasphemous and mocking. As a result the book is illegal in all but one dominantly Muslim country and in 1989 a fatwa was issued against Rushdie by the Iranian leader, who called Muslims to kill the author and his publishers. Rushdie was put under police protection in England and lived in hiding for nearly 10 years while riots and violent attacks surrounding the book continued. The Japanese translator was stabbed to death, multiple international publishers survived assassination attempts, and the Turkish translator was target in an event that lead to the massacre of 37 people. It amazes me that fictional writing can cause such non-fictional friction, and that a novel so revered in Western society is so hated in other parts of the world.