The entire episode on Salman Rushdie and his book somehow fails to make any sense to me. The number of times an average Indian has heard about the book makes me wonder whether they already knew about the book (or did they even care) or is it the sensationalization of the entire episode that has made this book more popular than it already was. I for one was never inclined towards reading the book, but somehow the inquisitive me suddenly wanted to know exactly what the fuss was all about and I did by visiting my good friend wiki. Frankly this rush towards garnering the maximum TRP has done more good to the author and the book that was released more than two decade back. I don’t think any other news got googled as much as Satanic Verses in the past few weeks. But there are certain questions that I fail to answer. Why would anyone want to bring the book back into the minds of people who had long forgotten it? If the government has already banned the book why create the fuss in the first place, aren’t you creating more hype. In country like India where people buy books off the roads and not the original, would you be able to ban it for long. So who really benefitted?
First is the man in the line of fire. In the recent past he has been in news more for his love life than his literati work. He like some of our politicians has effectively used the social media for both personal as well as professional gain. I guess the number of people who know about his ex-wives as well as read his tweets exceed the readers of his books. But I am sure if you go and ask the common man about Salman Rushdie he will probably know only about the Satanic Verses. And not the other wonder books that he actually penned down. The agenda behind his visit to India was to talk about his book Midnight Children. But that got conveniently side-lined in the entire episode.
Second all the religious organisations as well as political parties who have piggybacked on this piece of news for their political aspirations. There has to be some level of solution in this entire episode one cannot keep carrying on like this. And frankly why make a big deal out of it now? Don’t we already have many politicians who have hurt the religious sentiments of many, time and again? Have we forgotten Kashmir, Gujarat and Babri? If these incidents are not examples of religious intolerance then what is? Now when we don’t say anything to these set of people and more over trust them to decide our countries future, why are we so threatened by an author who does not even live in this country? What Salman Rushdie wrote was about a religion that he was born into unlike many who have an opinion about something that they have never experienced themselves.
Third are the authors, who were foolish enough to quote from the book. What were they thinking, sorry they were not.
Fourth has to be the entire business of black marketed books. Very soon we will see a whole set of Satanic Verses in the market. They are definitely the biggest gainers.
What was that Mr. Rushdie said in his book that all the Muslims around the world consider blasphemy?
It starts from the very title of the book which refers to an alleged incident in the ministry of the Prophet Muhammad, when a few verses were supposedly spoken by Muhammad as part of the Qur'an and then subsequently withdrawn on the grounds that the devil had sent them; deceiving Muhammad into thinking they came from God. These "Satanic Verses" are therefore not found in the Qur'an, but are described by Ibn Ishaq in the first biography of Muhammad, and also appear in other biographies of the prophet's life. The disputed verses permitted prayers of intercession to be made to three pre Islamic Meccan goddesses: Allāt, Uzza, and Manah— a violation of the Islamic principle of monotheism. The utterance and withdrawal of the so-called Satanic Verses forms an important subplot in the novel, which recounts several episodes in the life of Muhammad.
Perhaps most offensive to Muslims, in Rushdie's novel the brothel of the city of Jahilia is staffed by prostitutes who take the names of Muhammad's wives. Since Muslims believe that the wives of the Prophet are 'the Mothers of all Believers', they esteem them.
Well there are other things as well which perhaps only a devout Muslim would point out and understand. It is very difficult for someone like me to comment on the nature of the text. Because at the end of the day let’s not forget it is not about something that I and many like me have any knowledge of or connection with. So yes the text is definitely not in the best taste but it was written in the 1980’s and I guess the writer has somewhere paid a price by sacrificing his freedom of movement as well as living under fatwa.
The guy may be 64 but is still a child. He may come from a Muslim family but he was never religious. In the 1990’s there was a phase where he claimed that he had renewed his Muslim faith and wrote off the comments in the book and committed himself to working for better understanding of the religion across the world. This many believe was in hope of reducing the threat of Muslims acting on the fatwa. Though this phase of his did not last long and he later said that he was pretending.
Would you take a guy like him seriously? I think it is waste of time. The idea is to enjoy his work (if you enjoy the way he writes and above all if it does not offend you). The reason I write so much about him is because the whole issue under fire is just an opportunity that has been used by many for their own good.
Mr. Rushdie it’s been 3 years since your last book I think it is time to write and not tweet.
