Overview:
Published in the year 1988, “Satanic Verses” is a novel written by Sir Salman Rushdie. As is the case with most of the books written by Rushdie, the characters and events in the novel are heavily influenced by real-life events and personalities. The novel basically comprises of a frame narrative and a series of sub-plots that are narrated as dreams seen by a protagonist. It also uses various elements of magical realism.
When it was released, “Satanic Verses” received numerous positive reviews throughout the United Kingdom. It was honored as the novel of the year in the 1988 Whitbread Awards and was the finalist in the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in the same year.
Summary of the Plot:
Like most of the other novels written by Rushdie, “Satanic Verses” consists of Indian characters in modern-day England. In this case, the characters are Saladin Chamcha and Gibreel Farishta, both being actors from the typical Islamic background of India. Gibreel Farishta is a famous superstar from the Indian film industry who is known to play various Hindu deities.
The story speaks about the lives of these two characters after they face an airplane crash together over the English Channel. Both of them are miraculously saved and are found by the British police. The police take Chamcha into custody because they are under the false impression that he is an illegal immigrant. As Chamcha is dragged away amidst protests, Farishta just looks on and doesn’t take the slightest effort to intervene. When Chamcha realizes this, he convinces himself to take revenge on Farishta and hence destroys his relationship with Allie Cone, who apart from being Farishta’s lost love, is a British mountaineer. When Gibreel comes to know about this, he manages to forgive Chamcha and goes on to save his life in a crucial moment. Both of them return to India and in a spur of jealousy, Farishta kills Allie and commits suicide. Chamcha, who realizes that he has been forgiven for his mistakes, decides to stay back in India.
Controversies:
Immediately after it was released, “Satanic Verses” caused a huge controversy in the Islamic community. Numerous Muslim scholars around the world accused the book to contain blasphemous references. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a famous Shi’a Muslim scholar and the supreme leader of Iran at that time, issued a fatwa by calling out to all proper Muslims to murder the publishers of the book and Rushdie himself. Various people who were associated with the book were physically harmed while the Japanese translator of the book, Hitoshi Igarashi, was killed in the year 1991. However, Rushdie himself has not faced any sort of physical harm till date.
