Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, another one of our readings for Forbidden Texts, is a more artistic version of the kind of inflammatory rhetoric we’ve been looking over. Much more subtle, and requiring an intimate understanding of Islam, I felt that Satanic Verses approached the angle of “forbidden” in a more nuanced light than texts we read before and after. This book required much more of a learning curve: whereas others like Mein Kampf, 120 Days, and the Anarchists Cookbook are blatantly inflammatory, this text was subtle (at least to my white, American mind). Rushdie employed his own mastery of the craft, writing beautiful prose and constructing an interesting novel, in which his criticisms are calculated.
In class discussion, my professor hypothesized that Rushdie meant to cause the controversy he did. My professor has a much deeper understanding of Muslim culture and studies, which helped to shed light for myself and my peers. The references Rushdie makes are pointed, and can be considered highly offensive for those of Muslim faith. The controversy that ensued was great, and Rushdie is still under the protection of the UK government to this day. There were violent protests in Pakistan, and the Supreme Leader of Iran issued a fatwa, which essentially calls for Rushdie’s death, as well as the death of his publishers. Followers of the Muslim faith were essentially asked to kill Rushdie at all costs. While Rushdie is still alive, one of the translators of the text, Hitoshi Igarashi, was murdered, and other translators were attacked as well. There were also 37 deaths of innocent people in the Sivas massacre.
Rushdie’s text brings up the sensitivity of religion in our world at this time, and asks us whether it’s acceptable to insult the faith of others. Having come from the faith that he was insulting, Rushdie’s attacks came across as those of a traitor. They struck a hard nerve in the international community, and it reminds me of the weight that religion carries for so many people. There’s always that question of whether a book should have been published, or kept out of circulation, and I don’t know the answer. All I know is that controversial works have real life consequences- the death of others, especially innocent people was deeply unfortunate, and in my opinion, wrong. But had someone attacked what gave my life meaning, I think I might understand the call for action against them. I really don’t know.