The Unknown Satanic Verses Controversy on Race and Religion. Üner Daglier

the novel’s concern with migration was heavily imbued with a religious imaginary, whereas the novel’s concern with religion, especially including Islam, was largely skeptical. Within this framework, Gibreel’s role was unique and accounted for part I’s title. Notwithstanding Saladin’s supernatural experiences, alternatively miraculous and horrible, it was Gibreel who served as a bridge between the novel’s worldly and religious concerns. In addition to his role as an inspirational midwife to the novel’s secular aspirants, the religious story line of the novel, essentially including the separate but comparable adventures of Mahound, Ayesha the butterfly prophetess, and the Imam, was exclusively presented through Gibreel’s dreams, in which he was the archangel. And The Satanic Verses’ attempt to establish parity between migration and religion with reference to rebirth was accomplished so comprehensively that the novel’s veiled enquiry into the nature of miracles was felt from the very start. However, the novel’s opening chapter most conspicuously mused about what determined the success or failure of rebirth. Within the context of emergent immigrant identities, it suggested, Gibreel’s outlook emphasized cultural eclecticism and this accorded with his Indian heritage, whereas Saladin was in slavish cultural self-denial and yearned for pure Englishness, and a marker of things to come and the novel’s ultimate resolution, it hinted at attitudinal transformation. At the same time, chapter I.1 chronicled a miracle that saved the lives of Gibreel and Saladin. The plane carrying Gibreel and Saladin to London exploded in the skies, but the migrant duo’s landing on the shores of England, however miraculously safe, was eventually bound to resemble Satan’s fall. Indeed this mixed blessing took place after Saladin commanded Gibreel to fly, and looking back there was sufficient reason to suspect of Saladin’s demonic possession. Finally, a miracle within miracle here, or Gibreel’s encounter with the specter of Rekha Merchant during their fall and Saladin’s unawareness of the incident, was a forerunner of the novel’s preoccupation with the subjective nature of belief. Chapter I.2 narrated religious influences on Gibreel’s past life and other learning and experiences that might account for his religious dreams and spectral encounters. Chapter I.3 dwelt on Saladin, with particular reference to his tortured relationship with his father, which was at the root of his unequivocal rejection of Indian roots and desire for assimilation in England, the ungodliness and bravery of attempting to recreate oneself, and his looming identity crisis. Despite outward success, what best illustrated the shortcomings of Saladin’s singular desire for assimilation was his declining and sterile marriage to Pamela, who was white, blond, and aristocratic. Chapter I.4 described events leading to the explosion of the plane carrying Gibreel and Saladin over the skies of England by Sikh terrorists, and it loosely resembled the explosion of Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland by Sikh terrorists in 1985. The Sikh terrorists were led by Tavleen, and her religious leadership tacitly contrasted with that of Mahound later in the novel. Tavleen was an unyielding fanatic who, by committing a suicide bombing, had brought her project to a premature end. In contrast, The Satanic Verses made clear that Mahound’s success in founding a new religion was partially due to flexibility and political acumen. In addition to a critique of Sikh fanaticism, Saladin’s encounter in this chapter with ridiculous American evangelist Eugene Dumsday, who campaigned in India against Darwin and evolutionism, indicated that The Satanic Verses was broadly critical of dogmatic extremism without privileging any particular religious tradition.

      Part II was titled Mahound, which was a medieval epithet for Islam’s founder, and it was the story of the founding of the religion of Submission in the city of Jahilia. That this story was apparently a movie script based on the archangelic dreams of Gibreel, a deranged Bollywood icon, accounted for its similarities and differences with the original history of Islam. And despite its skeptical aspect, part II was a grave and impressive account of the social circumstances, corruption, and pilgrimage economy that could not be detached from the drama surrounding the birth of a new religion. Most importantly, through its interpretation of the historic satanic verses incident, part II called into question the veracity of the original sources of Submission and pointed toward theological misogyny, which was at the core of The Satanic Verses’ take on Islam and proposal for its reformation. Submission theology was misogynistic because, above all, it replaced goddesses, most notably including Al-lat, with a male god, Al-lah. Indeed Rushdie’s reinterpretation of the historical satanic verses incident served to illustrate that transformation. Due to political pressure, Mahound publicly accepted compromise between god and goddesses, soon after regretted his tactical misstep, revoked the holy verses that he founded his decision upon, blamed Satan for misleading him, and recited revised verses. However, both of the conflicting revelations were delivered through Mahound’s unique ability to speak with angel Gibreel, and Gibreel’s role in delivering revelation called into mind his role in earlier facilitating a lifesaving miracle with Saladin, who was plausibly possessed by the devil.

      Part III’s title Elloween Deeowen corresponded to London. Its five chapters were devoted to migration and the demonization of ethnic newcomers, characters in quest for secular rebirth, and the nature of supernatural phenomena. Chapter III.1 presented Gibreel and Saladin’s first moments in England after their fall. Gibreel who looked down on England and its culture acquired angelic traits, including a halo, and found a welcoming host, whereas Saladin who admired English culture and single-mindedly yearned for assimilation acquired satanic traits, including a horn, and was detained by constables, who refused to believe he was a British citizen. Chapter III.2 dwelt on Gibreel’s relations with his spiritually gifted host Rosa Diamond, who utilized him to produce spectral visions of her past, thereby ascertaining Gibreel’s role as an inspirational midwife. These spectral visions demonstrated that Rosa Diamond had sought a new beginning in Argentina but had to return back in consequence of an extramarital affair that went wrong. Evidently, this episode symbolized British yearning for the lost empire, and Rosa Diamond’s honest encounter with her past, albeit painfully slow, contrasted with contemporary Islamic attitudes toward the historic satanic verses incident, which essentially has been defined by refusal. Chapter III.3 expanded on the humiliation of ethnic migrants through the use of supernatural imaginary. Saladin, undeniably transformed into a half-man half-goat, was tortured by constables. Chapter III.4 chronicled another stage in Saladin’s fall. It expanded on Saladin’s recent realization that his English wife was having an affair with another subcontinental migrant, Jumpy Joshi. Jumpy’s amateur poetry explicity grappled with Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech. This was the first of several allusions to Powell’s xenophobic vision in the novel that would eventually prove to be prophetic. Chapter III.5 narrated Gibreel’s voyage to London in search of mental and romantic relief. There, he finally met his lover, Alleluia, another seer. Yet due to tension caused by his recent supernatural experiences, Gibreel’s mental state further deteriorated, and it became increasingly unclear whether he was an angel or delusional.

      Part IV, titled Ayesha, presented Rushdie’s contrasting evaluation of contemporary perspectives for the future Islam. Its title, a feminine name, was a nod to Islamic misogyny and proposals to overcome it. Arguably, part IV was the most enigmatic chapter of The Satanic Verses. It was composed of two seemingly disparate stories except that they both included an Ayesha character. The first of these was the story of the Imam, who vaguely corresponded to Ayatollah Khomeini of the Iranian revolution—and perhaps this explained Khomeini’s notorious death threat against Rushdie. The Imam was a religious purist, a dogmatic religious leader with an ahistoric perspective on his faith, who was hate-laden and lusted for revenge. His archenemy was Ayesha. He succeeded in returning to Desh and ending her rule. But the Imam’s violent revolution and triumph contrasted with the peaceful return of Mahound to Jahilia later in the novel. The second story in part IV was that of a fictional Islamic prophetess, also called Ayesha. In contrast to the hate-laden Imam, she was an erotic figure who evoked love and inspired hope. She peacefully convinced fellow villagers in India for foot-pilgrimage to Mecca, the sacred heartland of Islam in Arabia, and—practically—to their doom. Of note, Ayesha’s attempted pilgrimage was loosely based on the 1983 Hawkes Bay case in Pakistan. Although Ayesha’s prophetic career eventually corresponded to a suitable path for Islamic reformation, part V was more so a device for showcasing the third-world condition, including rural poor in the fringes of modernity and internal divisions of the modernizing elite. The rural poor basically all joined the ranks of Ayesha’s mobile congregation, and a prominent wealthy urbanized couple effectively broke up because of her: Mishal became her foremost disciple and the Mirza her foremost opponent.