MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

The Satanic Verses is the best known and most controversial book by British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. In response to Rushdie's story of the prophet Muhammad, who succumbs to earthly pleasures, and to the more general criticism of religious fanaticism in the book, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini uttered a 'fatwā' (legal decree) in 1989, on both writer and publishers of The Satanic Verses declaring the book blasphemous. Rushdie had to go into hiding and was placed under police protection. Over the years, a number of people have been killed as a result of this 'fatwā'. While obviously, religion is addressed, Rushdie has always emphasised that migration is the main theme of the book. 

The Satanic Verses begins with two Indian actors, Djibriel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, who fall from the sky after a hijacked plane has exploded. They both survive the fall and end up in England. In the course of the story, the main characters transform into, respectively, the Archangel Gabriel and the Devil. The story is written out of the feelings of uprooting, alienation and change that migration entails. Saladin Chamcha tries to give himself and his transformativity a place in a homogeneous country that sees him as a threat to its cherished monoculture. Rushdie presents his hybrid characters – who have split cultural identities, or are trapped between different cultures – as advocates of a diverse, ambiguous and heterogeneous world.