Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomenei famously issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for a blasphemous passage in The Satanic Verses. The passage made it appear that verses from the prophet Mohammed had really been issued from the devil in disguise. This outraged many Muslims around the world. Considering the book’s difficult subject material, one has to wonder how many of them actually read it, much less understood its contents. The verses were spoken by a (debatably schizophrenic) man who thought he was the archangel Gabriel, so I don't think Rushdie actually meant to offend anyone.
The Satanic Verses has some fascinating religious imagery, and a full serving of Rushdie's unique wit. It begins with an explosion in the sky. Two diametrically opposed human beings fall from an airplane. Both survive the fall, but their ensuing adventures are riddled with supernatural changes that are on par with Biblical themes like Satan's fall in Paradise Lost, which, along with The Arabian Nights, must have inspired this book. Interspersed with the main plots are vivid dream sequences that don The Satanic Verses a masterpiece of magical realism. Some of Rushdie's prose in this book is gorgeous; one of my favorite things about it is the delirious illumination. Who can forget the poetic surrealism of the first chapter, the butterflies after the storm, Allelulia Cone on Mt. Everest, the metamorphosis of London, and all those heads disappearing under the Arabian Sea? Sure, it digressed a lot, but with the way Salman writes, who cares?
The following is my interpretation of everything (spoiler alert). Gibreel the actor becomes possessed by the archangel Gabriel- the Islamic Gabriel, not the Christian one- after the plane crash, as does Saladin become possessed by Satan (or Shaitan). A near death experience can theoretically do this- while you are temporarily dead, your body can be prone to paranormal assault. The dreams that Gibreel have are memories from his past incarnations, each of which are parallel to the rise of monotheism. In the first dream, which is set during the Islamic revolution, Mahound represents Muhammad and Jahilia represents Mecca. Mahound's slaying of the pantheon of goddesses in Jahilia illustrates the beginning of female repression in the Arab world after the birth of Islam. In this past life Gibreel was Mahound, not the archangel that appeared to him. It might be construed that his dreams are from the point of view of the angels, but I think Salman did a brilliant job of making it seem like both. Since Gibreel is possessed by the angel his own memories are interspersed with his, making the dream more convoluted as it mixes the present with the past. As Gibreel's soul fights the archangel for possession, there is a slow psychological deterioration that presents quite an awesome climax in all three plots. This theory is further strengthened by the other dream sequence- the grand pilgrimage to Mecca, which is oddly represented by the India salt march of 1930. In this dream, Gibreel appears to be Gandhi, yet has the appearance of Ayesha, who looks like a fantastical version of Allelulia Cone, his lover in the present. This dream is even more convoluted than the first; it confuses the salt march for a pilgrimage and Gibreel’s lover for Gandhi. The battle for possession in this dream really messed with Gibreel’s head, and we know what happened next.
No comments:
Post a Comment