In September 1988, the controversial name of a novel was heard in the British book market, which has not been forgotten to this day.
The publisher of this book, which was one of the institutions affiliated with Penguin Publishing Group, had published this novel with the initial half-a-million pounds investment of a Zionist Jew. The author of the book was an Englishman of Indian origin named Salman Rushdie. His family were of that Muslims who left their country because they were enamoured with the West. Therefore, hating its origin and past, this family moved towards the empire of its dreams, that is the United Kingdom. It is been said that Salman Rushdie’s father converted to Baha’ism and therefore he spent most of his wealth on the development of this movement.
Satanic Verses, the fifth book by Salman Rushdie, was published in 547 pages. In this work, which includes nine chapters, Rushdie recounts the history of the early days of Islam in a fictional and mythical way and in accordance with his personal narrative. The main theme of the book, which is often repeated in the story, is based on a historically fabricated story at the beginning of Islam, which is known as the “Myth of Gharaniq” or “Beautiful Birds.” It should be mentioned that this story is mentioned in some works, including Tabari’s “The History of al-Tabari,” but there are clear and well-founded historical reasons which prove this story is not a historical fact.
According to the myth of Gharaniq, in the first years of the Prophethood, one day Prophet Muhammad (s) and some Muslims were sitting next to the Ka’bah. The Prophet (s) was reciting Surah al-Najm. Then he stated: “Have you considered Lat and ‘Uzza? and Manat, the third one?” (Qur’an, 53:19-20)
The Prophet (s) immediately continued: “They are beautiful, high-ranking birds, and their intercession is anticipated.”
At that moment the Noble Prophet (s) went into prostration and the polytheists who were absolutely thrilled to hear the name of their gods also prostrated together with the Muslims. This event is considered to mean the reconciliation of polytheists and Muslims and when the Muslims who due to the oppression of the polytheists in Makkah had migrated to Abyssinia, heard about this incident, they became happy and decided to return to the land of Hijaz.
Nonetheless, Gabriel immediately informed Prophet Muhammad (s) that the phrase “They are beautiful, high-ranking birds, and their intercession is anticipated” is not part of the divine revelation and they are Satan’s inspirations. Being mightily saddened for hearing this, Prophet (s) said: “I have spoken what God did not say to me.”
Those who fabricated this myth claim that after this incident the following verses were revealed to drive out the sadness of Prophet Muhammad (s): “They were about to beguile you from what Allah has revealed to you so that you may fabricate something other than that against Us, whereat they would have befriended you. And had We not fortified you, certainly, you might have inclined toward them a bit. Then We would have surely made you taste a double [punishment] in this life and a double [punishment] after death, and then you would have not found for yourself any helper against Us.” (Qur’an, 17:73-75)
It should be noted that this story has not been mentioned in any of the authentic Sunni books, and no trace of it can be found in Shi’ah books either. Tabari recounts the story of Gharaniq from one of the men of the Banu Qurayzah tribe who clearly had enmity with the Messenger of God (s). In addition, it should be said that when these verses were revealed, the Prophet (s) was in Makkah living under political pressure, and hence it was not possible for him to gather the Muslims next to the Ka’bah or the idol house of the polytheists and speak to them. On the other hand, Allamah Tabatabai has mentioned the occasion of the revelation of verses 73-75 of Surah al-Isra in his Tafsir al-Mizan: “The polytheists asked the Messenger of God (s) to stop slandering their gods and to stop communicating with and welcoming their slaves and maidservants who had converted to Islam because they see sitting together with their slaves and hearing God’s revelations as a shame and disgrace. On such an occasion, the verse in question was revealed.” Thus, clearly, these verses have nothing to do with the story of Gharaniq.
Rushdie’s story begins with the crash of a hijacked plane over the English Channel. Following this incident, all passengers are killed except for two people who are the heroes of Rushdie’s story. Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, are considered the symbols of the angel and Satan in this story. When the plane splits in half and the passengers fall down, Gibreel and Saladin fell into the water as well. They actually start a new life, or in other words, they go through reincarnation and enter into the world of dreams and fantasy. Gibreel enters the age of the Prophet of Islam (s). In this section, Rushdie, several times and in various forms, brings up the relationship of the Prophet (s) with his friends and enemies and the myth of the Satanic Verses. He changes some names and uses some others as they had been mentioned in historical accounts. For example, the name of the Messenger of God (s) has been changed to Mahound (meaning Devil) and Abu Sufyan to Abu Simbel, whereas “Hind” and “Ayesha” are among the ones used in their original form. Unfortunately, Rushdie attributed moral deviations to the noble personality of Prophet Muhammad (s) and his companions while using the most disgusting words to ridicule the rules of Islam.
In addition to his journey to the early days of Islam, Gibreel at another stage in London meets a cleric named “Imam,” who leads a great revolution in Iran. At this stage, Rushdie portrays the Islamic Revolution as backwardness against civilization, democracy, science and freedom and says that this is Islam. He has used the names of the Prophet’s companions to show the complete connection between the Islamic Revolution and the Imam with the Prophet (s) and Islam. For example, Salman Farsi is the Imam’s bodyguard, Bilal controls the radio transmitter, Ayesha is a woman who is present in the Imam’s life and so on.
Whereas the publication of this book was met with praise and awards from the Western world and Zionism, it faced anger and excommunication in the Islamic world. The first protests took place in the Indian subcontinent. Due to their familiarity with the English language, the Muslims of this region were the first to know the contents of the book. In November 1988, the sale of “The Satanic Verses” was banned in India. After India, Pakistan and some other Islamic countries also did the same. In January 1989, Muslims protested and burned this book in Bradford, the United Kingdom. One month later in February, seven people were martyred during the demonstrations held by Muslims in India and Pakistan in front of the American Cultural Centre. Finally, on 14 February 1989, Imam Khomeini’s fatwa was issued regarding the apostasy of Rushdie and the publishers of the Satanic Verses. Following his order, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran declared the February 15th as the National Day of Mourning, the maraje (sources of emulation) closed their lessons, and the 15 Khordad Foundation set a prize for the one(s) who could implement Imam Khomeini’s fatwa.
The West launched a propaganda campaign in an attempt to cancel Salman Rushdie’s death sentence. Imam Khomeini (ra) immediately declared decisively that “even if Rushdie repents and becomes the most pious man of all time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he has got, his life and wealth, to send him to Hell.”
Imam Khomeini’s courageous approach to this issue is of special importance given that Iran was in a post-war condition and the world public opinion believed it no longer holds to its fundamental positions.
A few days later, in early March 1989, European countries particularly the United Kingdom recalled their ambassadors from Iran in protest against the position of the Iranian government and under the pretext of defending the freedom of expression. Mir-Hossein Mousavi the then Prime Minister of Iran announced that Iran will take countermeasures in this regard. After these events, the Islamic World took a unified stance and on March 16, 1989, at the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Riyadh, the leaders of Muslim countries called the Satanic Verses a blasphemous work and recognized its author as an apostate. In April 1989, European countries began to retreat and decided to return their ambassadors to Tehran. the United Kingdom severely criticized the European Community for the decision to return their ambassadors to Tehran accusing the member states of submitting to Iran.
After the issuance of the fatwa, Salman Rushdie was deprived of an open and free life and is still living in secret. Following the printing of several million copies of his book, Salman Rushdie became rich but this wealth never brought him pleasure. Annually, the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service spends millions of pounds to protect Rushdie. For a long time, he was not allowed to sleep in the same house for two nights. Within a year after issuing the fatwa, he changed his residence 83 times.
Reference: The Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution.
Archive of The History of the Islamic Revolution
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