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The Satanic Verses

You thought Montero was controversial.

By S. FrazerPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you've probably heard about the new music video for Lil Nas X's song "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)."

In it, the singer descends into hell and twerks on, kills, and then replaces Satan.

The controversial video has generated some backlash, with conservative Christians, in particular, condemning the artist's actions as sacrilegious and damaging to his younger fans. The vitriol toward Nas X is undoubtedly due in part to his race and sexuality, and the singer seems to have enjoyed trolling his critics with fake apology videos and a line of satanic, blood-infused shoes.

But I'm not here to talk about Nas X getting it on with the devil.

I'm here to talk about this guy:

This is author Salman Rushdie, whose book The Satanic Verses was so incredibly controversial that it led to bombings, assassinations, and the leader of Iran taking a hit out on him.

You thought Nas X was stirring up trouble.

Rushdie, a British Indian novelist born into a Muslim family, had previously found success in his second book, Midnight's Children, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.

The Satanic Verses, Rushdie's fourth novel, is a work of magic realism. The book centers around characters Gibreel & Saladin, who meet on a flight that is hijacked by Sikh terrorists. A bomb is accidentally detonated, sending the two characters falling into the Atlantic Ocean. The book then features a series of dream sequences that re-interpret the founding of Islam and the life of Muhammad.

The novel was well-received upon its publication in 1988, garnering critical acclaim in the United Kingdom and winning the Whitbread Award for novel of the year.

Controversy soon followed, however, with Muslims around the world furiously condemning the book as blasphemous, offensive, and sacrilegious. In the months that followed, a multitude of protests, riots, and book-burnings took place, and The Satanic Verses was banned in several countries.

Most significantly, in February of 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwa (a decree handed down by an Islamic religious leader) calling for Rushdie's assassination:

I am informing all brave Muslims of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Qur'an, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to death. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill them without delay, so that no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth.

Days later, Iran's President Ali Khamenei suggested that an apology from Rushdie might result in a pardon. Rushdie issued a carefully-worded statement that expressed his regret at having caused offense but stopped short of renouncing the book.

No dice.

In response to Rushdie's apology, the ayatollah released this statement:

Even if Salman Rushdie repents and become 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.

Yikes.

Iranian officials offered a multimillion-dollar bounty for killing Rushdie, and on March 7, 1989, the UK and Iran broke diplomatic relations over the controversy. Rushdie went into hiding and was forced to live under police protection for nearly a decade.

The controversy did not let up. Protests, threats, and bombings persisted, killing dozens and injuring hundreds. In 1991, the novel's Japanese translator was stabbed to death, and the book's Italian translator was seriously wounded. In 1993, its Norwegian publisher was shot three times and seriously injured.

As part of an attempt to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and the UK, in 1998, ten years after the book's release, the Iranian government declared that it would "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie." However, in 2005, the fatwa against Rushdie was reaffirmed by the country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

As recently as 2016, funds have been contributed to the bounty on Rushdie.

How crazy is that? A single book disrupted international relations, sparked dozens of threats, bombings, and assassinations, and forced a respected writer into hiding. And it's impact is still being felt thirty years later.

I first stumbled upon this controversy last year while moping about the criticism my own book was receiving. It made me feel better. My book may have been condemned as rape and slavery apologism, but at least it hadn't gotten people killed, right? It had pissed off a few hundred people on Twitter, but at least it wasn't offending millions of devout Muslims around the world.

(I often use extremes like this to make myself feel better about my own failures. Others to which I have resorted are: "At least I didn't lose the 2016 election against Donald Trump" and "At least I didn't attempt some 'explosive' gender reveal that resulted in a massive wildfire.")

Now, I haven't read the book, but I do admire Rushdie for a comment he made in 1995, when he told an interviewer that his attempt to appease extremists by calling for the withdrawal of The Satanic Verses was the "biggest mistake of my life."

For a variety of reasons, I did not defend my own work, one in which I still wholeheartedly believe, and I relate (on a much, much smaller scale) to this feeling of regret.

But enough about me. Possibly more to come about my failed book in a (No) Regrets Challenge submission, depending on how brave (or stupid) I decide to be.

My own unresolved personal issues aside, I find the Rushdie controversy interesting for several reasons.

First, there are the markedly different conceptions of free speech between Western nations, which generally adhere to a more liberal standard, and more religious states, which encourage more restrictive laws that prevent inflammatory or offensive expression.

This controversy reminds me a bit of the backlash received by Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, a book that was criticized by many Christians as disrespectful to the Catholic Church. It's interesting to note the difference in response and impact between the two novels; one resulted in assassination attempts, while the other was made into a Tom Hanks movie.

Personally, I like it when creatives think outside the box and push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. I believe that freedom of speech extends to the extremes and that pushing those boundaries ensures that our fundamental rights remain intact.

Second, the political backdrop of this controversy is fascinating. It has been argued that the book was targeted by religious leaders not because of its impiety, but to distract, inflame, or influence devout Muslims' perceptions of the cultural and military conflicts of the time.

And third, I'm surprised at how prominent and respected Rushdie still is. The author has emerged from hiding and published an autobiography detailing his experiences in 2012. He is still an esteemed writer who continues to receive recognition and praise for his work. In 2007, he received knighthood for his contributions to literature, and he has his own MasterClass:

This is just a brief overview of this crazy saga. There's plenty of interesting material on Rushdie and The Satanic Verses to be explored. If you're one of those people who like to get lost in Wikipedia pages, here's this one:

On a positive note, Lil Nas X seems to be thriving. "Montero" has topped the charts, and the song's music video has been viewed a whopping 111,000,000 times in just two weeks. The singer has taken on his haters, humorously clapping back at critics ranging from small Twitter accounts to the governor of South Dakota.

While his controversial shoes have been recalled following a lawsuit and settlement between Nike and the company that produced them, Nas X continues to receive praise for his successful marketing and unapologetic self-expression.

Here's to freedom of speech.

Pop Culture
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About the Creator

S. Frazer

She/her • 29 • Aspiring writer

Email: [email protected]

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