# Identity, Midnight's Children, the fatwa and the years in hiding

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t0phqrnjjby/s/5/
- Date: 2022-08-19 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Salman Rushdie & The Satanic Verses | Mufti Abu Layth (25:03–27:41)
- Status: latest answer on its topic; general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0pHQRNJjBY&t=1503s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t0phqrnjjby/

**Topics:** Blasphemy, insult and free speech; Book Lounge and book reviews

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says Rushdie's lack of a secure identity runs through his books, and recounts Midnight's Children, Khomeini's fatwa and the years in hiding before turning to The Satanic Verses.

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says that Rushdie, the brown boy who tried to shed his Indian-ness to be accepted by the British while his father became Pakistani, had no secure anchor of identity, Indian, Pakistani, Muslim or British, and that most of his books, The Satanic Verses included, put this struggle into their characters. He mentions that Midnight's Children, about partition and identity, was praised and won an award before The Satanic Verses, and that after the latter was published Rushdie went into hiding for about ten years under the alias Joseph Anton, following Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa calling for his death, with a failed assassination attempt among other attacks. He begins to summarise The Satanic Verses, a novel of 546 pages, listing its main characters, Gibril Farishta, Saladin Chamcha, Pamela Lovelace, Rekha and Mahound, and says the last two are the point of concern.

## Sources and names cited

- Salman Rushdie
- Midnight's Children
- The Satanic Verses (novel)
- Ayatollah Khomeini
- Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie (1989)
- fatwa

## Transcript (machine tier, 25:03–27:41)

[24:54] in salman rushdie's life is look as a child he always wanted to be this yet this inferiority complex for the gori the british raj the british the ingress he comes here and he's not truly one of them the brown kid you know he's the oh from india and he tries to he speaks well he's very very eloquent he's very articulate he tries to copy them he tries to do everything tries to shed his indian-ness almost but whilst he's shedding his indian nurse his dad leaves india to become a

[25:32] pakistani this child who then resents his father has no anchorage of secure identity is he an indian is he a pakistani is he a muslim is he british this deeply troubles him right throughout his life so most of his books are him putting this into characters having identity issues and struggling which is also one of the themes of his book the satanic verses so he does get his book midnight's

[26:10] children has been praised by many people and it's he received that was before satanic verses and he had an award for it he did go into once he published the satanic verses went into hiding for 10 years and lived by the alias joseph anton and we know the fatwa of to la romani against him for his death and there had been several attacks uh there had been a a failed assassination attempt on his life but his his book satanic verses which is the center of our attention right now um

[26:48] very briefly i won't take too much time the book what is it about okay so the book which has 546 pages and it has these key characters gibril farishta saladin jamcha pamela lovelace reika you got mohand the last two are the point of concern okay but the story to just to bring you guys up to speed rapidly it's a novel okay and the story is about these two key characters

[27:25] one is called gibril farishta and the other is saladin champcha now salman rushdie sometimes he tried to play off that oh i wasn't even speaking about islam and i don't know why these people uh he clearly knew what he's doing in other more especially later interviews he acknowledges of course it's about islam i have the right to insult islam i have the right to he feels do these things so in several in fact there's several interviews of his on youtube where he's asked by non-muslims by indians

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment T0pHQRNJjBY/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/t0phqrnjjby/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.