Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Everyone, Muslims and Non-Muslims, Should Read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses

sorry, posting got cut off.

we saw two extremes: the muslim extremists threating those daring to teach the novel, and the fbi going after muslims on campus.

i guess one more irony. i don't think anybody in either of those camps actually read the novel.

and of course it isn't, wasn't, the only novel to voice religious skepticism.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2022 4:54 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Everyone, Muslims and Non-Muslims, Should Read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses

 

i didn't receive death threats. my friend surjit, who tried to teaach Satanic Verses the year before i did, did receive threats and cancelled it. i scheduled it as the first book of the semester so by the time the syllabus was published, it would be too late for anyone to stop it. but as i said, bush invaded iraq, the fbi came too campus and "interviewed" muslim students, including our grad students, essentially intimidating them.

so, we saw two sides: the muslim extremists threatening

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of ovdepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2022 12:38 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Everyone, Muslims and Non-Muslims, Should Read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses

 

Ken,

Powerful account.

Great thanks.

Did you receive death threats yourself, if I might ask?

Toyin

On Sunday, 14 August 2022 at 10:40:03 UTC+1 Kenneth Harrow wrote:

i taught ssatanic verses many years ago--the year after a friend of mine received death threats--to which he bowed--at the proposal to teach the novel. the next year, i taught it in a course on muslim literature. that year bush invaded iraq, and alll the muslim students on our campus wound up being interrogated by the fbi, and were therefore intimidated themselves. (around 2001)

the horrors of the politicization of literature.

in the novel, the protagonist is going crazy, and part of this is due to doubts about the existence of god. he fantasizes about mohammed, which is where these negative images of the prophet arise. at the same time, as toyin says, we learn mohammed had once included verses of his revelation--i.e. in the qu'ran--that acknowledged the existence of 3 goddesses (who happened to be dominant figures in meccan beliefs in the 7^th c. mohammed was no doubt being politic, first in including these verses, and then in rescinding them)

to reinforce my point: rushdie does not portray mohammed in this negative light: he frames the portrayal as arising in the imaginary of a semi-deranged figure undergoing a crisis of belief.

i imagine almost all those who condemn the novel never read it, never understood any of this, and wouldn't care anyway.

further, the fatwa denies to muslims--believers or not--the right to be exposed to thought or literature that is not subject of the approval of imams or jurists. anyone who knows the history of sufism knows how these same injunctions were turned against other muslims. like the religious wars of the west, catholics vs protestants.

it is not a fight against muslims, but also a fight within the world of islam. it is also the fight of modernist values vs traditionalist. it is an ideological, not just religious war. it is also a fight within the islamic world between modernists and fundamentalists.

a fight soyinka himself knows well and joined for many many years.

it is our times.

 

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2022 3:23 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: usaaafri...@gogglegroups.com <usaaafri...@gogglegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Everyone, Muslims and Non-Muslims, Should Read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses

 

We should all read this book to see what the fuss is all about and ask pertinent questions. 

From my reading about the book, I recall.its described as having  a character who bears a name similar to that of Muhammed, the founder of Islam.

This character is depicted as believing himself to be receiving revelations, but is actually insane, hence the term "Satanic Verses" in reference to his revelations.

That depiction would be upsetting to some Muslims  who relate that to Muhammed.

What is the historical source of the term "Satanic Verses"?

Was it invented by Rushdie?

No.

It was invented by Muhammed, to refer to verses he himself expressed as part of his growing revelatory text, the Koran, and which he later rejected as coming from the Devil, upon which he expunged them from the Koranic corpus.

We need to explore the implications of that historical fact, in relation to claims of divine revelation, philosohical and theological challenges to such claims and fictional explorations of their implications.

 Rushdie's book may be seen in terms of a fictional exploration of Muhammed's own experience with the Koran, as framed by Muhammed's own words.

Even if a book is written by the Devil, someone once said, we should read it, so as to understand how the Devil thinks.

Even if Muslims think Rushdie's book is evil and some of those Muslims agree he should be killed for that book, we should all read it and form our opinions.

I wonder how many Muslims, including those who support the death sentence against Rushdie for the book, have read it.

Whatever one may think about the Koran, a text that inspires believers who interpet Islam in both sublime and inhumane ways, we should read it.

Sacred texts, in their greatness and contradictions. power and horror, beauty and evil, are fundamental to humanity's heritage.

We should read as much as we can of as many as we can to better understand the human journey, as we ask necessary questions.

Is divine revelation possible? If so, does it come by human effort or divine initiative?

 If Muhammed had not been praying fervently, would he have had what he described as a divine revelation?

 Having had the revelation, how could Satan have infiltrated themself into the process, as Muhammed claimed he did with the Satanic verses? 

How is one to distinguish between positive and negative revelation and inspiration? How did Muhammed do it?

How should one compare various sacred texts, ancient,modern, Hindu,Eckist?

I have written and published  some sacred texts, and hope to do more.

I also believe I have operated in terms of a degree of inspiration, perhaps spiritual, in doing so, as in my work on developing a new school of Yoruba origin Ogboni philosophy and spirituality.

How should such a claim be assessed?

I am thinking of a parallel reading of the Koran and Rushdie's Satanic Verses to help frame these issues.

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