Knowra The Satanic Verses The Satanic Verses A 1988 novel by Salman Rushdie that intertwines two Indian actors’ transformations with migration, religion, identity, and dreams. Its publication provoked an international controversy over blasphemy and artistic freedom.
Gibreel Farishta : A Bollywood actor in Rushdie’s novel who survives a plane crash and experiences visions of an archangel. His visions and unstable identity anchor the novel’s dreamlike religious episodes.
Salman Rushdie : An Indian-born British writer known for novels combining history, politics, fantasy, and satire. He wrote the novel from experiences and literary interests that shaped its setting and style.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini : Iran’s supreme leader from 1979 until his death in 1989 and a central figure of the Islamic Revolution. He issued the 1989 fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death over the novel.
The Satanic Verses controversy : The international political and religious dispute sparked by the publication of Rushdie’s novel. It traces the protests, threats, diplomatic rupture, and violence that followed the book’s release.
Satanic Verses incident : A disputed account in early Islamic sources of verses reportedly recited by Muhammad and later withdrawn. The episode supplies the novel’s title and informs its controversial fictional revelations.
Saladin Chamcha : An Indian actor in Rushdie’s novel who becomes physically demonic after surviving a plane crash. His transformation makes cultural alienation visible as a grotesque bodily change.
Postcolonial literature : Writing that examines the cultural, political, and social legacies of colonialism. The novel explores migration, imperial history, and contested cultural belonging.
Hitoshi Igarashi : A Japanese scholar and translator of The Satanic Verses into Japanese. He was murdered in 1991 amid the international controversy surrounding the novel.
Rushdie affair : The international political crisis following Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie. It names the broader diplomatic and cultural crisis surrounding the novel.
Mahamaya : A fictional Indian village in Rushdie’s novel whose inhabitants follow the prophetess Ayesha on a pilgrimage. The village pilgrimage story turns faith, doubt, and collective belief into a parallel narrative.
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