SATANIC AFFAIR RUSHDIE

by Malise Ruthven

Book by Ruthven, Malise

Genres: Islam

184 pages, Hardcover

First published February 27, 1990

About the author

Malise Ruthven is the author of Islam in the World, The Divine Supermarket: Shopping for God in America, A Satanic Affair: Salman Rushdie and the Wrath of Islam and several other books. His Islam: A Very Short Introduction has been published in several languages, including Chinese, Korean, Romanian, Polish, Italian and German.

A former scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Services, Dr Ruthven holds an MA in English Literature and a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University. He has taught Islamic studies, cultural history and comparative religion at the University of Aberdeen, the University of California, San Diego, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire and Colorado College.

Now a full-time writer, he is currently working on Fundamentalism: A Very Short Introduction and Arabesque and Crucifix, a study in comparative religious iconography.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant]

On Goodreads, we are all Charlie.
Nous sous sommes tous Charlie.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good analysis of what prompted Islam to declare a fatwa against Rushdie. The author makes the point that rather than this being a worldwide thing, the protests and book burnings mainly happened in the UK where some parts of the Islamic communities were finding it difficult to integrate into Western culture and saw Rushdie as a traitor. This was by no means completly widespread, I loved that he drew attention to the Islamic feminist women's group in London who protested in support of Rushdie who was making a point against some of the misogynist elements of Islam in The Satanic Verses. I was also fascinated by the MP Keith Vaz's stance of publicly condemning the book (although reading in Rushdie's memoir Joseph Anton, behind the scenes Vaz initially offered him support). Despite the age distance, this is still a very relevant book in the author's coverage of the history of Islam in the UK and the analysis of the differing opinions towards Western culture and how immigrants integrate.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book which brings sanity to the Rushdie Affair.