Propaganda and defamation in the guise of entertainment and research.
For the department of English and Media
studies. By Prof DR Sohail AnsariDead line: 11thMayObjectives: Making
students the critical consumer of information. Initiating students into the art
of academic writing.
The Satanic Verses
NOVEL
BY RUSHDIE
‘The Satanic Verses, magic
realist epic novel by British Indian writer Salman Rushdie that upon its publication in 1988 became one of
the most controversial books in recent times. Its fanciful and satiric use
of Islam struck Muslims as
blasphemous, and Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued
a fatwa against the author
in 1989, enjoining Muslims to kill not only Rushdie but also his editors and
publishers. Violent demonstrations followed in Pakistan; copies of the novel were burned in Britain, where several bookstores were bombed; and the work was
banned in several countries.
The Satanic Verses is a
novel not a research article or academic book. But if it could be ignored just
as a novel, there would not have been a fatwa and demonstrations.
‘The Satanic Verses controversy, also known as the Rushdie Affair, was the
heated and frequently violent reaction of Muslims to the publication of Salman
Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, which was first published in the United Kingdom in 1988 and inspired in part by the
life of Muhammad’(P.B.U.H).
‘The
issue was said to have divided "Muslims from Westerners along the fault
line of culture," and to have pitted a core Western value of freedom of expression—that
no one "should be killed, or face a serious threat of being killed, for
what they say or write"—against the view of many Muslims—that no one
should be free to "insult and malign Muslims" by disparaging the
"honour of the Prophet’.
‘Rushdie was awarded
a knighthood for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 16 June 2007. He remarked,
"I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very
grateful that my work has been recognised in this way."
If Rushdie were just a novelist,
the act of awarding would not have sparked an angry reaction from the Muslim
world:
"Awarding a
person who is one of the most hated figures in the Islamic world is a clear
sign of the anti-Islamic stance of high-ranking British officials. …It proves
desecration of Islamic values in the West is totally organised and done with
the support and under the direction of those countries." All countries have a red line in their policies. For
instance, in spite of freedom of speech a university professor and a political
figure loses his job because of denying the Holocaust in Europe. Salman
Rushdie has been a controversial figure who is known less for his literary
contribution and more for his offensive and insulting writing which deeply
hurts the sentiments of Muslims all over the world. Conferment of a knighthood
on Salman Rushdie shows an utter lack of sensitivity on the part of the British
government’.
If Rushdie were just a novelist, he
would not have been lionized, feted and hero-worshipped so lavishly.
Praise for The Satanic Verses
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLER • “[A] torrent of endlessly inventive prose, by
turns comic and enraged, embracing life in all its contradictions. In this
spectacular novel, verbal pyrotechnics barely outshine its psychological
truths.”—Newsday
Praise for The Satanic Verses
One of the most controversial and acclaimed novels ever written, The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie’s best-known and most galvanizing book. Set in a modern world filled with both mayhem and miracles, the story begins with a bang: the terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet in midflight. Two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is angelic and evil. This is just the initial act in a magnificent odyssey that seamlessly merges the actual with the imagined. A book whose importance is eclipsed only by its quality, The Satanic Verses is a key work of our times.
Praise for The Satanic Verses
“Rushdie is a storyteller of prodigious powers, able to conjure up whole geographies, causalities, climates, creatures, customs, out of thin air.”—The New York Times Book Review
Praise for The Satanic Verses
One of the most controversial and acclaimed novels ever written, The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie’s best-known and most galvanizing book. Set in a modern world filled with both mayhem and miracles, the story begins with a bang: the terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet in midflight. Two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is angelic and evil. This is just the initial act in a magnificent odyssey that seamlessly merges the actual with the imagined. A book whose importance is eclipsed only by its quality, The Satanic Verses is a key work of our times.
Praise for The Satanic Verses
“Rushdie is a storyteller of prodigious powers, able to conjure up whole geographies, causalities, climates, creatures, customs, out of thin air.”—The New York Times Book Review
Praise for The Satanic Verses
“Exhilarating, populous, loquacious, sometimes hilarious, extraordinary . . . a roller-coaster ride over a vast landscape of the imagination.”—The Guardian (London)
Praise for The Satanic Verses
“A novel of metamorphoses, hauntings, memories, hallucinations, revelations, advertising jingles, and jokes. Rushdie has the power of description, and we succumb.”—The Times (London)
‘Indian-born
British writer whose allegorical novels examine historical and philosophical
issues by means of surreal characters, brooding humour, and an effusive and
melodramatic prose style.’
Britannica
Referencing is a way to validate research
‘Research
contains citations to validate itself. Citations indicate that it draws on the
ideas, words or research of other researchers or scholars.
Referencing is a way to provide
evidence to support the assertions and claims in one’s own research. By citing
experts, a researcher shows readers that he is aware of the field in which he is
operating. Citations map the space of researcher’s discipline and allow him to
navigate his way through his chosen field of study, in the same way that
sailors steer by the stars.
References should always be accurate,
allowing readers to trace the sources of information a researcher has used. Citations
make writing more persuasive’.
Deception through Referencing
Research involves using other people's ideas and work to develop
work, but if other people's ideas and work are disputed, and controversial,
research relies upon something it must not rely upon, thus becomes dubious
itself despite its acknowledgment of the sources and the use of ‘accurate
references’ those are inaccurate in themselves. People read work and find the
source of the information never knowing that source is itself wrong.
Satanic Verses
‘The
title Satanic Verses refers to a legend of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad, when a few verses were supposedly spoken by him as
part of the Qur'an,
and then withdrawn on the grounds that the devil had
sent them to deceive Mohammad into thinking they came from God’. (by accounts from
Tabari, )
‘Satanic Verses refers
to words of "satanic suggestion" which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad
is alleged to have mistaken for divine revelation. The alleged verses can
be read in early biographies of Muhammad by al-Wāqidī, Ibn Sa'd and Ibn Ishaq,
and the tafsir of al-Tabarī’.
Two main Sources of Rushdie:
Ibn Sa'd
al-Wāqidī
‘Many scholars including Muhammad al-Bukhari hardly ever used Ibn Ishaq narrations in
their sahih books.
According to al-Khaṭīb
al-Baghdādī, all scholars of ahadith do not rely on any of his
narrations. Others, like Ahmad ibn Hanbal, rejected his
narrations on all matters related to fiqh.’
al-Wāqidī
al-Shafi’i (d. 204 A.H.) said "All the books of al-Waqidi
are lies. In Medina there were seven men who used to fabricate authorities, one
of which was al-Waqidi." Ibn Abi Hatim,
vol.4 pt.1 p.21
Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 A.H.) said "He is a liar, makes
alternations in the traditions" Muhammad
ibn Ahmad Al-Dhahabi,Mizan al-I`tidal fi Naqd al-Rijal, vol.
3 page 110
Al-Nasa’i (d. 303 A.H.) said "The liars known for
fabricating the hadith of the Messenger of Allah are four. They are: Arba’ah b.
Abi Yahya in Medina, al-Waqidi in Baghdad, Muqatil b. Sulayman in Khurasan and
Muhammad bin Sa’id in Syria." Yusuf ‘Abbas
Hashmi, Zaynab bint Jahash, ‘Islamic Culture’ vol.XLI, No.1, Hyderabad (India),
1967]
Al-Bukhari (d. 256 A.H.) said "al-Waqidi has been
abandoned in hadith. He fabricates hadith" Muhammad ibn Ahmad Al-Dhahabi,Mizan al-I`tidal fi Naqd
al-Rijal, vol. 3 page 110
Ishaq ibn
Rahawayh (d. 238 A.H.) said "According to my view, he is
one of those who fabricate Hadith"] Ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib
al-Tahdhib, volume 9 page 366 No.604,
Abu Dawood (d. 275 A.H.) said "I do not
write his hadith and I do not report (hadith) on his authority. I have no doubt
that he used to make up hadith" (Ibid)
16. Al-Albani (d. 1999 C.E.) said that al-Waqidi is a liar.(Ibid)
Dubious sources underpinning ‘Satanic verses’.
Satanic verses uses
disputed and controversial ideas and work to validate itself, thus relies upon
something it must not rely upon, and becomes dubious itself despite its acknowledgment
of the sources and the use of ‘accurate references’ those are inaccurate in
themselves.
When one reads
Spencer's book, The Truth About
Muhammad, or The Politically
Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades) one finds dubious sources underpinning the research of his, but the thing
that makes the ‘scholarly work’ of Spencer worse is his ineptitude and incompetence of
examining the context in which
something was said; therefore he misrepresents a text to support a position
that it in fact does not support.
Renowned Evangelical
Protestant scholar Dr. Donald A. Carson ascribed to his father, a Canadian
minister, this phrase which has become widely-used:
"A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text."
Father of Dr. Donald A. Carson must have said
this phrase for the ‘learned people’ like Robert B. Spencer who has
proved that the
context for a Quran or a Scriptural passage is not simply its immediate
location in the paragraph or pericope or chapter or book, but Robert B. Spencer.
Exercise:
Referencing can invalidate research but how can we find out?
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