The Satanic Verses: Salman Rushdie, Ayatollah Khomeini, and the Fatwa to Kill Rushdie Artwork

StocktonAfterClass

Ron Stockton was a professor of political science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn for 48 years. His specialty was non-western politics and political change. He taught classes on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Religion and Politics, the Politics of Revolution, Non-Western politics, and American politics. He also taught in the Honors Program, focusing upon foundational readings from the 18th and 19th centuries. He has an interest in religion and politics and in the role of religio-ethnic groups in the political system. The listener can anticipate talks on Arab-Americans, Jews, African-Americans, the Scots-Irish, and Evangelicals. He has lectured and written on American politics, public opinion, and voting behavior and on the role of religious organizations and ideologies in the political system. There will be occasional discussions of books and films that address serious issues. And he has lectured and published and even taught a class on gravestones, especially those of different ethnic and religious groups such as Muslims, African-Americans, Jews, and Native Americans. The goal of the podcast series is to provide analysis and commentary by a political scientist to explain and make accessible political, historical, and cultural developments in the United States and around the world, and to give the listener analytical tools to understand those developments. It is also to entertain the listener.

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The Satanic Verses: Salman Rushdie, Ayatollah Khomeini, and the Fatwa to Kill Rushdie

August 09, 2021 • Ronald Stockton

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Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie is one of the great English language literary figures. He has won the Brooker Prize for the best Novel in English and was a finalist twice.

The focus of this talk is on the Rushdie novel, the Islamic traditions around the most controversial passages, comparisons with Christian traditions, and the reaction of Ayatollah Khomeini.

But a core focus is upon how we interpret texts, especially religious texts. Consider an incident in the gospels. It is called The Woman at the Well. Jesus is thirsty and asks a woman drawing water if he can have a drink. She says yes and gives him a drink. It turns out she is a “loose” woman, maybe even a prostitute. But that aside there is a problem in translation. In at least one African culture, when a woman gives a man food or drink from her hand, it is a prelude to sex. In that particular translation of the Bible, there is a footnote explaining that Jesus is not hitting on this woman. Lesson 1: Fidelity to the words as written can often be wrong rather than right. Lesson 2: Our understanding can also be wrong, even if we have a clear understanding of the words.

There is also a tension between the overarching goal of revelation (for those who are believers) and specific texts. If the divine goal of revelation is to empower humans to achieve their full potential, then a focus upon a specific text intended to put a check on sin can be in contradiction with the higher goal if it is emphasized in a way that constrains human empowerment by overlooking the higher divine purpose.

All believers want to know God’s Will but God is often opaque in terms of our understanding. (Go back to the podcast on Feuerbach is you missed that one). I am reminded of what the great Catholic theologian Hans Kung said when he came to Dearborn in the 1980s and was challenged from the floor about how he had interpreted a specific passage. The person challenging him had absolute certainty about the meaning of a specific text regarding the future: Kung said, “God does not act to satisfy human curiosity.” Ouch!

Some of you will find this lecture provocative. Good! I hope it is provocative in a way that makes you think.

This was a class lecture. There is some interaction with students and some references to readings. Sorry about that. I thought the lecture came out well and did not want to re-record it.

Books by Salman Rushdie are Satanic Verses and Joseph Anton.

Some terms and names
Qureish, Hagar/Hajar, Ishmael, Abraham/Ibrahim, Mecca, Medina, Gabriel/Jibril, circumambulate, Mahound, Salman the Scribe; Pantheon (a building in pre-Islamic Mecca where there were 360 gods); Taif; demiurge; intersession; garaniq.

Three female goddesses from Taif: Al-lat, al-Uzza, Manat.
Ayatollah Khomeini, fatwa. Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988.
Early biographers: Ibn Ishak, Tabari, Ibn Saad;
Apostasy, blasphemy, heresy.

One glitch: A favorite translation of the Bible is The Jerusalem Bible, not The Jefferson Bible. (There is a Jefferson Bible, consisting entirely of the words and teachings of Jesus, but it is not the one I mentioned).

Thoughtful Comment: Stocktonafterclass@gmail.com