20th Annual Student Research Conference
Language & Literature
Sufism as a Model for the Migrant Condition in Rushdie's Satanic Verses
John E. Fausz
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
The study of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses has been linked so concretely with the controversy that has surrounded it, that in most cases a deeper examination of its spiritual core is precluded. There is, however, enmeshed in the novel, what can be seen as a marked influence of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, from which the novel derives an ambivalent spirituality that undermines the arguments of its controversy. By reading the novel through this lens, the main characters, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, should be seen as composite migrant everymen and represent, in their divergent mutations into an angel and a demon, a mystical manifestation of the complementary forces of good and evil. This paper will illuminate the ways in which elements of Sufism are used as motifs in the Satanic Verses. Additionally, the Sufi dimension of the novel, as this paper will argue, allows the reader to come closer to fully understanding the complex spirituality of the Satanic Verses.
Keywords: Salman Rushdie, Islam, Sufism, Mysticism, The Satanic Verses
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 41-1
Location: OP 2111
Time: 1:15 pm