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Masthead Logo The Iowa Review Volume 20 Article 42 Issue 1 Winter

1990 Rushdie's "The aS tanic Verses" and Heretical Literature in Islam Saadi A. Simawe

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Recommended Citation Simawe, Saadi A.. "Rushdie's "The aS tanic Verses" and Heretical Literature in Islam." The Iowa Review 20.1 (1990): 185-198. Web. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17077/0021-065X.3863

This Contents is brought to you for free and open access by Iowa Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in The oI wa Review by an authorized administrator of Iowa Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and Heretical Literature in Islam

Saadi A. Simawe

a of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses As postmodern critique Islam, should be understood, I think, in the context of the ancient but on-going after the battle between philosophy and theology, begun immediately death ofMuhammad (d. 632). Scholars familiarwith the formative period find the seeds of this ancient not in of Islamic philosophy may quarrel only the very early period of Muhammad's Mission (Radinson 110-11) but from even in his own household. Ayesha, Muhammad's favorite wife, to whom the prophet urged all the faithful "draw half of their religion" often Muhammad himself in relation to certain (Saadawi 131), challenged to as Qur'anic verses. When the Qur'an allowed Muhammad marry many "Allah women as he wished, she protested with cynicism, always responds to It is even said that "some immediately your needs" (Saadaw 131). as women in the first Islamic community, such the ancient warrior Nusay bah, were ardent feminists. She asked Muhammad why, in the Qur'an, to men and never to women. The has God always addressed himself legend for thereafter Revela it that God recognized the validity of her question, tion referred to 'believers' in both genders" (Bouhdiba 19). went so as to on occasions that Muhammad did Ayesha far declare many not to on that of Isra nocturnal physically go heaven night (i.e., journal). was She insisted ascension, which ismentioned in the Qur'an (Q.XVILl), it was but a dream, because during that night his body "remained where wife's tes God removed his spirit" (Ibn Ishaq 183). Despite the prophet's not to and believed instead timony, orthodox Muslims chose believe her, on his and/or divine the story of the prophet's night journey magical in led the Gibreel horse, al-Buraq ("the lightning" Arabic) by Archangel This human for the for the and (Gabriel). hunger supernatural, mythical, one issues that The Satanic Verses tries to for the mysterious is of the major explore. As this paper will argue, the main object of the satire in Rushdie's novel is not Muhammad, the "very interesting person" who is "the only prophet as who exists even remotely inside history" Rushdie said (Leonard 348), but the idealization and idolization of Muhammad, and of the Qur'an, the angels, and early Muslim society.

185

University of Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Iowa Review ® www.jstor.org The of schisms and sects in as history Islam documented by Medieval Muslim as Hazm a.h. historians such Ibn (b. 384/a.d. 994), al-Baghdadi (d. 429/1037), and al-Shahrastani (b. 469/1076) reveals the heated and as prolonged speculation concerning basic theological questions such the credibility of Muhammad's prophethood, the validity of the Qur'anic por trayal of God and Satan, the supposedly miraculous I'jaz (inimitability) and divine nature of the Qur'an, and rational discourse in relation to the discourse. the Qur'anic During Renaissance of Islam (3rd-4th/9-10th were centuries), these questions publicly debated. That age of free specula tion endedwhen the door of Ijtihad (the right to individual reasoning in re was closed the ligious matters) by beginning of the fourth century (a.D. In not 900). The Satanic Verses, Rushdie only reactivates long-forbidden so as to theological questions and debates, but goes far question their as validity rational questions: If we, in the twentieth century, cannot seems to prove that God exists, Rushdie cry throughout the novel, how can we in believe the existence of His Archangel Gibreel, let alone inwhat the latter revealed to Muhammad? However, most of these "forbidden" Satanic are nor metaphysical quesions that The Verses raises neither original unthinkable; theywere discussed publicly by many Medieval Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers and writers.

The question of Gibreel's existence and credibility and the Qur'anic ac count were of the relationship between Gibreel and the prophet ques as as tioned early the first century of Islam when several individuals with were same poetic talents claimed that they, too, given holy books by the sources. divine Maslama and Sadjah, two of several prophets who sprang up in Arabia during the general Apostasy after the death of Muhammad, were fought by the state-Islam and, after their defeat, cursed as "false prophets." Their holy books were distorted into jokes or destroyed (The a Muslim sect that in Encyclopedia of Islam). Al-Ghahmiya, emerged the second century (a.D. 9th century), argued that if the Qur'an denies God can one personal and anthropomorphic form, how believe that the Qur'an is in at God's speech, and Arabic that (Madelung 504-25)? Speech, al Ghahmiya argued, requires human organs. Al-Ghurabiya, another sect that flourished around the 4th/10th century, undermined Gibreel's credi bility by arguing thatAli ibnAbi Talib, the prophet's cousin (d. 661), was true a the prophet. Muhammad became prophet through Gibreel's mis was to take. When "the Angel Gibreel commissioned by God bring the

186 revelation to Ali," he gave it toMuhammad because the two were "so like in as to physical features be confused" (al-Baghdadi 67-8). This episode and its bizarre consequences would make wonderful magical realism in the as hands of postmodern novelists such Rushdie. To any serious study of the heretical literature in Islam, including The it is to Satanic Verses, important remember that the Qur'an has always been a to literary and philosophical challenge Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers to and writers. According the Qur'an, Muhammad is just a Messenger from God. Unlike previous prophets, Muhammad, being the last and the sent to a more not final prophet relatively advanced age (7th century), did to as need perform miracles such those done by Moses and Christ and was other prophets. His miracle, the Qur'an insists, the Qur'an itself?a miraculous, inimitable, and divine utterance whose Letters are inscribed in the celestial Preserved Tablet (Q.LXXXV:22) and the Heavenly Arche type (Q.XLIH:4). On many occasions, the Qur'an challenges all humans to one verse and djinn produce comparable (Q.LIL33-4, X:38, XVIL88). to Many prominent writers and poets took the challenge and tried imitate a the Qur'an. Al-Ma'ari (b. 363/973), well-known ascetic, philosopher, as and poet, ridiculed the notion of the prophecy and holy books "mere inventions" In an im myths and (Ibn al-Jawzi 185). his Risalt al-Gufran, to aginary journey to Heaven and Hell, and in contrast the hostile to Qur'anic attitude poetry and poets (Q.XXVI:223-27), Al-Ma'ari puts most in re of the heretical poets paradise. Al-Mutanabbi (b. 303/915), most as garded by critics the greatest Arab poet of all ages, gained his cog nomen a from his leadership of heretical revolutionary movement staged means in Syria in 932. In Arabic, al-mutanabbi "one who claimed prophet an hood," insult the poet claimed with pride. Ibn al-Rawendi (b. the or middle the end of the 4th/10th century ), another stormy figure in the history of heretical philosophy in Islam, "submits," in his Kitab al-Zum to murrddh, "mordant criticism the idea of prophecy in general and the pro to phecy of Muhammad in particular. According him, religious dogmas cannot reason to be accepted by and ought therefore be rejected. The to are miracles attributed the prophets pure inventions. The Kuran not a at not or [Qur'an] is revealed book all and does possess either lucidity inimitable beauty" (Ency. of Islam). most However, the significant intellectual anti-Quar'anic movement in was Islam al-Mu'talizila which flourished during the 3rd-4th/9th-10th

187 centuries. Its powerful and widely accepted argument forced state-Islam to during the Caliphate of al-Maamun (b. 170/789) recognize its main doctrine concerning the createdness (the historicity) of the Qur'an. The were con Mu'tazilites, who primarily rationalists, refuted the orthodox on a as cept of the pre-existence of the Qur'an Heavenly Table beside God a downright idolatory. By vigorous analysis of particular historical refer ences in the Qur'an, the Mu'tazilites demonstrated the impossibility of the uncreatedness of the Qur'an: How can one accept the absurd notion that to or were God had talked Moses Muhammad before they created, the Itwas Mu'tazilites questioned (Guillaume 106-9). during this period of Is most lamic Renaissance cherished by the latitudinarian Caliph, al-Maamun, that the well-known The written at the Court al Apology of al-Kindy of Maamun A.D. in was (AM. 215; 830) Defense of Christianity Against Islam not publicly debated. The Christian writer of The Apology only rebuffed to his Muslim friend who invited him accept Islam, but vigorously at tacked the very foundations of Islam: He denounced the prophetical claims of Muhammad, his and his wives' moral integrity, his plagiarism of Chris as as tian heritage, his Message Satanic, and his Book, the Qur'an, imper a com fect, inspired by Christian Monk called Gabriel, tampered with and posed by different hands through generations (Muir 19, 25, 29). a a Less than century later, group of Muslim thinkers calling themselves ca. Ikhwan al-Safa (i.e. Brothers of Purity, 350/961) took the Mu'tazilite a concept of the createdness of the Qur'an step futher by declaring in their Epistles:

was sent to an com Our prophet, Muhammad, uncivilized peeople, a con posed of dwellers in the desert, who neither possessed proper nor ception of the beauty of this world, of the spiritual character of the world beyond. The crude expressions of the Koran [Qu'ran], are to must which adapted the understanding of that people, be a sense are more understood in spiritual by those who cultured.

was or Their humanistic vision of Islam expressed in their rejection of the thodox "belief in theGod of Anger, in the punishment of Hell and the like [as being] irrational" (De Boer 94). The battle between secular philosophy and Islamic theology during medieval times reached its highest point in the dialogue between the two

188 philosophical giants of the time, IbnRushd (Averroes in Latin, b. 520/ 1126) and al-Guzzali (Algazzel in Latin, b. 450/1058). InRefutation of al-Gazzali attacked the claim of to Philosophy, philosophy higher truth and held is a safer access to In that religion knowledge. his Refutation of the Refutation of Philosophy, IbnRushd proclaimed that:

Theologians did not have the right to intervene in this activity [phil nor to was as an osophy], judge its conclusions. Theology necessary it must intermediate discipline, but always be under the control of philosophy.

Nevertheless, Ibn Rushd seemed to be wiser than Rushdie. His elitism to and deep distrust of the layman's ability appreciate higher knowledge to warn nor compelled him that "neither philosophers theologians should to verses unveil the people their interpretations of the ambiguous of the Qur'an" (Eliade 137). to to But Rushdie, like the Hallajan Satan in his refusal bow anyone but God, and like Muhammad himself in his insistence on the destruction of too too to the idols inMecca, is honest and stubborn compromise. In the face of the angry mobs and the death threats unleashed by The Satanic tries to a Verses, Rushdie his best remind Muslim protestors of simple his torical fact:

one Muhammad Ibn Abdalla, of the great geniuses of world history, a successful businessman, victorious general, and sophisticated as as a on statesman well prophet, insisted throughout his life his are no simple humanity. There contemporary potraits of him because were he feared that, if any made, people would worship the por was a was traits. He only messenger; it the message that should be revered. (Rushdie, "Burning" 26)

not to a most Here Rushdie only refers fact of history recognized by the authoritative Muslim and Western biographers of Muhammad, but he ? also recapitulates the basic theme of The Satanic Verses the individual's to on nature right free speculation the of Muhammad's Revelation and Prophethood. The resulting dialogue between Rushdie and the infuriated now Muslims, which has been broadcast internationally, and inwhich the

189 are boundaries between fiction and reality almost totally obliterated, may as be read the most compelling, though unwritten chapter of the novel. For the dominant element in this extremely complex polyphonic novel is means in the dialogue between Gibreel Farishta ("farishta" Angel Urdu actor and Persian), the who has lost his faith, and all of Islamic history. After his loss of faith and under the spell of his angelic name, Gibreel Farishta keeps changing into the Archangel Gibreel and becomes fas starts to cinated with the freedom he enjoy in parodying and mocking Is lamic narratives and their main characters.

Throughout the novel, Gibreel Farishta and/or the Archangel Gibreel to the vehemently tries vindicate himself/themselves from responsibility to or to of delivering any revelatory messages the prophet Mahound, the or to exiled Imam, the mystic Ayesha, the butterfly-girl:

as are All around him, he thinks he half-dreams, half-wakes, people But not never hearing voices, being seduced by words. his; his origi en nal material. ?Then whose? Who is whispering in their ears, to move abling them mountains [Mahound], halt clocks [the exiled Imam], diagnose disease [Ayesha the butterfly-girl]. (Rushdie, Verses 234)

Each of these three characters has significantly distinct mystical experi more or Gi ences with the Archangel Gibreel. Each of them less employs to or or breel, the passive one, fulfill his her political, psychological, moral needs. Mahound is the most practical, most tentative, "most pragmatic" are prophet (381); his revelations of convenience (365). Overwhelmed by it to the his mystical experience, Mahound interprets according philosoph were ical "sciences" available in the Arabia of the 7th century where people obsessed with receiving prophets from heaven whenever social conditions became unbearable.

As the novel indicates, Mahound's struggle against Jahilia (Arabic for Ig a name to to not norance, used refer the pre-Islamic society of Arabia) is just religious, it is also economic and social (104). Significantly, Ma as see are water hound's followers, the wealthy of Jahilia them, "the . . . some carrier Khalid and sort of bum from Persia by the outlandish name to scum is of Salman, and complete this trinity of there the slave

190 one an enormous Bilal, the Mahound freed, black monster" (101). The circumstances that lead Mahound to utter the famous Satanic verses are in vividly and insightfully described the novel. The entire chapter titled a "Mahound" suggests that Revelation is highly complex historical and psychological phenomenon. Too many visible and invisible factors partici in a pate shaping the final version of Revelation. And the Archangel Gi a to breel, exactly like the figure of Satan, is convenient way explain Reve lation and Temptation. When Abu Simbel, the Grandee of the Jahilia, a offers Mahound deal for mutual recognition, that is,Mahound's recogni tion of the three female idols in return for the Jahilia's tolerance of the new in at religion, the businessman Mahound jumps the opportunity (105). in starts to con But the prophet/reformer Mahound suffer the pangs of science and the blame of the hungry and humiliated disciples (105): "Ma it hound's anguish is awful. He asks: is possible that they [the three female ? are can I idols] angels? Lat, Manat, Uzza call them angelic? Gibreel, have you got sisters? Are these the daughters of God? And he castigates am an a himself, O my vanity, I arrogant man, is this weakness, is it just I a seat on dream of power? Must betray myself for the council?" (111). When, finally, Mahound, tormented by the businessman and the retreats to to prophet within, Mount Cone consult the Archangel Gibreel, is comes to me me to the latter nonplussed: "Mahound for revelation, asking some choose between monotheist and henotheist alternatives, and I'm just idiot actor a I to having bhaenchud nightmare, what thefuck do know, Yaar, what tell you, But no to help. Help" (104). Mahound has choice; he needs the Revelation a support his pragmatic designs. After long painful struggle with the as Archangel, the Revelation Mahound wishes, and the words of happens" verses come the Satanic out 'Have you thought upon Lat and Uzza, and Manat, the third, the other' ?After the first verse Hind gets to her feet; the Grandee of Jahilia is already standing very straight. And Mahound, are with silenced eyes, recites: 'They the exalted birds, and their interces " sion is desired indeed' That we are a (114). was, told, "desolating triumph the man in tent of business the of the unbelievers" (115, italics mine). Then who or what makes Mahound believe that those three verses were must recant inspired by Satan, and that he quickly them and "strike them ever from the record for and ever" (123)? Not the Archangel Gibreel, for sure. starts to Actually, Mahound, for many practical reasons, suspect the in wisdom his acceptance of Abu Simbel's deal. Immediately after his

191 utterance ofthose verses, Mahound feels that he weakened morally. In the events same ominous that happened during the night of the concession, Mahound reads his own moral downfall: the forces of darkness and chaos were unleashed in the city of Jahilia; several murders shocked the entire city that night; Mahound found himself sleeping in Abu Simble's wife's silky bed with a bursting hangover (119); his disciples, feeling betrayed, a fell in "the grip of self-destructive unhappiness" and started drinking heavily (117). Symbolically, to Mahound's dismay, the triumph of the businessman in him was, in fact, the triumph of the social forces he ini set out to It seems tially change. that the guilt he felt and the social chaos he thought he endorsed by recognizing the moral establishment of the Ja hilia collaborate in one way or another to make him blame the utterance of on the three verses Satan. Through the detailed description of the circum stances that influence Mahound's mind, the novel seems to suggest that it nor is neither Satan Gibreel who inspires prophets. Rather, it is social forces, the historical moment, and the pressing needs of that moment. After all Mahound was able, due to the social reaction to those verses, to

distinguish between the sacred and the profane. contrast to In Mahound, whose personality is complex, whose mind is ex tentative, and whose will is always flexible, the exiled Imam is in effect iled from history, from life, from the flux of time (210, 212, 213). His slo gans are "Burn the books and trust the Book; shred the papers and hear the as was to Word it revealed by the Angel Gibreel the Messenger Mahound and explicated by your interpreter and Imam" (211). To the Imam, "His a a sum tory is deviation from the path, knowledge is delusion, because the on to of knowledge was complete the day Allah finished his revelation to commune Mahound" (210). Like Mahound, the Imam claims with the us Archangel Gibreel. But the Archangel tells that he only weeps in the even chilling presence of the Imam. Significantly, the Archangel Gibreel, the eternal passive, reticent, and inert, protests the Imam's concept of " " love: 'That isn't love,' Gibreel, weeping, replies, 'It's hate' (214). In pro were claiming that History and Knowledge completed with the death of Mahound, the Imam has virtually turned Mahound and the Qur'an into idols, the very practices that Mahound revolted against thirteen centuries ago. In his rejection of History, Time, Change, and Progress, the Imam has exiled himself in the idolized past andwaged Jihad (holywar) against humanity and life. Furthermore, in abusing the Archangel Gibreel by

192 a contrast to to riding him like flying carpet ?in Mahound who used let to the Archangel wrestle him the ground (124) ?the exiled Imam is deny ing the human and humane possibilities of the moral imagination:

to on Gibreel speaks querulously, hide his fear. "Why insist arch are angels? Those days, you know, gone." The Imam closes his eyes, sighs. The carpet extrudes long hairy tendrils, which wrap themselves around Gibreel, holding him fast. com "You don't need me," Gibreel emphasizes. "The revelation is me plete. Let go "(212).

Allegorically, the exiled Imam may represent the idea of religious fanati cism in general, and Islamic fundamentalism in particular. Ayesha the butterfly-girl is the third character in the novel who under utterances as a stands her mystical experience and divine Revelation an through the Archangel Gibreel. Like Mahound, she is orphan and epi leptic (221). Unlike Mahound, she is living in the twentieth century in the see Indian Muslim village, Titlipor. When the villagers first Ayesha eating a as a the butterflies that accompany her like colorful sari, they think of her as demented girl (221). But when she diagnoses Mrs. Akhtar's disease starts to a cancer, the entire village consider her prophetess. Like Ma to hound and the exiled Imam, Ayesha is endowed with the capability commune with the Archangel Gibreel. Her relationship with the Angel, as into Ayesha claims, developed marriage (225). But the Archangel denies on having "laid finger her" (226). Like the exiled Imam, Ayesha hates the other sex (221); like him she looks (though she is only nineteen years old) as more very old and her hair has turned "as white snow" (225). When vil start to more lagers believe Ayesha's miracles, she feels confident to reveal to or them the divine Message she received from the Archangel: She is to on a to across dered by God lead the villagers pilgrimage Mecca walking the Arabian Sea. Like Mahound, using her magical power of language, more more Ayesha mesmerizes and villages: "Everything is required of us, and everything will be given" (233). an Despite the opposition of Mirza Saeed Akhtar, atheist whose Euro were pean wife and mother-in-law seduced by Ayesha, the majority of the start villagers abandon their vocations and preparing for the historic pil waters sea to grimage when the of the will part and they will walk Mecca

193 on sea. the bed of the Arabian After days of walking towards the shore, water see the pilgrims' feet touch the and they, actually, the parting of the to save Arabian Sea. Yet Mirza Saeed Akhtar, who desperately tries his sea not wife from drowning, insists that the did part. Despite the fact that are to "already the drowned bodies floating shore, swollen like balloons to and stinking like hell" (505), the survivors, Mirza Saeed's Akhtar's swear saw sea fury, that they the divide "like hair being combed" (504). are to Whom we, readers, supposed believe in this case? The Archangel Gibreel and/or Gibreel Farishta do not deny the possibility of seeing as one to. things wishes The Archangel Gibreel, from his experiences with to all kinds of prophets, is already familiar with that. But certain clues the matter are truth of the scattered through the chapter. Ayesha's butterflies are we are to not, told, butterflies, but "hopes long since shown be false" are (222). Moreover, the butterflies directly associated with death and dy or so a ing: "they had been the famliar spirits, the legend ran, of local woman as to saint, the holy known only Bibiji, who had lived the age of two hundred and forty-two" (217). Significantly, Mirza Saeed Akhtar, to who refused believe in Ayesha and her miracles, succumbs "on the last night of his life" (506) to the reality of the butterflies and the possibility of sea. the parting of the as ex Ayesha the butterfly-girl and the exiled Imam may be viewed two as one tremes forced to meet uncompromising idea: the exiled Imam as to pure idealization and idolization of the past; Ayesha, being married as the Archangel Gibreel and clothed with butterflies, death and fascina more tion with the otherworld. Comparatively, Mahound is complex, more human; he may represent the middle ground between Ayesha and the exiled Imam. Actually, the Archangel Gibreel, who spends most of to us ex the time defending himself and rarely passes judgment, reveals his perience with the three characters:

a With Mahound, there is always struggle; with the Imam, slavery; but with this girl, there is nothing. (234)

are not Mahound, the exiled Imam, and Ayesha the butterfly-girl the ones only capable of seeing the Archangel Gibreel. Like Mahound, Gibreel see to Farishta is not only able to the Archangel, but he is able become one mes with him through the power of dream. Gibreel Farishta's relevatory

194 It sage from the Archangel is unique: is the message that abolishes all pre as vious messages distortions, inventions, lies, and wish-fulfilling dreams. seems intent on More importantly, Gibreel Farishta quite justifying his own loss of faith and vindicating the Archangel from what the prophets of name. history did in his The essential difference between Gibreel Farishta on one the hand, and Mahound, the exiled Imam, and Ayesha the butter on fly-girl the other, is that Gibreel Farishta, the postmodern artist, does not access to or claim believe in any absolute truth. He is the Apostle of own to doubts, tormented by his inability believe. not means Nevertheless Gibreel Farishta does by any suggest that the were assumes revelatory experiences of the prophets false. He simply the classical stoic attitude of the agnostic. His exploration of Mahound's, Ayesha's, and the exiled Imam's mystical experiences deftly suggests that were not to own prophets, mystics, and Imams able understand their mys tical experiences; hence they probably misled themselves and their fol lowers. Despite his capability of communing with the Archangel, Farishta seems in uninterested claiming any prophethood, primarily because he to as an ex tends understand his experience with the Archangel artistic perience. The capability of seeing and communing with the Archangel seems to an one to Gibreel, Farishta imply, is artistic talent that enables or to momentarily obliterate his her rigid walls of the self and open up the voices of the historical moment. It is similar to what John Keats calls nega to a me tive capability?that gift that allows the greatest artists become or a sense. dium, huge cipher in the Emersonian From this perspective, the to incarnated Archangel, Gibreel Farishta, describes what appears Ma hound as a divine Revelation:

It happens: revelation. Like this: Mahound, still in his nonsleep, be comes rigid, veins bulge in his neck, he clutches at his centre. No, an eas no, nothing like epileptic fit, it can't be explained away that . . . now starts ily; The dragging again the dragging and the miracle our at in his my guts, he is straining with all his might something, to forcing something, and Gibreel begins feel that strength that at own force, here it is my jaw working it, opening shutting; and the to power, starting within Mahound, reaching up my vocal cord and no the voice comes. Not my voice I'd never know such words I'm never was never a classy speaker will be but this isn't my voice it's Voice. (112)

195 seems nor Farishta quite certain that the Voice is neither his voice, the communes Archangel's voice. Every time Mahound with the Archangel, Farishta hears that Voice and does not know where it comes from. Is it from heaven? From Mahound's unconscious? Is it the Voice of the social on as forces that were pressing Mahound's conscience, which is described to very sensitive the social injustices of the time?

Throughout the novel the Archangel Gibreel keeps asking those who commune him a kind are it with crucial question: "What of idea you?" Now our to is turn ask: What kind of idea is the Archangel Gibreel who is open to satans all kinds of ideas (prophets and 123), but feels suffocated by fanat A icism and idolatory (the Imam and Ayesha)? careful examination of the characterization of the Archangel and his interactions with other charac ters as may illuminate his identity. He is described "inert, usually asleep in as in as come to the dream he is life"; people him he always "half-dreams, most ex half-wakes" (234). In his experience with Mahound, which is the tensive one, the Archangel tells us that he is inside and outside Mahound (110); "his dual role is both above-looking-down and below-staring-up" or or (111). In all cases, whether with Mahound, Ayesha, the Imam, were words, the Archangel tells us, put in his mouth. He insists that he nor so. has not given any Messages, should he do What kind of idea, then, is the Archangel? an ever Allegorically, the Archangel may represent the Imagination, expanding energy that keeps rupturing and bursting all kinds of idolized at theories, ideologies, and religions. Hence he feels temporarily home as with the destroyers of idols such Mahound, with the innovators who to use "philosophize with hammers," Nietzsche's phrase. With hammers, often humorous, Rushdie attacks idealized and idolized concepts of Mu to hammad, the Qur'an, the angels, and early Islamic community hoping more liberate the humanistic vision of Islam which has long been impris to oned, like the genie of the Arabian Nights. By allowing Gibreel Farishta commune with the Archangel, who has been monopolized and manipu to seems to lated by the prophets, and hence demystify him, Rushdie elab orate exactly what Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (b. 250/ 864); Rhazes inLatin), the greatest physician of Islam, said in his Fi Nekdh of more than one thousand al-Adyan (Refutation Religions) years ago:

196 men nature cannot All being by equal, the prophets claim any intel or are lectual spiritual superiority. The miracles of the prophets im or to postures belong the domain of pious legend. The teachings of are to one religions contrary the truth: the proof of this is that they one contradict another. It is tradition and lazy custom that have led men to trust are cause their religious leaders. Religions the sole of wars are to the which ravage humanity; they hostile philosophical to are speculation and scientific research. The alleged holy scriptures books without values, (see Ency. of Islam and Hodgson 431-33)

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