“The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie
This week the class began reading “The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie. We began talking about the controversy surrounding the book, the author, the title, and the two verses said to be given to Muhammad by Satan, inscribed in the Qu’ran, by the angel Gibreel. 
Salman Rushdie because of the title, “The Satanic Verses” was sought after to be killed by Islamic followers, without even reading the book for any fact that may be contained. For several years, Rushdie was in hiding for his life. Some may say it’s just a book, but the followers of the Islamic faith believe it to be blasphemy. This #1 New York Times Bestseller has a comment on the cover by Nadine Gordimer stating, “A staggering achievement, brilliantly enjoyable.” I must say that this novel is quite entertaining (that which I have read so far). The book is broken up into 9 chapters. As you being to open the novel, you come up to an excerpt from Daniel Defoe’s novel “The History of the Devil” 
which begins stating, “Satan being thus confined to a vagabond, wandering, unsettled condition, is without any certain abode; for though he has, in consequence of his angelic nature, a kind of empire in the liquid waste or air, yet this is certainly part of his punishment, that he is… without any fixed place, or space, allowed him to rest the sole of his foot upon.” If that does not peak your interest as to what is actually going to be revealed in this book, I don’t know what else would. I was instantly drawn in. After which, I read another caption, “Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel's publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie's comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The tale of an Indian film star and a Bombay expatriate,
Salman Rushdie because of the title, “The Satanic Verses” was sought after to be killed by Islamic followers, without even reading the book for any fact that may be contained. For several years, Rushdie was in hiding for his life. Some may say it’s just a book, but the followers of the Islamic faith believe it to be blasphemy. This #1 New York Times Bestseller has a comment on the cover by Nadine Gordimer stating, “A staggering achievement, brilliantly enjoyable.” I must say that this novel is quite entertaining (that which I have read so far). The book is broken up into 9 chapters. As you being to open the novel, you come up to an excerpt from Daniel Defoe’s novel “The History of the Devil” which begins stating, “Satan being thus confined to a vagabond, wandering, unsettled condition, is without any certain abode; for though he has, in consequence of his angelic nature, a kind of empire in the liquid waste or air, yet this is certainly part of his punishment, that he is… without any fixed place, or space, allowed him to rest the sole of his foot upon.” If that does not peak your interest as to what is actually going to be revealed in this book, I don’t know what else would. I was instantly drawn in. After which, I read another caption, “Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel's publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie's comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The tale of an Indian film star and a Bombay expatriate, 
Rushdie's masterpiece was deservedly honored with the Whitbread Prize. 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.”
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