Quotes from bookThe Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters. The title refers to the satanic verses, a group of Quranic verses that refer to three pagan Meccan goddesses: Allāt, Uzza, and Manāt. The part of the story that deals with the "satanic verses" was based on accounts from the historians al-Waqidi and al-Tabari.In the United Kingdom, The Satanic Verses received positive reviews, was a 1988 Booker Prize finalist and won the 1988 Whitbread Award for novel of the year. However, major controversy ensued as Muslims accused it of blasphemy and mocking their faith. The outrage among Muslims resulted in a fatwā calling for Rushdie's death issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, on 14 February 1989. The result was several failed assassination attempts on Rushdie, who was placed under police protection by the UK government, and attacks on several connected individuals, including the murder of translator Hitoshi Igarashi.
“When you throw everything up in the air anything becomes possible.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Source: The Satanic Verses
“Nobody can judge an internal injury by the size of the superficial wound.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Variant: You can't judge an internal injury by the size of the hole.
Source: The Satanic Verses
“The world, somebody wrote, is the place we prove real by dying in it.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Source: The Satanic Verses (1988)
“Masks beneath masks until suddenly the bare bloodless skull.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Source: The Satanic Verses
“Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Source: The Satanic Verses
“Not all possibilities are open to us. The world is finite; our hopes spill over its rim.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Source: The Satanic Verses
“From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.”
Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses
Source: The Satanic Verses
