The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West [Paperback]

Daniel Pipes (Author), Koenraad Elst (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2003

The publication in 1988 of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses triggered a furor that pitted much of the Islamic world against the West over issues of blasphemy and freedom of expression. The controversy soon took on the aspect of a confrontation of civiliations, provoking powerful emotions on a global level. It involved censorship, protests, riots, a break in diplomatic relations, culminating in the notorious Iranian edict calling for the death of the novelist. In The Rushdie Affair, Daniel Pipes explains why the publication of The Satanic Verses became a cataclysmic event with far-reaching political and social consequences.

Pipes looks at the Rushdie affair in both its political and cultural aspects and shows in considerable detail what the fundamentalists perceived as so offensive in The Satanic Verses as against what Rushdie's novel actually said. Pipes explains how the book created a new crisis between Iran and the West at the time--disrupting international diplomacy, billions of dollars in trade, and prospects for the release of Western hostages in Lebanon.

Pipes maps out the long-term implications of the crisis. If the Ayatollah so easily intimidated the West, can others do the same? Can millions of fundamentalist Muslims now living in the United States and Europe possibly be assimilated into a culture so alien to them? Insightful and brilliantly written, this volume provides a full understanding of one of the most significant events in recent years. Koenraad Elst's postscript reviews the enduring impact of the Rushdie affair.

"The Rushdie Affair is a lucid, balanced often startling and ultimately convincing analysis....scrupulously fair, respectful of Islam yet unintimidated by the flood of threats and invective."--Mark Caldwell, Philadelphia Inquirer

"[A] work of impeccable scholarship.Pipes offers a number of conclusions that merit attention at all levels."--Amir Tahiri, Los Angeles Times

Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and a columnist for the New York Post and the Jerusalem Post. Among his books are The Long Shadow: Culture and Politics in the Middle East, In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power (both published by Transaction), Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition, and Friendly Tyrants: An American Dilemma.

Koenraad Elst is a Belgium-based writer on comparative religion, Indian history, and Hindu-Muslim relations.

"Very highly recommended for anyone seeking a better understanding of contemporary Islam in general, and this defining controversy in particular."--Wisconsin Bookwatch

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of several forthcoming books on the subject, this sober study by a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania describes and analyzes the international repercussions to the publication of The Satanic Verses. Pipes demonstrates convincingly that, although Salman Rushdie was preoccupied with the twin issues of religious sensitivities and censorship, he wanted to shake the world without accepting responsibility for what he wrought. Pipes also explains why the book is regarded as blasphemous and why many Muslims are convinced that it is part of a Western conspiracy against Islam. He questions the legality of Khomeni's death edict against Rushdie, and surveys Muslim reactions to the edict and Western responses to Muslim intimidation and state-sponsored terrorism. He shows that, ironically, the strongest opinions on all sides came from those who had not even seen, much less read, the novel.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

There has been a sudden deluge of books about Salman Rushdie and the attempt to silence him. This book, written by an expert on Middle East politics, is one of the better ones. Besides recounting the events that took place between the publication of The Satanic Verses and the Ayatollah's edict, covered elsewhere by the republication of source documents and news accounts (see, for instance, The Rushdie File, LJ 3/1/90), this work examines the text of Rushdie's novel to see why the book was considered blasphemous by the Ayatollah. Pipes suggest that with his knowledge of Islam Rushdie must have known that his book would be considered blasphemous. The text and legality of the edict are also considered. Because of Pipes's expertise, this section and the subsequent evaluation of the re percussions of the edict are valuable, making the book of primary importance in its coverage of this controversy.
- Gor don Stein, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Kingston
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 303 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers; 2 edition (April 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765809966
• ISBN-13: 978-0765809964
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,357,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highlights the Novelty of Fiction as International Conflict, June 16, 2000

By 

"freethoughtmecca" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (Hardcover)

Written shortly after the major events surrounding the Rushdie Conflict (though not before the murder of the Japanese translator of the Satanic Verses), Daniel Pipes provides major insight and perspective into the root causes of this international conflagration. He provides both a breakdown of Rushdie's work, and an explanation of the translation difficulties that further encouraged misunderstanding about the Book's actual contents. He appears to have a steady grasp of Arabic by the bibliography and transliteration, consonant with a fair amount of expertise in analyzing Islam. He provides the Islamic rationales for trying Salman Rushdie for apostasy, and indicates the questionableness of Khomeini's method (not the penalty itself) even under Islamic standards.(Gotta give 'em a trial, a chance to repent over three days, and then chop-chop- at least for the Sunni variety of Islam, though the various madhdhabs or schools of jurisprudence differ on the exact details of divinely sanctioned murder.) After reading the Satanic Verses, I whole heartedly concur that because of its level of erudition and numerous allusions to less familiar (to Westerners) stories from the salvation history of Islam to South Asian culture, it is no surprise how few people actually read the entire novel. But what is rather disturbing about human nature, is that this didn't stop complete Ignoramuses from opining- Pipes provides a multitude of quotes indicating the level of hearsay fed to the masses. Pipes also emphasizes the unprecedented scale of this eruption of world-wide riots and protests, citing works critical of Islam with far graver blasphemies. One blasphemous volume mentioned by Pipes that I found enjoyable was 23 years- a critical biography of the Prophet Muhammad by Ali Dashti, who although Pipes doesn't make reference to it, "disappeared" in 1980's Iran.

Pipes also mentions some of the effects the conflict had on the front lines of bookselling and publishing, pondering over the possible changes the death threats and bombings inaugrated by religious fervor. A decade later, I don't know how to guage his power of prophecy, but his commentary on the complex intersecting issues remain both incisive and fascinating.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of insights, November 13, 2001

By 

Ken Braithwaite (inkster, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (Hardcover)

Here is one example: the title of Rushdie's book. Pipes explains that while in English "the Satanic verses" is a plain ordinary phrase that refers to an embaraasing event in Islamic history, this phrase is not used in Arabic. Most Muslims won't recognize the event by that designation; Muslims call it something quite different. But when "verses" is translated into Arabic the word used refers specifically to Quranic verses. So the title is translated roughly as "The Satanic Verses of the Quran" or "The Satanic Quran".

Don't assume from this that Pipes if profferring an apologetic. He is not; this book is critical of "fundamentalist Islam". But Pipes is careful to explain how such Muslims think and react.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Views the outcry over Rushdie in a larger geopolitical context, September 19, 2005

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (Hardcover)

THE RUSHDIE AFFAIR is Daniel Pipes' analysis of the uproar by Muslims over Salman Rushdie's novel THE SATANIC VERSES from mid-1988 to March 1989, with especial attention on Ayatollah Khomeini's death fatwa and the resulting diplomatic fallout. Though the book was published in early 1990 and so lacks a long-term view of the matter, it is still a valuable and informative historical document.

Pipes explains how the novel is offensive to Muslims, explicating its references to the founding of Islam which the average Western reader wouldn't grasp, as well as Khomeini's edict and voices of support and dissent with it. The second part of the book is an examination of larger issues evoked by the novel's reception, namely the relationship between Iran and the West, the efficacy or lack thereof of censorship and, quite pertinent to our times sixteen years later, the matter of Muslim communities living in the West. Pipes asks if perhaps the greatest danger against speech isn't far-off pariah states like Iran, but rather Muslim communities in Europe which refuse to integrate and wish to eradicate all opposition to Islam and its sharia law in the society around them.

It is clear right away that Pipes has little sympathy for Rushdie. In the short biography of the author, Rushdie is described as a haughty intellectual, an elitist, an a nihilistic Leftist. I thought this was unfair, and showed the author to have little understanding or appreciation of the literary art. However, Pipes' low view of Rushdie allows him to consider in greater depth the question of whether Rushdie deserved the criticism and fatwa. Ultimately, what Pipes feels about the matter is simple bafflement, because the Muslim world during the 20th century tolerated writers and intellectuals who said far worse things about Islam than Rushdie, and there's no real reason why Rushdie should have been singled out for such a great outcry.

The book is informative, but more on its coverage of international relations than any insights on the literary world. If you haven't read THE SATANIC VERSES yet, don't try Pipes' book, because you've been missing out on an entertaining and truly marvelous novel, and it will be baffling to read about a controversy over a book you know nothing about yet. The book may be worth flipping through if you're curious about why Rushdie's novel sparked such a reaction.