mondojohnson

Like many other pseudo-intellectual assholes in the late 80′s/early 90′s, I had many windy opinions about the whole Salman Rushdie affair — without having read “The Satanic Verses” (or anything else by Rushdie, for that matter).

The fatwa against Rushdie has since been lifted, and he is enjoying a sort of hip rebirth. He recently appeared on Bill Moyer’s “Faith and Reason” show, which is what led me to read “The Satanic Verses” at long last. On it, he read a passage in which the Prophet’s scribe begins introducing errors into his transcriptions — innocently, at first; mischieviously, later. So how are we to know which are the Divine and which are the Satanic Verses?

The brilliantly complex plot moves back and forth between these ancient scenes and the present day, where we follow the travails of two actors, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha. They are Indian expatriates living in the UK, and they may well be incarnations of Archangel Gabriel and the Beast… again: which is Divine, which is Satanic? Thankfully, there are no easy or predictable answers.

My sympathies, like Mick Jagger’s before me, tend toward the goat-headed fella.

This books delivers precisely what the title promises, but also adds an excellent “post 9/11″ glossary that defines a lot of the lingo that has emerged in recent years (from the ridiculous to the sublime — e.g. from “Cakewalk” to “al Jazeera”).

A good number of the 100 myths revolve around religious claims to territory and righteousness. The author very sensibly explains that such claims are superflous fanaticism used to tart up political and military goals.

Some of the other debunked myths were a bit more trivial, but every bit as interesting. For instance, Islam does not really forbid alcohol (an Arabic word, I learned), nor does it demand that women wear veils. I was also surprised to learn the the Ayatollah Khomeini never actually issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie: he actually issued something called a kufr, which is more of a generic scolding for infidelity.

I got this book from the library, but will be buying a copy: it’s a very good, clear reference source.