A Bit of This and a Bit of That: Rushdie's Newness Author(s): Qadri Ismail Source: Social Text, No.

29 (1991), pp. 117-124 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466302 . Accessed: 29/01/2014 07:54
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A BitofThisand a BitofThat:Rushdie's Newness

QADRI ISMAIL
I take criticismso seriouslyas to believe that,even in the verymidst of a battle in which one is unmistakably on one side against another, because there mustbe criticalconsciousness thereshouldbe criticism, if thereare to be issues, problems,values, even lives to be foughtfor. the Textand the Critic Edward W. Said, The World,

I We got drunk, Abdullah and I. Abdullah, a political activistfromback home, startedlife as a nationalist; for a long time a Marxist,he now described himselfas a radical humanist.We were open-mouthedall night,words coming out, booze going in. But I could have got highon the chitchatalone. The talk came around,via therecentspate of extremist nationalismsin south Asia, to The Satanic Verses.The fatwa was more thana year old, Rushdie's recantation still to come. "What do you think about the book?" he asked. I like it verymuch.Machang, it makes me feel free,morefree! No one fromour partof the world has done this up to now. Shook a fistback at the mullahs. "Yes I know. I had the same feeling...Did you writesomething?" No. "Why not?" I was out of thecountry at thetime. "What a convenientexcuse!" Abdullah grimaced,thenlooked past me, "If we don't, yaar,the whiteneo-orientalists flourished the scotchbottle. will continueto use him and our fundamentalist brothers will keep him We must boost him. His I toast kind of him, quiet. guts, say, who has?" He stood up. "Here's to Salman Rushdie," he proclaimed."May he live a hundredyears!" Then turned."And you, you useless motherfucker, write!"

So, I sat down and thought something. Question one: Whatall is the book about?
117

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It is about losing the groundbeneathyourfeet:theplace of yourbirth and the faithof yourprophet.(Mostly,the former.) About theimpactof such migration: theloss of identity and certainties, and the search forreplacements. It is about the racism of whiteBritons: towards,mostly,Muslim south Asians. About how - and this is raised, ratherthan explored- if cultures "leak" into one another,instead of imposing one upon the otheras theynow do, new and hopefullybetter cultures,betterand moretolerableways of life,could come intobeing. It is an act of faith, a profoundly a plea forhybridity, secular work. And it is about the loss of faith;specifically,Islam. To thatextentit is a critiqueof faith.And of Islam. But the thrust of the textis not anti-Islam.The straightjacket variant dominantin some parts of the Muslim world today,fundamentalism, is what bothersRushdie. Only two scenes in the book deal withcontempoof theexiled imamand of theIndian mystic raryIslam - thedescription who took her followersinto the sea- and theylook at despotic uses of it. The sequences in the book thatMuslims justifiablyfindoffensive whereMuhammadis called Mahound,whereMahoundand god are compared to businessmen,where Salman the scribe tamperswith the holy revelation, where Islam is described as having "damn rules for everything,"the use of the "satanic verses," mostof all wherewhorestake on as the why of the names of Muhammad's wives - should be understood someone who is unable to believe. Question two: Who all is the book for? Did Rushdie writefortheWest,as manyof his criticsfrom theMuslim world would have it? Only fora Westernaudience? Did he not want the - in - positively book read elsewhere?Did his themesneverreverberate othersocieties? Yes theydid. Hear thiscryof an unknown Pakistani,anonymousletter "Salman writerto the London Observerat the heightof the controversy. Rushdie speaks forme in The Satanic Verses,and mineis a voice thathas not yet foundexpression in newspapercolumns. It is the voice of those who are born Muslims but wish to recant in adulthood, yet are not to do so on pain of death." permitted "I know thisman," says Abdullah. You do? I have knownhim all my life." "Ya. Not the name, the character. The one who mustbe anonymouscontinued."So we hold our tongues, those of us who doubt. Call it cowardice or hypocrisy, tact or appeasement,we buryour heads in the sand..." "Then along comes Rushdie and speaks forus. Tells the worldthatwe of some Jewishconspirexist - thatwe are notsimplya merefabrication acy. He ends our isolation."

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south Asian.The subcontinent, This wretched is a westernized person ofpeoplelike more than a has a substantial billion, by minority populated him.Like me.Call us whatyouwill- secularists, anti-fundamentalists, If forno one else, SalmanRushdie at leastspokeforus. humanists. If we continue Andwe havebeenthemost silent thepasttwoyears. for ifnotthebattle, thuswe maylose theargument, default. by "It is hightime "Yes! Yes! Yes!" interjects Abdullah theunmerciful. Your silence has a youexplained yourself. price!" Andquestion three: Whatto say aboutthefusspots (whonowseemto havewon)? this.I understand their butthey aredangerous. Simply grief,
II

One yearafter the Khomeini's Salmandefended and described fatwah, to thecontroversy thus: "Thosewhoopposethenovelmost book,reacted with that a different vociferously todayare of theopinion intermingling will inevitably culture weakenand ruintheir own.I am of theopposite TheSatanicVerses celebrates opinion. hybridity, intermingling, impurity, the transformation thatcomesof new and unexpected combinations of humanbeings,cultures, ideas, politics,movies,songs. It rejoices in and fearsthe absolutism of the Pure. Melange,hotchmongrelisation The strength ofhis argument, to excuse lies in hisrefusal itsnewness, of thisearth, theayatullahs to makedistinctions between theintolerance In hisinsistence oftheIslamicfundamentalist andthat ofthewhite racist. is bigotry, that and must be so identified, whether it comesfrom bigotry Which the"oppressor," orfrom the"oppressed." Unfashionable, perhaps. is whymany him.Butnecessary. from thelefthaven't defended Because themas not to do so would be to valorizeoppressed groups, present scrutinize theoppressed Whereasthe taskis to critically too, perfect. evenmore carefully. perhaps Salman Rushdie is partof a new and different of exgeneration - its immediate colonised.The previous contradiction generation being - defined withthecolonialpower in opposition itself to itsformer masin FranzFanon'ssense,was to its generational ters.Its politics, mission rediscover collective Thathas beenmore or less done. self-respect. We have,thisnascent with more or less cometo terms our generation, the dungeons of the it from past, have excavatedand are excavating orientalist-colonizers. Now, we demanda present, requirestatesand
socio-political systemsin which we can fulfillourselves. And are not contentwith laying the whole blame on imperialismand its legacy, an unfairworld system. We have a complex awareness of our plight.Realize the contribution of colonialism to our presentdilemmas- which have been worsenedby potch,a bit of this and a bit of thatis how newnessentersthe world."

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neocolonialist economic and otherrelations.But we are also disturbed, of our own rulingclasses for perhapseven more so, by theresponsibility our distress.For this- even at theriskof being used by the neo-imperialists - we are not preparedto apologise. Abdullah theactivistfeelsstrongly on thesubject."Say thatafter being fucked-upby the colonialists we are fed up of being fucked-upby our own. This is the question! Are we to react to the ayatullahs withpolite language? Withplease and excuse me sir ? Withbut-with-all-due-respectI-must-humbl y-disagree?"

A fundamentalist southAsia: samplerfrom Tamils in 1985, As a resultof violentclashes withtheregion'smajority Muslims of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka established the minority militiasfortheirself-defense. (Muslims are seven per centthepopulation of theisland,but form a third of thepopulace of theeast.) Naseer, 23, was leader of one such group,called Hizb-al-Islam. I methimafter yetanother Tamil-Muslimbloodfestand asked whathis organisation stood for. He looked me in the face, said without theslightest taintof irony:"We will workto achieve an Islamic statein Sri Lanka. Even if it takes us one thousandyears." "This man is no laughingmatter," a smile. says Abdullah,suppressing "He is thedeadly serious type." In Rajiv Gandhi's Congress-must-be-careful-not-to-upset-the-Muslimvote India, Shahbano,a divorcedMuslimwoman,sued herex-husbandfor alimony(not permissibleunderMuslim law). The Indian SupremeCourt, - remember in April 1985, grantedher request; and the Congress,party - of the great secularists Mahatma Gandhi and JawaharlalNehru, accepted the Court's decision. At a by-electionheld shortlyafter,Rajiv Gandhi's partywas routed- because the Muslims defectedto theopposition. The nervousPrime Minister, passed grandsonof Nehru,promptly a bill bringingMuslim marriagelaws - in a secular state,yaar- more in keeping with the sharia. And put Muslim women, according to one once more at "the mercyof the[ir]male relatives." When commentator, Hindu fundamentalists triedto exploit hercase, Shahbano herself,under from her own kind- Muslims, not women- recantedand depressure nounced the SupremeCourtjudgement. Asks Abdullah: "And they want us to treatsuch people sympathetically?" In Pakistan ruled by Zia al-Haq, in 1404 A.H., Safia Bibi, a blind girl, was raped by two men.She tookthemto courtbutfailedto provehercase her violators. In the course of since, being blind, she could not identify the rape, one of the men had made her pregnant. Bibi was subsequently triedforadultery, foundguilty, and sentencedto death by stoning.

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"They are asking us to defend these bastards?" Abdullah is angry, soundingtough.The emotiondoes notcome fromscotch alone. In Saudi Arabia. In Malaysia. In Iran.... Nearly always withoutthe in manypartsof theMuslim world consentof thepeople, fundamentalists and conditionsof life. So manyfromthisworldwonder, dictatethe terms like theJordanian writer Fadia Faqir, who asked at theend of herreaction of Islam?" to The SatanicVerses:"Is exile theonlyanswerto theresurgence

a book "attacking" Yes, Salman Rushdie, livingin thewest,has written Islam. Yes, thebook appears at theresurgence, duringa new roundof the westand Islam. And yes, battlebetweentheChristian "ancient and bitter" the book, and the reactionto it in some partsof the Muslim world, have been used by the west as "evidence" against Islam. BUT... In the name of all thatis holy,how can you defendsomethingyou do not believe in? (Even if, or simplybecause, it is underattack by someimmedithingelse thatattacksyou too.) This is a question of paramount from at least some of us Muslim world to the who feel affronted and acy if not not neo-colonialism and Orientalism suppressed, disgusted, onlyby but- perhapseven moreso - by a step-child of it,Islamic fundamentalism. "The enemyof the enemyis not a friend.That is thepoint!" Abdullah slaps his hands, gets rhetorical."When do we take on the long beards? Aftertheyhave triumphed? When we are all dead? Are we going to allow themto stop us beforewe even think, let alone speak?" The point is thatone can defendRushdie withoutalso defendingthe Orientalists; it is possible, while challengingOrientalism,to challenge fundamentalism as well. Dangerous, but possible; even imperative. Abdullah is gettingimpatient. "Come to the point," he Scotchbottled, a little "Tell what has them Salman made possible. He has says, shrilly. will for us so doors that we not allow to be closed again. opened many Writethatwe can't and won't and shan't be defending thisnew, fascistic Islam any more. They mustlearn to toleratedissent,disbelief."

Its controversialreception must not make us feel that The Satanic Verses is an arrow aimed at the heart of fundamentalist Islam. More of most book the is a fictional to white vehemently, (British) response racism. Many scenes in the book depict the way non-whitesare treated in Britainand pointto Rushdie's anger withwhiteBritishsociety.An anger thathas been (conveniently?)overlookedby manyof his westerncritics.

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A deep and searing angeragainsta societythatdoes notallow,to use ofaccess" to itscolored citizens. Williams' Raymond phrase, "equality If some western in their this of commentators side the book ignore the is is to Islam with fault not It taunt Rushdie's. ofthe it, eagerness part will of new be used with to be that one other danger daring by people for Weldon's on the instance, affair.) agendas. (Witness, writings Fay mustbe confronted Rushdie'sOrientalist Therefore, (ex-?) supporters - in their "I will thrust other on them facesif necesinterpretations the Abdullah insistent. sary," says at thebeginning Like that of HomiBhabha,whowrote of thecontrohave the "those of us who authoritarian and patriarexperienced versy: oforthodox ofanycolororcreed, andhave chalconditions communities, never their to stifle dissent and can witnessed endiscussion, attempts forcensorship and unquestioned dorsedemands Such conformity. quiesthe traditional hierarchies of powerand cence serves and preserves we we the where do who see limits of So liberalism and turn, knowledge. demands of fundamentalism?" feartheabsolutist we mustturnto the Rushdieof The Satanic Amonga few others, who staked new daredask new questions, did the unVerses, ground: attacked the We turn back to the fashionable, oppressed. questionof newness. "The slowcoach is getting has begunto cheer. Abdullah there at last," he smiles, and goes in search of ice.
withotherreadingsof The Satanic Verses.

whathe meansby newthebook,Rushdie describes Midwaythrough is that His for Britain it must ness. learn, borrow, prescription grabfrom forthetricontinent, India (India serving hereas a metaphor theex-colodead Britain, withLondon,Gibreel nies). Fed up withdull, desultory, Farishta wants to give it lifeby tropicalizing thetown red it,byigniting to giveLondonthefollowing with chilliepowder, gifts:
of a national moral institution increased definition, of ofvividandexpansive siesta,development patterns birds in thetrees thepopulace...new behavior among newtrees under the cockatoos), (macaws, peacocks, andsoullessEnglish commitbirds...the traditional to 'highworkrate' beenrendered ment obsolete having fervor, ferment, political bytheheat.Religious of interest in theintelligentsia. renewal No more to be banished bottles British hot-water reserve; in thefoetid forever, nights replaced bythe of slowandodorous of new love.Emergence making social values:friends to commence in on dropping one another without closure making appointments,

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Ismail Qadri of old folks'homes, on theextended emphasis the use of water as well food; family. Spicier as paperinEnglish the toilets; joy of running dressed thefirst of the rains fully through monsoon

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boundaries of thewestern it is onlythrough nation... that [And]suggests - of meaning, dissemiNation cultural boundaries and histime, people, - thattheradicalalterity toricaltraditions of thenational will culture createnewforms of living..." However,as Rushdie wroteduringthe controversy, manyBritish Muslimsfear intermingling, have been defended They hybridity. by, Talal who Asad the that aboutthe others, among says "frightening thing forthe British Rushdieaffair liberalelite is the existence of political in its that seeksauthority foritsdifference activity bya smallpopulation ownhistorical, traditions." religious within is frightening the ghetto to Yes, but such a move to remain too. To quote Bhabha again: "Encouraging the separate non-liberals, ofethnic is easy.It's also much identities safer than development providfortheformation of a collective, will that seeks inga platform political and priorities of a socialisttradition..." The Satanic Versesdebate,you see, cannotbe framed as a battle betweenthe forcesof secularliberalism and of religion(or religious Rushdie togo beyond has a new, that, fundamentalism). mongrel attempts vision of culture and society; one that both the liberals and the In thebattle fundamentalists woulddeny. tobring aboutthisnewsociety, theliberals andthefundamentalists areon thesameside,for fear both the loss of their their certainties. faiths, III Abdullah, these days, is long-faced.He hasn't recovered from Rushdie'srecantation. "Theyhave won,"he says. But it is, at best,a forthefundamentalists. For thebattle has notended. temporary victory TheSatanicVerses, thebookandthecontroversy, forms butone round in if notcreate, thestruggle to envison, different and moreequitableways of life. Salman Rushdie,now,seems to have become a victimof the very he critiqued. The Satanic Versesopened orthodoxy Ironically enough,
doors forothersbut closed themforRushdie himself. To Bhabha, the tragedy of theRushdie affair"is thatwe haven't found theplace from whichto pose ourdifferent questionsin a spiritof criticism and solidarity."But we mustkeep trying, must walk through the doors, tryto findtheplace, the space, to continuethe debate. - from to question and redefine theminority position- therationalities

As Bhabha argues, in The Satanic Verses Rushdie "redefines[s] the

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andcriticism ofAamir thiswouldnothavebeenwritten. theencouragement Without Thanks Mufti, andMichael for their Jean Edward Vachon comments. alsotoGrant Said,A. Sivanandan Farred, Franco,

References
and British identityin the wake of the Rushdie Affair,' Asad, Talal. 'Multiculturalism Politics and Society,December 1990. al. Literature and Politics: Some Readings and Uses of Salman Asad,Tal 'Ethnography, Rushdie's The Satanic Verses,'CulturalAnthropology, August 1990. Appignanesi,Lisa and Sara Maitland. The RushdieFile, Syracuse, 1990. New Statesman, 28 July1989. Bhabha, Homi. 'Down Amongthe Writers,' Bhabha Homi. 'Novel Metropolis,'New Statesman,16 February1990. Bhabha Homi. 'DissemiNation: time, narrative and the marginsof the modem nation,' in Homi Bhabha (ed.) Nation and Narration,Routledge,1990. Edmundson,Mark. 'Prophetof a New Post-modernism,' Harper's, December 1989. Parekh,Bhiku. 'Between Holy Text and Moral Void,' New Statesman,24 March 1989. Rushdie, Salman. 'In Good Faith,'Newsweek,12 February1990 Rushdie Salman . 'Is NothingSacred ?' Granta, No 31, 1990. Rushdie Salman. 'Outside the Whale,' Granta, No 11, 1984. Rushdie Salman. The Satanic Verses,Viking,1988. Spivak, Gayatri.'Reading The Satanic Verses,'Public Culture,Fall 1989. Williams, Raymond.Cultureand Society,Pelican, 1963.

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