What about the Satanic Verses?
Q. Why were Muslims so angry with Salman Rushdie?
A. His book "The Satanic Verses" is a mockery of everything that Muslims hold sacred. It is a parody of the prophet Muhammad, his noble family, the book of God, and the prophets of God. The book is a work of fiction in which the characters are made to represent the most noble characters of Islam. Yet the characters in the novel are made to indulge in sexual promiscuity. This to Muslims is more distasteful than if their own mothers were depicted in those scenes.
Q. Are people other than Muslims also upset over that publication?
A. Yes. Many non-Muslims thinkers and writers have also condemned the publication as being insensitive and knowingly provocative. On the other hand, many others argue in the name of freedom of speech that anyone should be free to express his ideas. But even those people must agree that freedom has its limits. One person should not be so free as to harm others and get away with it.
Some persons do not see why Muslims should be so upset over religion. Most people today think that religion is not important enough to get excited about. This may be their own conclusions about their own religions. But where they extend their conclusion to apply to Islam they are quite wrong. Muslims are still convinced that Islam is the truth to live for and die for. All the rational evidence is in favour of the Muslim position.
Q. Why does the book use the name "Satanic Verses"?
A. The title refers to a passage which was said to once form part of the Qur'an and was later obliterated from the sacred scripture. The claim goes that when the Qur'an was being handed down to the prophet a piece at a time, a piece came down to recognise the Gods of the prophet's opponents. The claim continues to assert that after a while the prophet declared these verses to be of satanic origin and that they are to be replaced by other verses of divine origin.
However, the story is false, and the Qur'an itself testifies that the Qur'an would be free from any corruption.