Episode 1929
The Satanic Verses
Sun, 2022-Aug-14 01:14 UTC
Length - 2:29
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 789,529 views on Saturday, 13 August 2022 our article of the day is The Satanic Verses.
The Satanic Verses is the fourth novel of British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet 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, Al-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 (losing to Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda) 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 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, calling for Rushdie's death 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. Rushdie was later stabbed in August 2022 during a public talk.
Fearing unrest, the Rajiv Gandhi government in India prevented the book from being imported.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:14 UTC on Sunday, 14 August 2022.
For the full current version of the article, see The Satanic Verses on Wikipedia.
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This has been Justin Neural. Thank you for listening to popular Wiki of the Day.
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