That has been done, exhaustively, by many others.

It is not my desire to exacerbate the tensions surrounding this novel, nor to delve in any depth into the controversy. But the important debate, the one that makes a difference in the real world, is the one between the extremes, and between those extremes there remains a seemingly unbridgeable gulf. There are other positions: liberal and conservative non-Muslims deplore his irreverence, and liberal Muslims deplore the fatwa against Rushdie and support his right to publish, or even admire his work some American and British non-Muslim critics have been critical of him. To many Muslims, East and West, it appears as a vicious series of insults to many of their most cherished beliefs. To many Western readers The Satanic Verses appears as a brilliant attack on religious bigotry. The “Rushdie Affair” This is not a site for polemics about the novel or the “Rushdie Affair”.

Many links are provided to other sites on the Web where further information can be found. It contains explanations for many of its allusions and non-English words and phrases and aims as well at providing a thorough explication of the novel which will help the interested reader but not substitute for a reading of the book itself. This study guide was prepared to help people read and study Salman Rushdie’s novel.

The satanic verses cliff notes