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The Satanic Verses

By Salman Rushdie

الآيات الشيطانية

Rushdie's 1988 novel that triggered the Khomeini fatwa and the global free-expression crisis — indexed here as a historical object, neutrally.

Depth

At a glance

Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.

In time

1970198019902000
The Contemporary Era · The Modern Era

LiteratureDissent, heresy and freethoughtPolemic and apologetic

Overview

The novel by Salman Rushdie (1988): two Indian migrants who after a plane crash turn into an angel and a devil in London, with chapters that imitate the early days of Islam in a style of magical realism. 1

Legacy

The most famous controversial novel of the twentieth century; the Iranian fatwa of 1989 made it a global freedom-of-expression case, while its artistic record is broader than its noise. 1

People and things also explored

Salim ibn Umayr's mission to kill Abu Afak· Umayr ibn Adi al-Khatmi's mission to kill Asma' bint Marwan· The killing of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf· Abu Afak· Asma' bint Marwan· Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf· Abu Afak's verses on the rider who split the sons of Qayla· Asma' bint Marwan's verses reviling the Ansar for obeying 'the stranger'

Sources

  1. Wikidata
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Satanic Verses”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/ayat-shaytaniyya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-17.

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Related

Salim ibn Umayr's mission to kill Abu Afak

Ibn Ishaq relates that Abu Afak, of Banu Amr ibn Awf and then of Banu Ubayda, showed his hypocrisy openly when al-Harith ibn Suwayd ibn al-Samit was killed, and composed verses reviling a rider who had split the sons of Qayla and broken their unity; the Prophet said: who will deal with this wretch for me? and Salim ibn Umayr, one of the Weepers, went out and killed him; Umama al-Muzayriyya spoke two verses on it.