Salman Rushdie and Islamophobia

• Published in: Journal of Commonwealth literature Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 439 - 454
• Main Author: Trousdale, Rachel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2017; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Attitudes; Authorial voice; Autobiographies; British & Irish literature; Cultural identity; English literature; Identity; Indian literature; Islam; Islamism; Literary criticism; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Muslims; Novels; Racism; Religion; Rushdie, Salman; Terrorism; Writers; Xenophobia; The Satanic Verses; Salman Rushdie; Shalimar the Clown; Islamophobia; Joseph Anton
• ISSN: 0021-9894; 1741-6442
• DOI: 10.1177/0021989417695859

Like his protean characters, Rushdie has changed dramatically over the course of his career. His shifting discussion of Islam’s internal diversity is exemplified by the brief possibility of a pluralist Islam in The Satanic Verses, by the idyllic past of anti-communitarian Kashmir in Shalimar the Clown, and by the catastrophic results when outsiders conflate these Islams with those of the fundamentalist Imam in The Satanic Verses or the Iron Mullah in Shalimar the Clown. But the shift from the novels to the memoir seems greater than the shifts within the novels, as Rushdie appears to reject the novels’ attempts at sympathy with his opponents. His treatment of Islam in Joseph Anton simplifies his own investigations of how religion, race, and cultural identity interpenetrate for moderate Muslims and atheists of Muslim descent, and the role of racism and xenophobia in solidifying “Islam” as an object of fear. This article tracks how Rushdie’s treatment of Islam as variously practised by individuals, Islam the global religion, and extremist terrorism are increasingly collapsed in The Satanic Verses, Shalimar the Clown, and Joseph Anton. The memoir suggests deep changes in Rushdie’s attitude.