AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
DEBORA WIENDA ROSARI Student Number: 024214079
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
DEBORA WIENDA ROSARI Student Number: 024214079
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2007
I won’t be made useless
I won’t be idle with despair
;[tÇwá „ ]xãxÄ<
This is a dedication to
my parents,
my P.R.U.E family,
and my
“Bones”...
@w@
Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. and Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. as my Co-Advisor who have spent their time for reading, criticizing, giving valuable suggestions, as well correcting my thesis until I finished this thesis.
I thank my beloved Mama and Papa for their patience and endless support although I often let you both down. Thanks for trusting me and giving me your unconditional love. I am sorry for keeping both of you waiting so long for seeing me wearing toga. My gratitude also goes to my big brother and his small family for their love.
For a lovely name Anggit Baskara Yusena who prefers to be called Tulang, I thank you for urging me in my bad times restlessly, for being ready to “whip” me when laziness came around, and for being the person I consulted even debated in the time I was doing on my thesis. Thank you for the love we share.
My biggest appreciation is dedicated to my “comrades” in English Letters 2002, especially class C, who have made my life in this university more colorful. In particular, I thank also to my P.R.U.E friends for their fabulous friendship (I’m looking forward to crazy reunion!). Special thank goes to my P.R.U.E girls: Dian for her bright idea when I was stuck on finding the topic for my thesis, Nana for encouraging me to see our Advisor and start working on my thesis, and Kartika for giving me the access to own The Satanic Verses as well as lending me her printer at my last moment of struggle.
went out of control.
At last but most importantly, I would like to thank to God for His countless blessings. I would not have finished this thesis without His mercy. May God always bless all these amazing people.
Debora Wienda Rosari
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……….. iii
3. Theory of Character and Characterization…….………..……… 14
4. The Relation between Literature and Society……….. 15
C. Review on Islam and Its Society circa the Life of Prophet Muhammad……… 16
1. The Basic Meaning of Islam……… 16
2. The Koran, the Holy Book of Islam………. 17
3. Muhammad the Prophet……… 19
4. The Condition of Mecca and its Society in Muhammad’s Era……….……… 22
5. Muhammad’s Enemies and Companions………. 26
D. Theoretical Framework………. 31
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………... 32 Plot, Settings, and Characters……… 38
1. The Plot in The Satanic Verses…………. ………….……... 38
2. The Setting………... 42
3. The Characters in the Novel………. 44
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...………...………….……… 95
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………...………. 98
APPENDICES ………. 102
Appendix 1: The Summary of The Satanic Verses……….. 102
Appendix 2: Ayatollah Khomeini’s Fatwa on The Satanic Verses……….. 104
Appendix 3: Terms in the Novel Quoted in the Thesis……… 104
Appendix 4: Islamic Terms……….. 105
Appendix 5: The Koran Surah 53: An-Najm (The Star)……….. 106
Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters,
Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
Religion is one of the most interesting issues in the world of literature, especially when it comes to a literary work that contains controversial topic which could be very sensitive and somehow has the probability to be offensive towards certain religion. The phenomenon does not happen only for one particular religion but it takes place within many scopes of religion. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdieis one of the literary works which is considered offensive towards Islam. Since its description of the fictional prophet in the novel was considered too much offensive for common Muslims, The Satanic Verses received many objections and was considered as a blasphemy to Islam. What becomes the matter is that The Satanic Verses is related, but lacks of relevancy with the religion Islam. This condition, however, encourages the writer to find out which depictions in the novel are not relevant with the religion and what are missing in the novel that create a lack of reality in the novel.
To achieve a deep insight, especially on the absence of reality in the novel
The Satanic Verses, two questions are formulated to guide the analysis. They are: (1) How does The Satanic Verses portray Submission? (2) In what way the insufficiency of reality is found in The Satanic Verses?
This thesis is using the sociocultural-historical approach, an approach which refers the content of the novel to the society where it is produced, since this thesis discusses the novel The Satanic Verses and its relation and relevance with Islam. In finding the data necessary for the study, library research is used. Therefore sources from books were taken as well as from the internet. The primary source of the study is Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Some other books as well as several websites which contain literary critic and Islamic history are also discussed as the secondary sources.
The finding of the analysis denotes two significant results. Firstly, it is found that The Satanic Verses portrays the religion similar to Islam by showing the similarity between the plot, setting, and characters in the novel with the history of Islam. Therefore, the novel proves that it has the reference with Islamic history. Secondly, the lack of reality is shown by the lack of relevancy which is found in the novel’s three intrinsic elements: plot, setting, and characters. By stacking Islamic experiences in just one year instead of in consecutive years, the plot of
The Satanic Verses shows the insufficiency of reality. The description of the desert of Jahilia is suitable with Meccan land, but the period of Jahilia inhabitants’ nomadic ancient lacks of relevancy. And lastly, the characters in the novel which are not depicted as their real traits strengthen the evidence that reality is insufficient in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses.
Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas
Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Agama merupakan salah satu tema menarik dalam dunia kesusastraan, khususnya ketika terdapat karya sastra yang mengandung topik kontroversial yang amat sensitif dan bisa jadi dianggap menghina suatu agama tertentu. Fenomena ini tidak hanya terjadi pada satu agama tertentu, tetapi terjadi pada bermacam-macam agama. Novel The Satanic Verses yang ditulis Salman Rushdie merupakan salah satu karya sastra yang dianggap sebagai hinaan terhadap agama Islam. Karena penggambaran Nabi fiktifnya yang dianggap berlebihan oleh umat Muslim, novel
The Satanic Verses menerima banyak protes dan dipandang sebagai suatu hujatan terhadap agama Islam. Yang menjadi pokok permasalahannya adalah bahwa novel tersebut mengacu kepada sejarah Islam, namun tidak sesuai dengan sejarah itu sendiri. Kondisi semacam ini mendorong penulis untuk menemukan mana penggambaran novel yang tidak sesuai dengan agama tersebut serta bagian sejarah Islam mana yang tidak terpapar di dalam novel sehingga realita tidak cukup tertampilkan dalam novel.
Untuk mencapai wawasan mendalam, khususnya dalam menemukan ketidakhadiran realita dalam novel, diformulasikanlah dua pertanyaan sebagai batasan dalam analisis novel, yaitu: (1) Bagaimana novel The Satanic Verses
menghadirkan Submission? (2) Dengan cara apa kurangnya realita dapat ditemukan dalam novel The Satanic Verses?
Skripsi ini menggunakan pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah karena skripsi ini menganalisa novel The Satanic Verses dengan hubungan serta relevansinya terhadap Islam. Pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah memperlihatkan bahwa isi novel mengacu pada masyarakat dimana novel itu dibuat. Dalam memperoleh data yang diperlukan untuk studi ini, digunakan studi pustaka. Karena itu, sumber-sumber diambil dari buku dan internet. Sumber utama studi ini adalah novel The Satanic Verses oleh Salman Rushdie. Buku-buku lain dan beberapa website yang di dalamnya terdapat kritik-kritik sastra serta sejarah mengenai agama Islam juga digunakan dalam studi ini sebagai sumber-sumber pendukung.
Penemuan dalam analisis menghasilkan dua hasil penting. Pertama, ditemukan bahwa The Satanic Verses menggambarkan agama yang menyerupai agama Islam dengan menghadirkan kemiripan antara alur, setting, dan penokohan dalam novel dengan sejarah Islam. Karenanya, hal ini membuktikan bahwa novel tersebut memiliki hubungan dengan sejarah Islam. Kedua, kurang hadirnya realita ditunjukkan oleh kurangnya relevansi yang ditemukan dalam tiga intrinsik elemen: alur, setting, dan penokohan. Dengan menghadirkan kejadian-kejadian dalam Islam hanya dalam waktu satu tahun alih-alih dalam waktu yang
memperkuat bukti bahwa realita yang ditampilkan dalam novel The Satanic Verses yang ditulis oleh Salman Rushdie tidak mencukupi.
A. Background of the Study
Religion is one of the most interesting issues in the world of literature, especially when it comes to a literary work that contains controversial topic which could be very sensitive and somehow has the probability to be offensive towards certain religion. The phenomenon does not happen only for one particular religion but it takes place within many scopes of religion. Many examples of this issue are found from different parts of the world. The examples are including poem, short story, and novels.
The Italian Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia, a type of allegorical religious poem which is translated as The Divine Comedy in English, is one example of literary works regarded offensive towards Christian religion. With its setting in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in 1300 CE, the novel which conveys the pilgrimage of the character named Dante distracted Christians’ attention (www.divinecomedy.com/divinecomedy/inferno/astudyhelp.html).
Another example is a short story “Langit Makin Mendung” by Kipandjikusmin which was published in Indonesia’s literature magazine, Sastra, in August 1968. The short story was objected by Muslims in Indonesia and as the result, the magazine was banned (Dahlan and Hermani, 2004: 17-41). The quotation below shows that the short story was not accepted in Indonesia and invited especially Indonesian Muslims to ask their government to ban the
magazine which had published it and prosecute the writer of the story for the blasphemy.
In "Langit Makin Mendung" (The Heavens Darken) a writer calling himself Kipandjikusmin satirized the late Sukarno period by describing a visit to earth by the Prophet Mohammad. Aside from depicting Mohammad humorously—pensioned-off in heaven with the other prophets—he depicts God himself as an old man with gold spectacles. These irreverences outraged many Muslims, who clamored for the story's withdrawal from circulation and called upon the government to prosecute its author under laws forbidding the defamation of religion (www.awardeeforpublicservice.org/hansbaguejassin/langitmakinmendung. html).
Two other examples of literary works which are controversially acknowledged in the world of religion are the 1988’s novel The Satanic Verses by Indian-born Londoner Salman Rushdie and Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code
which was released in New York in March 2003. Particular subplots in The Satanic Verses are in reference but rather irrelevant with the events which happened in Islam (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html). Meanwhile, the novel The Da Vinci Code denotes a new reconstruction in Christianity as it explores the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene as suggested in Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, “The Last Supper” (www.epiphanylc.org/daVinciCode.html).
The four examples which have been mentioned above have something in common. These literary works are having somehow huge impacts towards the world of religion in which they include controversial themes and are considered offensive towards certain religion regardless what the religion is.
Rushdie. The Satanic Verses was once a polemic around 1988-1989. As the novel was published in 1988 in Great Britain, soon it became controversial in the world. Following its publication, the novel spread its effect especially in Islamic nations. As denoted by Kepel, in his book Allah in the West: Islamic Movements in America and Europe, Rushdie’s initial intention of writing the novel was to criticize Islamic religious leaders who had controlled the Muslim community in Britain. However, his description of the fictional prophet in the novel was considered too much offensive for common Muslims (Kepel, 1997: 128-129).
But the language used by Rushdie in relation to Islam and the Prophet aroused the anger of a much wider Muslim population. By using ironic names for figures held in reverence by pious Muslims, especially the Prophet (referred to as Mahound, a name used by medieval Christian polemicists) and his entourage, and placing these characters in obscene or morally degrading circumstances, Rushdie alienated a great number of ordinary Muslims outside the inner circle of mullahs and Islamic association leaders (Kepel, 1997: 129).
For that reason, The Satanic Verses received many objections and was considered as a blasphemy to Islam. The novel is considered offensive to the religion due to its content which in some part portrays a religion similar to Islam and the happening events which are not true according to Islamic history.
is against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran” (Kepel, 1997: 129) and aware of its content. Following the fatwa, several havocs which were aimed at rejecting the publishing of the book happened; not only disturbing diplomatic relationship between Iran and the West, the book also caused several people killed and injured.
The ensuing furor, conducted on an international scale, caused twenty-two persons to lose their lives and many scores to be injured in riots, a disruption in diplomatic relations between the West and Iran, book burning, and book banning, and a price of the head of Rushdie as a blasphemer of Islam (Levy, 1993: 558).
Indeed The Satanic Verses contains several similarities with Muslim events, characters, and objects even though they are not the real events, characters and objects themselves. The contents of the novel indicate that it imitates, in this case, Islam in particular. In other words, the novel is in reference to Islam but The Satanic Verses is not the religion itself. This indication comes along with what is coined from Reading and Writing about Literature (1971) by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. that literature takes civilization, or in other words: attitudes and actions of a specific group of people, as its subject matter (Rohrberger and Woods, Jr., 1971: 9). A specific group of people is included in the society; this somewhat proves that literature is connected with society although society itself has also become the subject of imitation by literature as pointed by René Wellek and Austin Warren in their book Theory of Literature: Third Edition (1956):
What becomes the matter is that The Satanic Verses is in reference, but lacks of relevancy with the religion Islam as said by Aamir Mufti which was quoted in Brian Finney’s essay “Demonizing Discourse in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses”:
…“in secularizing (and hence profaning) the sacred 'tropology' of Islam by insisting upon its appropriation for the purposes of fiction, the novel throws into doubt the discursive edifice within which Islam has been produced in recent years” (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/Salman Rushdie.html).
This condition, however, encourages the writer to find out which depictions in the novel are not relevant with the religion and what are missing in the novel that creates an insufficiency of reality in the novel.
B. Problem Formulation
To achieve a deep insight, especially on the insufficiency of reality in the novel The Satanic Verses, two questions are formulated to guide the analysis. They are:
1. How does The Satanic Verses portray Submission?
2. In what way the insufficiency of reality is found in The Satanic Verses?
C. Objectives of the Study
The aim of this study is to answer the problems that have been formulated above. The initial objective of this study is to discover how The Satanic Verses
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The Satanic Verses is a novel which is famous for its controversy in religious aspects. The novel is considered as a blasphemy to Islam since its
publication in 1988 for some of its subplots which portray the story of a fictional
prophet who is similar to Islam’s Muhammad as well as his religion. Some essays
which explore The Satanic Verses from different angles are consulted to see several reactions towards the novel.
An article by Brian Finney, “Demonizing Discourse in Salman Rushdie’s
The Satanic Verses”, is opposing the novel. The core of this essay is to explore the similarities with Islam that are found in the novel and proves that it is a novel
against what-so-called fundamentalist Islam. In the essay,the novelis said as “one
of the relatively few works of fiction to have made a significant and permanent
impact outside the enclosed world of literature”
(http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html). According to Brian
Finney, Rushdie wrote the novel to oppose what he calls the “Actually Existing
Islam” which refers to the fundamentalists Islam despite his secularist Islam.
Rushdie believes that art, like religion, can produce a "flight of the human spirit
outside the confines of its material, physical existence"
(http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html). It means that religion, as
well as art can bring human to explore their own mental excluding their physical
body. The reason why The Satanic Verses is so threatening for the fundamentalist religion is “because fiction claims to incorporate those other discursive formations
within its own discourse and in doing so to reveal the will to power underlying
their will to truth” (http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/Salman Rushdie.html).
Apart from blasphemy issue, Eng Oai’s essay “Finding One's Self Identity
in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses” investigates the novel from its characters. Oai argues that Mahound, the fictional prophet in the novel lacks of
self identity “that he does not truly know what he represents, or who is”
(http://www.geocities.com/quicsilver13/rushdieessay.html). Oai disputes that
Mahound lost his identity due to his new attained religion; that he was so devoted
to it and finally got sunken in it until he became the religion himself. “Mahound
has devoted his entire life to his new religion, and he essentially has become that
religion, leaving his previous identity behind” (http://www.geocities.com
/quicsilver13/rushdieessay.html). Not only the fictional prophet, Oai notes that the
followers of Mahound’s religion also “shed their former identities and become yet
another piece of the ever growing religion” (http://www.geocities.com/quic
silver13/rushdieessay.html). One person connected to Mahound who still
preserved her self identity, Oai says, was Ayesha, one of Mahound’s wives.
“Unlike her husband, Ayesha never fully submitted to Submission, as she always
maintained a small piece of her self-identity with her”
(http://www.geocities.com/quicsilver13/rushdieessay.html). Ayesha was the
person who accompanied Mahound in his deathbed. As Mahound died, she
are dead” (http://www.geocities.com/quic silver13/rushdieessay.html); the prophet
and the religion. Instead of grieving, Ayesha rejoiced for she knew God still alive
thus she had faith in God. From the characters, Oai wants to show that self
identity is important for human to continue their lives.
Through the plights of the characters in The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie is trying to teach us a very important lesson in life. He is conveying the idea that if we don't have self-identity and don't understand our role in life, that we will be living only as society dictates. Without self-identity in our lives, we're just another useless product produced by our materialistic society and it is through this lack of self-identity that we will bring about an early death (http://www.geocities.com/quicsilver13/ rushdieessay.html).
The essay “The Unity of The Satanic Verses” by Paul Brians tries to find the values in Salman Rushdie’s novel which many critics said as a mixture of
disorganized plots, characters, and themes. Brians explore the postmodern idea in
the novel by analyzing the fact that most characters in the novel who live in
London are “immigrants: Indians, Bengalis, Pakistanis, Jamaicans, German Jews”
(http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~brians/anglophone/satanic_verses/unity.html). As a
postmodernist, Rushdie portrayed the immigrants as people who have exotic life
and tradition rather than being oppressed by the Anglo-Saxons heritage. Rushdie
only presented some minor Anglo-Saxon characters in the book; quite an irony
remembering that one of the significant and primary settings of the book is in
London. Brians also notes that The Satanic Verses questions the long existed convention which happens in the society as follows below:
Julian Samuel, a Pakistani-Canadian writer and filmmaker gives a rather
sharp comment on “Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html). Samuel states that “There is a hidden
agenda at work; there always is.” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html) and
there is no exception for The Satanic Verses. Samuel argues that censorship issue is nothing new for publishers so that the book to sell is recognized and remains in
public mind which eventually will sell the book (http://www.indiastar.com/
jsamuel.html). Samuel criticizes the book sharply that it “does not represent any
moral high ground” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html). The blasphemy
performed, Samuel says, is simply a sensation that aimed at reaching high selling
on the book. “The book is empty. The precalculated anti-Islamic propaganda is a
sales-pitch, nothing more.” (http://www.indiastar.com/jsamuel.html).
Unlike the other essays above, this thesis is discussing the novel from
other perspective. Knowing that The Satanic Verses is in reference but not relevant with Islam, this thesis is connecting the novel with the real condition of
Islamic society in Muhammad’s era which the novel takes as the model. Therefore
this thesis is aimed at revealing the lack of relevancy between the novel and the
history and tradition in Islam around the life of the Prophet Muhammad so that the
insufficiency of reality in the novel would be discovered.
B. Review of Related Theories
To analyze the novel further, the writer uses theory of plot, setting,
1. Theory of Plot
Plot is a series of tied-together events in the story (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:
28). The events in the story, however, are not limited only in “physical
occurrences, like speech or action, but also a character’s change of attitude, a flash
of insight, a decision – anything that alters the course of affairs” (Stanton, 1965:
14). In A Glossary of Literary Terms: Sixth Edition by M. H. Abrams, Aristotle gave the order of a unified plot which is “a continuous sequence of beginning,
middle, and end” (Abrams, 1993: 161).
The beginning initiates the main action in a way which makes us look forward to something more; the middle presumes what has gone before and requires something to follow; and the end follows from what has gone before but requires nothing more; we are satisfied that the plot is complete (Abrams, 1993: 161).
Plot, which is placed firstly in writing by Aristotle, is said as “the imitation of an
action” and also “the arrangement of the incidents” (Holman and Harmon, 1986:
377). Aristotle suggested that plot is the imitation of the actions in real life
(http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.mb.txt). Furthermore, although imitating
the universe, “plot does not include every incident that might happen to us in
ordinary life” (Bate, 1952:14-15) but has its own characteristic distinguishes it
from the reality in the universe. Still, Aristotle classified plot into two: dramatic
plot and epic plot. Dramatic plot is “an artificial arrangement of incidents, the
main purpose of which is to capture and hold the interest and provide an
artistically satisfying conclusion.” (Yelland, Jones, and Easton, 1953: 147-148).
exposition, raveling or complication, climax, and dénouement or unraveling
(Yelland, et al., 1953: 148). a. exposition
The characters of the novel are introduced, the background sketched, and the
problem stated.
b. raveling or complication
The raveling or complication shows that interest is quickened and suspense is
created by the introduction of difficulties, which seems to stand in the way of a
satisfactory conclusion.
c. climax
This is the point of greatest expectancy, which is the cumulative effect of
preceding incidents.
d. dénouement or unraveling
In this section, the conclusion is finally worked out (Yelland, et al., 1953: 148). Meanwhile, epic plot is defined as:
…a series of incidents or adventures given more-or-less in chronological order and not arranged in an artificial pattern, but unified by a central idea in the nature of a cause or quest of struggle in which the main character or characters are constantly engaged (Yelland, et al., 1953: 149).
Consequently, it is impossible for a literary work of being under these two plots at
once that a novel only has either dramatic or epic plot.
Often, there is a subordinate or minor complication found within a fiction.
This secondary plot has a direct relation to the main plot, contributing to it in
interest and in complication and struggle. This minor complication is usually
contain more than one subplot. There are two degrees in which a writer conveys
the subplot: the first degree subplot is a subplot which is directly related to and
giving impulsion and action to the main plot. Meanwhile, second degree subplot is
a subplot which is less relevant to the main plot and play as the secondary story
that enriches and assists the main plot (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 490).
2. Theory of Setting
According to A Handbook of Literary Terms, setting is “the elements that give the reader an abstract impression of the environment in which the characters
move” (Yelland, et al., 1986: 184). As quoted by Koesnosoebroto, Connolly stated that setting is in a sense the time, place, and concrete situation of the
narrative, the web of environment in which characters spin out their destinies
(Koesnosoebroto, 1981: 79). For narrative or dramatic work, the setting usually is
“the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action
occurs” (Abrams, 1993: 192). In A Handbook to Literature: Fifth Edition, setting is said as “the physical, and sometimes spiritual, background against which the
action of a narrative takes place” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 465). In larger
sense, quoted by Koesnosoebroto, Lostracco and Wilkerson stated that “setting
refers to the conditions or total environment – – physical, emotional, economic,
political, social, and psychological – – in which the characters live”
(Koesnosoebroto, 1981: 80).
According to Holman and Harmon, there are four elements making up a
arrangement such as its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as
the location of the windows and doors in a room; (2) the occupation and daily
manner of living of the characters; (3) the time or period in which the action takes
place, for example, epoch in history or seasons of the year; and (4) the general
environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and
emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move (Holman
and Harmon, 1986: 465).
3. Theory of Character and Characterization
Characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say―the dialogue―and by what they do―the action (Abrams, 1993: 23).
Characters are imaginary persons because characters are presented in
dramatic or narrative works. “The creation of these imaginary persons so that they
exist for the reader as lifelike is called characterization” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). There are three basic methods of characterization in fiction: (1) the
explicit presentation by the author of the character trough direct exposition; (2)
the presentation of the character in action; and (3) the representation within a
character (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81). E. M. Forster divided character into
two according to its complexity of quality: (1) flat character which is “built
around “a single idea or quality” and is presented without much individualizing
detail” (Abrams, 1993: 24) and (2) round character which is “complex in
temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity”
detail, “in the round”, while the minor figures appear flat and somewhat lifeless”
(Yelland, et al., 1953: 31).
In addition, “a character may be either static or dynamic” (Holman and
Harmon, 1986: 83). “A static character is one who changes a little if at all. Things
happen to such a character without things happening within.” (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 83). Therefore, a static character may face even small changes
which in fact do not change the character’s quality. “A dynamic character, on the
other hand, is one who is modified by actions and experiences.” (Holman and
Harmon, 1986: 83). Such character changes his or her traits during the
development of the story.
4. The Relation between Literature and Society
Literature is a social institution, or more exactly, a social creation; it is
created by conventions and norms which occur in the society. In addition,
literature is connected with society although society itself has also become the
subject of imitation by literature and usually happened in close connection with
particular social institutions (Wellek and Warren, 1977: 94).
When we are talking about the relation between literature and society, it is
not as simple as the assumption that literature mirrors the current social correctly;
neither the only idea that literature depicts some aspects of social reality or that
literature mirrors or expresses life (Wellek and Warren, 1977: 95). Society in the
novel functions as an element in a structure that is self referential. It should be
the novel is not the straight reflection of the outside world. It is different from the
society that exists in outside world as quoted from Elizabeth Langland’s book
Society in the Novel:
Society in novels does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside world in details of costume, setting, and locality because a novel’s society does not aim at a faithful mirror of any concrete, existent thing (Langland, 1984: 5).
Society comprehends not only peoples and their classes. Society, in wider
sense, also includes their customs, conventions, beliefs and values, institutions
(legal, religious, and cultural), not to mention physical environment (Langland,
1984: 6). The role of society in literature, however, depends upon the literary
work’s form and structure. Form, in this case, is the more general term which is in
reference to value meanwhile structure considers the ways in which particular
elements in fiction are presented, combined, and manipulated to accomplish the
conclusion (Langland, 1984: 8).
C. Review on Islam and its Society circa the Life of Prophet Muhammad 1. The Basic Meaning of Islam
Islam is a monotheistic religion that worships Allah, the one and only God.
The word Islam is taken from Arabic (al-islam) which means at once submission and peace (Young, 1995: 353), or surrender to the will of Allah (Esposito, 1998:
254). In practical term, Islam means that its followers have the duty to create a
just, even society where the poor and weak are treated appropriately (Armstrong,
wa-Muhammadan rasulu Allah (“There is no God, but Allah; and Muhammad is His messenger”) is the basis of Muslim belief and practice (Esposito, 1998: 68).
Meanwhile, the way of life of the Muslims is compiled in the Koran.
2. The Koran, the Holy Book of Islam
The holy texts of Islam were brought together in the Koran, or Al-Qur’an
in Arabic, meaning “collected revelations in written form” (Gibb and Kramers,
1965: 273). The Koran consists of 11 chapters, 6,616 verses, 77934 words, and
323,671 characters (al Fārūqī and al Fārūqī, 1986: 100). The texts were delivered
continuously during the fasting months for about 23 years in Arabian cities Mecca
and Medina through the Archangel Gabriel (Djibril in Arabic) to Muhammad.
Djibril or Gabriel is God’s angel whose “duty is to bear the order of God to
prophets and to reveal His mysteries to them” (Gibb & Kramers, 1965: 79).
The first revelation of the Koran was given to Muhammad while he was
meditating on Mount Hira during the month of fasting. He was forty at that time.
Since Muhammad was illiterate, he recorded all the revelations in his great
memory to be retold loudly to his ummah afterward. Later on, the revelations were jotted down literately and compiled in the Koran. The principles and values of
Islam contained in the Koran makes the Koran becomes the initial source of
Islamic teaching (Esposito, 1998: 79).
In one occasion, the Koran almost lost its genuineness due to Abdullah ibn
Sa’id mistake. Being Muhammad’s scribe of the Koran, he changed the
‘alimun hakimun (All Knowing and All Wise) purposely then escaped to Mecca. For the mistake, Muhammad announced death sentence for him and the mistaken
verses were rewritten. But, supported by other companions Utsman ibn Affan who
was also his family, Abdullah came back to Medina and asked forgiveness from
the Prophet which was granted. He re-submitted to Islam and after the dead of
Muhammad, he became one of the highest authorities in Islamic kingdom
(Armstrong, 2004: 432).
Despite the principles and values of Islam which are contained in the
Koran and hadith or the concretization and interpretation of the Koran including what the Prophet said, he did, and the actions he permitted or allowed (Esposito,
1998: 79-80), the actual basic teaching of Islam is the Five Pillars (rukn)of Islam (Esposito, 1998: 88). The Pillars are (1) the profession of faith (shahadah), (2) performing prayer (salat) five times daily, (3) the almsgiving to the poor (zakat), (4) fasting in Ramadan month (sawm), and (5) the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).
In one of the rituals of the pilgrimage, the pilgrims circumambulate the
Kaaba for seven times (Young, 1995: 371). Kaaba is a cubed-shaped building
built of layers of the grey stones produced by the Hills surrounding Mecca which
is placed almost in the center of the great mosque in Mecca (Gibb and Kramers,
1965: 191). Close by the Kaaba runs the well of Zam Zam. Its origin goes back to
Abraham’s time. It was this well which saved the life of the infant Ishmael
(http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/97/). The wall of the Kaaba in which the
door is (the front of the Kaaba) faces northeast. In the eastern corner,
(al-hadjar al-aswad) is built into the wall. Its diameter is 12 inches and the color is reddish black with red and yellow particles. The stone is sometimes described
as lava or basalt. Its real nature is difficult to determine since its visible surface
becomes smooth by hand touching and kissing from the pilgrims for centuries
(Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 191-192). According to the Koran, the Kaaba was built
by Ibrahim and his son Ismail. Islamic traditions believe that it was first built by
Adam, and later was rebuilt by Ibrahim and Ismail on the old foundations
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka'ba). The Kaaba had become the center of
pilgrimage even before the era of Islam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka'ba).
3. Muhammad the Prophet
Muslims believe that the beginning of Islam did not start in the era of
Muhammad. Instead, many prophets became the messenger of God who revealed
the truth of Islam before Muhammad (Young, 1995: 353). Adam, the first prophet,
led his successors from Noah, Solomon, John the Baptize, Jesus, to Muhammad.
However, in Islam, Muhammad is believed as the last messenger. He is the seal of
the prophets, yet the greatest who received a revelation that summed up all that
had been received before by the preceding prophets.
The name Muhammad etymologically means "the praised one" in Arabic
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad). Muhammad was born about 570 CE in
an Arabian city, Mecca. His father, Abdullah, died a few weeks before he was
born and his mother Aminah died while he was six (Ahmed, 2001: 14). Orphaned,
after, Abdul Muttalib died and Muhammad had to live with his uncle Abu Talib, a
merchant of banu Hashim who was one of the leaders of the Quraish tribe in Mecca (Ahmed, 2001: 14).
Like many Quraishi, Muhammad grew up to be a trader. When he was 25,
Khadijah, a wealthy, widowed merchant in her 40 asked Muhammad to bring and
trade her goods to Syria. Khadijah, found out his good work on the trade, later
was attracted to Muhammad. Thus she sent a proposal of marriage to him. Soon
they agreed to marry and ever since, Khadijah became the most loyal companion
to the Prophet. Later on, in the history of Islam, Khadijah became the first person
converted to Islam (Ahmed, 2001: 15-16). Khadijah died in 619 CE and
afterward, Muhammad re-married for several times. The reasons of the marriages
among others were to take care of the widows, to tighten family relationship, and
to build a strong political affiliation. The exact number of Muhammad’s wives
after Khadijah is unknown. A source mentions that Muhammad re-married for
twelve times (Ahmed, 2001: 19). Answering-islam.org says that after the death of
Khadijah, Muhammad re-married for about 9-14 times. Among all, nine are
considered the wives and the other six are doubted
(http://answering-islam.org/islam_index/wives.html). Another source from en.wikipedia.org
suggests the number is eleven; ten wives and one concubine
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad%27s_marriages).
The wives of Muhammad were given a special status among the people
and to respect these women, one of the verses in the Koran stated that the wives of
2004: 343). Hijab has two meanings; one is women’s traditional veil which covers her head, face, and body. The other is the seclusion. In the Koran, hijab used by the Prophet’s wives refers to the second meaning which is not connected to
women’s clothing, but rather to a partition or curtain (Esposito, 1995: 108).
Muhammad died in June 8, 632 CE at the age of 63. His symptoms of
illness were head ache and weakness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad). It
is said that he was poisoned by a Jewess
(http://answering-islam.org/islam_index/Muhammad.html). One of Muhammad’s wives, Aishah,
was holding the Prophet on her lap when he died (Armstrong, 2004: 454-455).
Several Muslims first rejected to bury his dead body for they believed that the
Prophet would return soon. It was Abu Bakr, one of the companions who
reminded them that God is the one should be worshipped, not the Prophet.
Abu Bakr reminded them that Muhammad had dedicated his whole life to preaching the unity of God. The Qur’an had warned them incessantly that they must not give to any mere creature the honour due to God alone. . . . To refuse to admit that Muhammad had died, therefore, was to deny the basic truth about Muhammad. But as long as the Muslims remained true to the belief that God alone was worthy of worship, Muhammad would live on. ‘O men, if anyone worships Muhammad, Muhammad is dead,’ he ended eloquently. ‘If anyone worships God, God is alive, immortal.’ (Armstrong, 2001: 256-257).
Any images or representation of the Prophet are not allowed to be
presented in Islam. The picture of the Prophet that exists usually shows his face
veiled, with a large, flame-shaped light behind it (Ahmed, 2001: 22). This
condition has a reason which is rooted from the history of Islam. Due to the
circumstance that Islam rejected any form of idolatry, Muslims feared that images
the worship to God. Even so, Muslims’ objection which is based on religious
ground is only towards the pictorial representation of the Prophet. The verbal
descriptions of the Prophet are still allowed (Ahmed, 2001: 22-23). Taken from
the quotation from the literature made by Azzam and Gouverneur, here are the
physical descriptions of the Prophet:
Hind says that the Prophet was grand, in fact he was grandeur itself. His face shone like the full moon. He was of middle height, inclined to tallness but was shorter than very tall people . . . He walked softly and firmly with a rapid pace and a slightly forward bend, as if he were descending from a higher to a lower level. Whenever he looked at anything he would look straight into it; his eyes were almost downcast, directed more towards the earth than towards the sky. Jabir ibn Samurah says, ‘The Prophet of Allah had a wide mouth. The eyes were of light brown hue . . .’ Abu Hurayrah says that the Prophet ‘had a white complexion as if he were made of silver. There was a moderate wave in his hair’ (Ahmed, 2001: 23).
4. The Condition of Mecca and its Society in Muhammad’s Era
The Prophet Muhammad lived in Mecca in the seventh century. The city
of Mecca is a desert which is placed in the Hijaz region of northwestern Arabian
Peninsula. The time when Muhammad confirmed his prophecy was not an easy
period; he lived among the Quraish tribe who idolized gods and goddesses. This
phase, when people of Mecca were still attained to pagan religions, is called the
jahiliyyah (the time of ignorance) by Muslims (Armstrong, 1994: 134). The characteristics of the Quraish tribe were harsh and tough; it is due to their origin
as the descendant of a nomadic tribe. The Quraish settlement was just happened
for two generations. As they settled, trading was their main way of making a
Only two generations earlier, the Quraisyh had lived a harsh nomadic life in the Arabian steppes, like the other Bedouin tribes: each day had required a grim struggle for survival. During the last years of the sixth century, however, they had become extremely successful in trade and made Mecca the most important settlement in Arabia (Armstrong, 1994: 132).
As Muhammad spread Islam among the Quraish, many rejected his
teaching. Ironically, not a few people converted after hearing the recitation of the
Koran and fascinated by the recitation of the words of Allah (Armstrong, 1994:
145). For the first three years of his prophecy, Muhammad did not seem to
emphasize the monotheistic idea of his teaching. Therefore people imagined they
could worship the traditional deities beside Allah (Armstrong, 1994: 146-147). At
the time, there were 360 pagan idols were worshipped in Mecca. Three local
goddesses worshipped the most in Mecca were al-Lat (the Goddess), al-Uzza (the
Mighty One), and Manat (the Fateful One). They were often called banat al-Lah
(the Daughter of Gods). Upon these three idols, there came a revelation which
rejects, even not considering them worth worshipped. The revelation received by
Muhammad stated that the position of Allah is the highest and He is the one and
only God should be worshipped (Armstrong 1994, 147-148). The revelation is the
Surah 53 An-Najm (The Star) which was revealed at Mecca, consists of 62 verses. 19. Have ye thought upon Al-Lat and Al-Uzza
20. And Manat, the third, the other?
21. Are yours the males and His the females? 22. That indeed were an unfair division!
In al-Wāqidī and al-Tabarī's recension of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq's
biography of Prophet Muhammad, the Sirat Rasul Allah, which is believed to have been written 120-130 years after Muhammad's death, the earlier version of
the Surah An-Najm was not like what we find in nowadays Koran. According to the biography, after the verses 19 and 20, Satan tempted Muhammad to utter the
added verses which acknowledged the existence of the three goddesses, Lat,
al-Uzza, and Manat: “These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_Verses). Later, Muhammad realized the mistake. He expunged the verses and changed it into the verses which are known
nowadays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_Verses). But not all Muslim
scholars agree on the matter. They consider it was impossible for Muhammad to
commit such mistake since he was known for his strict loyalty to monotheism
idea. Furthermore, only a few sources about Muhammad’s life stated about the
incident. Even Bukhari, who is agreed as the most complete source for
Muhammad’s life did not mention the incident in his compilation (Armstrong,
1998: 110-111). Therefore the satanic verses incident is still a controversy until
now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_Verses).
Separated from the satanic verses incident, the revelation of Surah 53: An-Najm showed that Muhammad absolutely refused to compromise with idolatry. Any shirks(idolatry) are considered as the greatest sin in Islam (Armstrong, 1994: 148-149). Threats upon the teaching of Islam after the revelation were greater than
before. The Quraish, under the leadership of Abu Jahl, persisted by his successor
(Armstrong, 2001: 134-142). Abu Jahl decreed that Muhammad’s clan, banu
Hashim should be banned and consequently slaves and freedmen were treated
improperly.
The slaves and freedmen who had no tribal protection were persecuted so severely that some died under the treatment, and Muhammad’s own clan of Hashim were boycotted in an attempt to starve them into submission . . . (Armstrong, 1994: 152).
About two years after being declared, the boycott was finished in 619 CE.
But Muhammad and Islam followers still received improper treatment from the
Quraishi. Fortunately, under the protection of his uncle Abu Talib, none of the
Quraish could harm Muhammad. But after Abu Thalib died in the same year, the
new ruler of banu Hashim could not protect Muhammad as Abu Talib did. In the time of crisis, the pagan Arabs of the northern settlement of Yathrib invited the
Muslims to leave their clan and emigrate there (Armstrong, 1994: 153). Yathrib is
the name of Arabian city Medina in pre-Islamic times placed over 4oo kilometers
away from Mecca across the Arabian deserts. It is called Medina after Muhammad
settled there. Its name came from the words Madīnat al Nabī, means “the City of the Prophet” (Esposito, 1995: 92). Unlike Mecca which was a desert and trusted
its life on trade, Yathrib was a fertile, agricultural settlement.
Yathrib was not yet a city like Mecca. It was an oasis, a fertile island of about twenty square miles which was surrounded by volcanic hills, rocks and uncultivable stony ground. It was not a commercial centre but an agricultural settlement in which the various tribal groups lived cheek by jowl in a state of deadly hostility in their hamlets and farms (Armstrong, 2001: 142-143).
Hence during the summer of 622 CE, about seventy Muslims and their families
Muslims. It is called the hijra, meaning ‘departure’. The year of the journey, 622 CE denotes the first year of the Muslim calendar, also called the Hijri calendar
(Ahmed, 2001: 18). The calendar is determined by the cycle of the moon. Islamic
lunar calendar contains 354 days and varies annually by ten or eleven days from
the Christian sonar calendar. Each month consists of 29 to 30 days. Unlike the
Christian sonar calendar which started the new day at midnight, Islamic lunar
calendar starts in the evening as the moon appears (Ahmed, 2001: 39).
Muhammad had his first chance of revisiting Mecca in 629 CE in Muslim’s first
Hajj pilgrimage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad).
5. Muhammad’s Enemies and Companions
Either in Mecca or Medina, Muhammad was not alone in spreading his
teaching. He was supported by several companions. The first and foremost
companion was, of course, Khadijah who left him in a grief when she died in 619
C.E. Muhammad’s later marriages also gave him supportive wives. Among them,
one wife whose name often mentioned was Aishah. She was the most beloved
wife after Khadijah, also the youngest amongst them (Armstrong, 2004: 423).
Other companions of Muhammad besides his wives were some men who
attracted to his teaching and trusted by Muhammad. Hamza, the son of Abdul
Muttalib, therefore Muhammad’s uncle (Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 131) was one
of Muhammad’s companions. Hamza was the same age as Muhammad
(Armstrong, 2004: 109). Hamza was a fearless soldier that he was entitled “the
in the Battle of Uhud by an Ethiopian warrior named Wahshi and his internal parts
of body were eaten by Hind bint Utbah as the revenge for his killing her relatives
in the Battle of Badr.
Hind cut open Hamza's abdomen, plucked out his liver and chewed it up. Muhammad bin Umar Waqidi, the historian, says that she made a fire in the battlefield, roasted Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib's heart and liver and ate them. Not satisfied with this, she cut the limbs, the ears and the nose of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, strung them into a "necklace," and entered Mecca wearing it as a "trophy" of victory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamza_ibn_Abd_al-Muttalib).
Another companion denoted is Bilal. Bilal ibn Rabah was a slave of
Abyssinian origin. Bilal was attracted to Muhammad’s teaching that the enemies
of Islam persecuted him, but he still kept his faith on Islam. Abu Bakr, who by
chance saw him was tortured by his former master Umayya bin Khalaf, freed him.
Umayya would strip Bilal of all clothes, make him lie on the burning sand at mid-day and then lash him mercilessly. Despite this torture Bilal would go on saying, "Wahid! Wahdid! Allah is one! Allah is one!" One day Abu Bakr passed by and was greatly moved by the sight. "Why are you so cruel to this helpless man?" he asked `Umayya. "If you feel for him, why don't you buy him?" retored `Umayya. So Abu Bakr at once bought Bilal at a heavy price and set him free (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr).
By the time of the hijra to Medina, Bilal was among the people who followed Muhammad. In Medina, Bilal was chosen as and became the first
muezzin (the caller to prayer) in Islamic history (Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 62). Bilal is described as tall and gaunt with a stooping gait; his complexion was dark,
his face thin and his hair strongly tinged with gray (Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 63).
A companion who met Muhammad in Medina was Salman al-Farsi
(Salman the Persian). Formerly a Christian, he went from Persia to Arabia to find
deathbed (Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 500). Tricked by the Bedouins who guided
him in the desert, he was sold as a slave to Medina. There, he met Muhammad
who paid the ransom to his Jewish master to free him. Salman then converted and
became a loyal companion of Muhammad (Gibb and Kramers, 1965: 500).
Salman was the one that came with the idea to dig the moat in the Battle of the
Trench which was regarded as a cheap trick by the Quraish and did not mirror
Arabian’s characteristic.
On 31 March 627 the Quraysh arrived with their army and stared nonplussed at the deep trench… In a way that is almost comical, Salman’s trench effectively stymied the whole massive offensive and the Qurayshi leaders simply did not know how to deal with it… In any case, the Quraysh despised manual labour and clearly considered the trench to be in the worst possible taste: it was unsupporting, unArab and contradicted all the conventions chivalric warfare (Armstrong, 2001: 203-204).
Not all the companions of Muhammad were the straight embracer of
Islam. Some of them were Muhammad’s enemies who submitted. For example
was Khalid, son of al-Walid, the chief of banu Makhzum, a clan which specialized in warfare. Banu Makhzum was known for its reputation as a clan whose members were among the best horsemen in Arabia. Khalid learned how to
ride horses and use any kinds of weapons from his childhood
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid). He was the famous general of
Muhammad’s army. At first, he fought against Muhammad and defeated the
Muslim army. Later on, the Prophet married Maimunah, who was an aunt to
Khalid. Soon afterwards, Khalid embraced Islam and became one of its most
powerful champions. He destroyed the temple of Uzza at Nakhlah before the
leaders of the Muslim army at some battles and expeditions which resulted many
victories (http://answering-islam.org/Books/Hughes/k.htm).
Another enemy of Muhammad was Abu Sufyan. Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
was married to Hind bint Utbah and had one child, Muawiyah I. Meanwhile, he
also had a daughter from his kinswoman Saffya bint abi al-A'as, named Ramlah
who later became one of Muhammad’s wives
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Sufyan). Abu Sufyan was one of the most
powerful and well respected men in Mecca. He saw Muhammad as a threat to
Mecca's social order and a blasphemer of the Quraish gods
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Sufyan). In several battles, other leaders of
Quraish tribe were all killed; left Abu Sufyan as the only leader of Mecca. In 630
CE, Muhammad’s army defeated Mecca. After the conquest, Abu Sufyan adopted
Islam. When asked by Muhammad, he admitted that Meccan gods had proved
powerless and that there were indeed "no god but God", the first part of the
Islamic confession of faith. When asked about the second part, the prophethood of
Muhammad, Abu Sufyan still hesitated but then submitted. In turn, Muhammad
announced Abu Sufyan's house as a sanctuary where people who sought for
protection would be spared there (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Sufyan).
Meanwhile, Abu Sufyan’s wife, Hind bint Utbah was also recorded as one
of Muhammad’s enemies who later yielded. Hind and her family controlled the
temple of Al-Lat at Taif. Hind, lost her father Utba ibd Rabi’a and two brothers at
the Battle of Badr, had vowed to eat the liver of Hamza, who had killed her father
Quraish women encouraged the Meccan army by walking behind them, beating
tambourines and singing:
If you advance we hug you Spread soft rugs beneath you If you retreat we leave you
leave and no more love you (Armstrong, 2001: 188).
Also in the battle, Hamza was killed. His stomach was slit then and Hind,
who fulfilled her vow, chewed a morsel of his liver. Next, she pioneered the
women to mutilate Hamza and other martyrs’ parts of dead bodies and made them
as their body ornaments (Armstrong, 2001: 188). But afterwards, when Mecca had
been defeated by Muhammad’s army, Hind came to and asked Muhammad for
forgiveness and submitted to Islam. The Prophet Muhammad forgave her and set
her free (Armstrong, 2004: 430-431).
One of Muhammad’s enemies was Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, a Jewish poet of
banu Nadir in Medina. He went to Mecca and encouraged the Quraishi to battle against Muhammad with his poetry. His poetry showed clearly that not all the
people of Medina agreed with Muhammad’s teaching. In Arabia, poetry was
central to its political life that could arouse the Quraishi spirit of battle
(Armstrong, 2001: 182-183). Several months later, Ka’b returned to Medina and
made other defamatory verses. He wrote erotic poetry about Muslim women,
which Muhammad and his followers found offensive
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%27b_ibn_al-Ashraf). For that reason,
D. Theoretical Framework
The first problem in this paper that is to find out how the religion in
reference to Islam is covered in The Satanic Verses will be analyzed by the help of the theories of plot, character and characterization, and setting added by an
assessment of the relation between literature and society as well as a review on
Islam and its society circa the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The theory of plot
will help in exploring the events happen in the story especially in its subplots
which are considered to be the reference of the real Islamic condition. Next the
theory of character and characterization is helping to explore the imitable traits of
the personalities in the novel. The theory of setting then is added in finding out the
background which place and time and how the society in the story is depicted.
The review on the relation between literature and society will help to
comprehend the society in the novel including the people and their customs,
conventions, beliefs and values, institutions (legal, religious, and cultural), also
the physical environment. Last but not least, the review on Islam and its society
circa the life of the prophet Muhammad of course has the importance to the thesis.
The review is used in accordance to the novel, therefore the part of the novel
which takes particular depiction of the religion will be found out. By using these
theories and reviews, however, expectantly the writer will uncover the
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
This paper is concentrated on Salman Rushdie’s literary work The Satanic
Verses. The first original copy of The Satanic Verses was published by Viking
Books in United Kingdom in September 1988 and consisted of 546 pages
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_%28novel%29). However, this
paper is analyzing The Satanic Verses which was published in 1998 by Vintage.
The Satanic Verses received the Whitbread Prize for the best novel and
Germany’s Author of the Year Award in 1989 (Rushdie, 1998: i).
The publication of The Satanic Verses caused immediate controversy in
Islamic world. On February 14, 1989, a fatwa promising his execution was
proclaimed on Radio Tehran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian leader,
calling his book "blasphemous against Islam"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie). Khomeini condemned Rushdie
for the crime of apostasy, which according to the hadith is punishable by death
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_%28novel%29). Khomeini
called on all zealous Muslims to execute the writer, as well as those of the book’s
publishers who knew about the concepts of the book.
(http://en.www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie).
In the real life, the words ‘Satanic Verses’ is actually a term refers to
several verses which are -- to some people -- believed as a part of the earlier
version of Surah 53: An-Najm (The Star) in the Koran and later erased. The verses
were about the Prophet Muhammad’s approval of Mecca's pagan goddesses Allāt,
al-'Uzzā, and Manāt as the daughters of Allah. Muhammad then realized the
verses were delivered not by God’s messenger but by Satan. Therefore the verses
were satanic. This was written in al-Wāqidī and al-Tabarī's recension of Ibn
Ishaq's biography of Prophet Muhammad, the Sirat Rasul Allah. Almost all
Muslim scholars have rejected the story as it is historically impossible and
contrary to Muhammad's loyalty on the idea of monotheism
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_Verses). Later, Salman Rushdie brought the
Satanic Verses incident up into his novel to make the forgotten matter arouse in
such a controversial manner.
This thesis does not analyze the main subplot of the novel. Alternatively,
the analysis is focused on two subplots in The Satanic Verses which depict the life
of Mahound and his religion Submission at the beginning and the last period of his
prophethood. As one of two main characters in the novel, Gibreel Farishta, a
leading Indian actor, developed himself to be a schizophrenic after survived from
a blown up plane, he dreamt the life of Mahound. Mahound was a prophet of a
religion called Submission, who lived in the city of Jahilia among pagan-follower
tribe called Shark. Submission encountered strong refusal from Abu Simbel, the
ruler of Jahilia and Hind, his amazingly beautiful wife. Once, Mahound recited the
satanic verses which forced him to flee to Yathrib. After gaining many followers
in Yathrib several years later, Mahound returned to Jahilia and conquered almost
B. Approach of the Study
According to Reading and Writing about Literature (1971) written by
Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Jr., one of the ways in analyzing a
literary work, other than using formalist, biographical, mythopoeia, and
psychological approach, is by using an approach which referring it to the society
where it is produced that is well known as the sociocultural-historical approach
(Rohrberger and Woods, Jr., 1971: 9).
This thesis is using the sociocultural-historical approach since this thesis
discusses the novel The Satanic Verses and its reference and relevance with Islam.
The traditional historical approach to literature usually takes as its basis some aspect of the sociocultural frame of reference, combining it with an interest in the biographical as well as a knowledge of and interest in literary history (Rohrberger and Woods, Jr., 1971: 9).
The quotation above mentions that as one of the typical traditional historical
approaches, this approach is in reference with some characteristic of the
sociocultural structure with the combination of biography and some
comprehension of history in literature.
Critics of this approach define the society, or in their word: ‘civilization’,
as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and prove that literature
takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter (Rohrberger and Woods, Jr.,
1971: 9). Consequently, it is necessary to examine the social environment in
which a work was created and which it reflects. The idea of this approach, of
course, cannot be rejected since a literary work is not created within a vacuum and
it embodies ideas significant to the culture that produced it (Rohrberger and
literary works without knowing its reference on society along with its attitudes as
well as actions.
It is suggested also that such judgment which recognizes literature merely
as a historical document and illuminates the past only without relevance to
contemporary life should be avoided (Rohrberger and Woods, Jr., 1971: 10-11).
C. Method of the Study
This paper uses the library research. Therefore sources from books were
taken as well as from the internet. Some books and several sites from the internet
are discussed in analyzing the paper.
The sources of the study are Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1998)
as the primary source and some other books such as Blasphemy: Verbal Offense
against the Sacred, from Moses to Salman Rushdie (1993) by Leonard W. Levy,
Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World (2001) by Akbar S.
Ahmed, Reading and Writing about Literature written by Mary Rohrberger and
Samuel H. Woods, Jr. (1971), A Handbook to Literature: Fifth Edition authored
by Hugh Holman and William Harmon (1986), and Karen Armstrong’s
Muhammad: Biography of the Prophet (2001). Websites such as
www.wikipedia.org and www.answering-islam.org are also discussed in finding
the data on the study.
In doing the analysis, there were several steps taken. First, the book to
analyze was read extensively to attain deeper understanding. Then some
were including some theories, approaches, criticism and information needed about
the novel, and the review on Islam. After the additional data were collected, then
the analysis on the portrayal of the religion similar to Islam in the novel and how
it is insufficient from the reality was taken.
The first step of analyzing the novel was to survey the plot, particularly
two subplots of the novel which depict the life of the fictional prophet. The two
subplots which depict the beginning and the last period of the fictional prophet’s
prophethood were analyzed individually. Afterwards, the examination of the
setting was performed. This is done by exploring the physical condition of the
place, the society and their religious life, and the political life in which the
fictional prophet lived. The third stage of the analysis was to investigate the
character of the fictional prophet as well as the characters around him.
After the plot, setting, and characters in the novel were explored, the next
step performed was to discover the insufficiency of reality by seeing the
differences found within these elements with the real values in Islam. The two
subplots of the novel as well as the setting and characters within it were compared
and contrasted with the history of Islam. The similarities found showed that the
novel was in reference with Islam, meanwhile the differences were the evidence
that the novel lacked of relevancy hence reality was insufficient the novel. To sum
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
The Satanic Verses is a novel in nine chapters whose story is generally depicting about two main characters who fell down from their blown hijacked plane Bostan. They, Saladin Chamcha and Gibreel Farishta finally survived. After the accident, Chamcha turned into a goat-like creature while Farishta developed a schizophrenia which made him unable to tell whether he was in a sleeping or awakening condition. While Farishta was asleep, he dreamt about the life of Mahound, a Prophet of a religion named Submission and his surroundings. The dream is portrayed in the second (Mahound) and the sixth chapter (Return to Jahilia) of the novel. The second chapter, Mahound, particularly portrays the beginning of his prophethood and the problem he faced in spreading his new religion among people in the city he lived until he fled to his neighboring city called Yathrib. Meanwhile, the sixth chapter, Return to Jahilia, tells the story while Mahound had gained many followers in Yathrib and returned to Jahilia, his homeland to destroy all pagan idols remained. This chapter shows how the enemies and companions of Mahound faced dilemma of the news on his arrival. Also in this chapter, Mahound finally died along with the end of Farishta’s pathological dream. Referred to what has been mentioned in Chapter III of this thesis, this chapter will only analyze what are consisted in the character Gibreel Farishta’s dreams during the stage of his mental illness. Therefore, this thesis is
focused mainly on the two chapters although it is not impossible to find any supporting details from other chapters.
A. The Portrayal of Submission in The Satanic Verses as Seen in Its Plot,
Settings, and Characters
1. The Plot in The Satanic Verses
