Salman Rushdie is an Indian-British author known for magical realism and addressing controversial topics. He was educated in India and England and has had four marriages. Rushdie's 1981 novel Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize. However, his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses led to protests and a fatwa calling for his death being issued by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Rushdie's writings often explore the conflicts between religions and cultures.

1. Salman Rushdie 1947-

2. Biography:Born: June 19, 1947 in Bombay, IndiaGrew up in a Muslim household well-educated parents. His father was a Cambridge-educated lawyer turned businessmen and his mother was a teacher. Educated at:Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, 1961 King’s College, Cambridge. 1964 moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan 1989 had a fatwa declared on him by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeni for his writing of the book “The Satanic Verses”.

3. ReligionReligious Views: Grew up Shitte Muslim, but focuses on religion and its conflicts in society in his writings. Books concentrate on conflicts between religions “ I don’t think there is a need for an entity like God in my life.”

4. Has expressed need to:“move beyond tradition”Muslim Reformation : “bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age”Combat jihadist ideologues/challenge traditionalists[throw] open the windows to let in much needed fresh air. Study religion as an event inside history, not supernaturally above it. “Broad-mindedness is related to tolerance”“open-mindedness is the sibling of peace.”

5. Critical Awards:Won Booker prize in 1981f or Midnight’s Children1981: Received Booker McConnell Prize for Fiction for Midnight’s Children1981: Received literary award from English Speaking Union for Midnight’s Children 1982: Received James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Midnight’s Children

6. Marriages Personal Life: Is known for his multiple marriages :Clarissa Luard: (1976-1987).Rushdie and Luard had a son, Zafar RushdieMarianne Wiggins: (1988-1993). Wiggins was an American novelist.Elizabeth West: ( 1997-2004). Rushdie and West had a son, Milan RushdiePadmaLakshmi: (2004-2007). Indian actress and model . Currently the host of Top Chef. Lakshmi and Rushdi announced their divorce in July of 2007. Romantically linked to RiyaSen

7. KnighthoodKnighted: June 16, 2007Many protests around the world:Iran and Pakistan protested formally and calls for Sir Rushdie’s death were even made. Al-Qaeda is quoted as saying Rushdie is “ an insult to Islam.”

8. QuotationsWhat is freedom of expression? Without freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.”“I do not envy people who think they have a complete explanation of the world, for the simple reason that they are obviously wrong.”“ I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitations of women…” speaking in support of Britain’s criticism of wearing the full veil.

9. Style/Themesknown for melding different cultures and traditions in his writingcelebrates the postcolonial subject questions conventional views on religion, politics, and social forms. Magic Realism: a style of painting and literature in which fantastic or imaginary and often unsettling images or events are depicted in a sharply detailed, realistic manner. India’s National Identity vs. British colonizationIndian diasporamigrant identity and the themes of Indian diasporaColonialism and Gender/Power StruggleRushdie significantly shaped the course of Indian literature in english

10. Prophet’s HairSummary:A wealthy Kashmiri businessman finds a religious relicand takes it home rather than returning it to the mosque; his ensuing fanaticism leads to the death of his children, his own suicide, and the mental breakdown of his wife.Explores:clashes between tradition and modernity, fundamentalist Islamand secularism, wealth and poverty, social hypocrisiescombines elements of traditional realism, magical realism, satire, moral fable, and cinematic screwball comedymixing seemingly incompatible narrative styles, diction, and tone.

11. OverviewBlack Comedy, Typical postmodern fiction:Hashim - The central protagonist:dead by the end of the story along with his childrenwife has been driven madreligious fundamentalism and the “old ways” have utterly destroyed this family“The Prophet’s Hair” is as much comedy as tragedy.The grand denouement, with its mayhem and disaster is unexpectedly hilarious. Taken together, the story’s elements are excessive, parodic, flippant, horrifying, and humorous. Nothing is sacred: All characters, all possible positions, all beliefs, are objects of satire

12. Settingdisputed state of Kashmir, takes on such thorny issues as:religious intolerancesexual stereotypingdomestic violencecrime, povertyclass disparityerosion of “traditional” culturecombines its genuine social engagement with a refusal to positively identify a moral high ground. irreverent tone, casual mixing of realistic and nonrealistic narrative modes the relic is a truly magical artifact, effecting miraculous cures

13. CharactersHashim: a wealthy, self-satisfied hypocrite with two spoiled, Westernized children; the “glassy contentment of that household, of that life of porcelain delicacy and alabaster sensibilities” Breakfast conversation is “filled with those expressions of courtesy and solicitude on which the family prided itself”marks the family out as the likely object of satire.

14. Hashimthe narrator explains; after Hashim takes possession of the religious relic, he gushes forth “long streams of awful truths”: he never loved his wife and is miserable in the marriage; he has a mistress; he visits prostitutes; he will disinherit his wife; his son is stupid; his daughter is shameless for going “barefaced”;

15. HashimHashimthinks of himself as “not a godly man” but that he “set[s] great store by ‘living honourably in the world.” what kind of “honour” is there in a man who lends out money at the rate of “over seventy percent”?impossible for his clients to ever be free of debt deludes himself into thinking that by keeping the relic, he is not being selfish and acquisitive, following the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, who “abhorred the idea of being deified”; “by keeping this hair from its distracted devotees, I perform—do I not?—a finer service than I would by returning it.” Hypocritical: Hashim claims not to be a religious man.

16. The ThiefThe thief and his family:another point of satirical contrast. Sheikh Sín acts as Hashim’s evil double: he supports a wife and children by cheating others of their money,values riches above all else, believes he has done an excellent job of preparing his children to exist in the world. Sheikh Sín has shown “a parent’s absolutist love”:crippling his children so that they will be more effective beggars, Hashim has a barely imperceptible ethical superiority over Sheikh Sín:neither parent shows any real concern for his offspring. the moneylender commits ever escalating violent acts against his wife, his son, his daughter, and a debtor after the relic comes into his life.

17. The relicWhat are the possible meanings of the relic:Is it a sacred object, pure and simple, does the story’s satire extend to it also? Is it punishing Hashim for his avarice? If it is a sacred object, why does it punish Hashim by having his religious devotion lead to the destruction of the family?

18. Conclusions?In unmasking Hashim’s hypocrisy and the complacency of the wealthy, the story does not offer a moral absolute:We are left with a very postmodern kind of irreverence for pat conclusions and simple oppositions. the poor are not virtuous in contrast to the richneither religious belief nor secular skepticism prove to have any particular virtue. Hashimis shown to be an empty symbol of modern secular patriarchy:so too are all other possible ideological positions: tradition does not bring order or harmony, and the religion does not offer any guidance.