52 pages • 1 hour read
Salman RushdieThe Satanic Verses
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 8: “The Parting of the Arabian Sea” - Part 9: “A Wonderful Lamp”
Part 8 Summary
Ayesha leads the pilgrimage of the people of Titlipur. The "howling babies, shouting children, creaking oldsters" (284) and others walk to Mecca, enclosed in a cloud of Ayesha's butterflies. At the same time, Mirza Saeed Akhtar follows the pilgrimage in his car. He says that the pilgrimage is a "suicide mission" (285) and he begs the pilgrims to stop following Ayesha. The pilgrims walk through one village and then cross an area affected by a severe drought. After 18 days of marching, an elderly female pilgrim drops dead of exhaustion and dehydration. She had told her friends about a recent dream of the archangel Azraeel. Ayesha orders the pilgrims not to stop for the dead woman, who is "assured of a home in Paradise" (288). More people die and, each time, Ayesha orders the pilgrims to continue their march toward Mecca. Mirza Saeed continues to follow in his "station wagon of skepticism" (288). Gradually, people peel away from the pilgrimage and join him in his car. As they ride behind the pilgrims, he recounts myths and fairytales, sharing them in their original English language. Ayesha refers to his stories as "the Devil's verses" (290).
The pilgrimage becomes a political hot topic and people line up to protest the pilgrims. Ayesha walks toward the mob "as if it did not exist" (294) and, before they can attack, a massive thunderstorm ends the drought and distracts the protestors. While they travel along, Mishal's health deteriorates. The cancer takes a toll on her body. Outside of a town, the pilgrims see a group of miners. Many of the confrontational miners are later killed in an accident. Thousands die, but Ayesha insists that this accident is "a judgement upon them" (295). When the pilgrims reach a mosque, they find a baby that has been abandoned by its parents. The Imam of the mosque approaches the pilgrims. He says that the "clearly illegitimate" (297) baby belongs to the Devil. Ayesha agrees with the Imam and, with her permission, the people of the village stone the baby to death. The pilgrims are shocked by the execution of a baby and they begin to doubt Ayesha. Mirza Saeed tries to take advantage of this sudden influx of doubt. He loudly questions Ayesha about her relationship to the archangel Gibreel. When Ayesha explains that the archangel communicates to her by singing verses to "the tunes of popular hit songs" (298), he is triumphant. The pilgrims' doubt grows and disillusionment continues to spread. However, Ayesha promises them that she will perform a miracle to restore their faith.
According to Ayesha, the Arabian Sea will part for the pilgrims and they will be able to walk across the seabed. As the pilgrims gather, a cloud of butterflies appears. The butterflies gather into "the shape of a colossal being" (300) and then, as one, plunge themselves into the water. The pilgrims from the village that is famous for its butterflies decide that this is an omen. Soon, "the entire village" (301) steps into the sea, following Ayesha. As they walk under the water, however, they begin to disappear. Those who stayed on the shore realize that their fellow pilgrims are drowning themselves. They try to save the people from the water but cannot. Mirza Saeed cannot save Mishal from drowning herself. Hundreds of people follow Ayesha into the water and drown, but some time later, certain people will swear to one another that they saw the water begin to part, just like Ayesha claimed would happen. Mirza Saeed is shocked by the events and regretful that he could not save the drowned people. He returns to his village and, a short time later, he dies. Just before his death, he has a vision that he is walking through the Arabian Sea with the pilgrims and Ayesha by his side.
Part 9 Summary
A year and a half after the Shaandaar Café burned down, Saladin has recovered from his injuries. He receives a message from India explaining that his father is "in the terminal stages of multiple myeloma, a systemic cancer of the bone marrow" (304). Saladin is shocked by his emotional reaction to the news and he realizes that he wishes to see his father at least once before he loses the chance forever. Saladin books a flight to India. S. S. Sisodia is also aboard his flight. This time, terrorists do not attack Saladin, though he sees numerous things that remind him of his previous, tragic flight. Saladin spends the flight struggling with his emotional turmoil. He learns from Sisodia that Gibreel's latest films have flopped and that Gibreel and Alleluia are no longer together. He thinks about Mishal and Hanif, who are now married, and Mishal's parents who died in the fire at the Shaandaar Café. He reads in a magazine that Hal Valance's latest venture has "flopped badly" (307) and he thinks ahead "towards the question of Miss Zeenat Vakil" (309).
Saladin arrives in India and travels to his father's home. There, Saladin is told that his father does not truly understand the extent of his own illness. In their short reunion, they repair their damaged relationship, "a serene and beautiful feeling" (311). Saladin is with his father when his father dies and he cannot forget the way his father's mouth "curved upward, in a smile" (316). He tries to understand the meaning of his father's final facial expression. After the funeral, Saladin goes to the family home. He finds the supposedly magical lamp that he remembers from his youth, now bequeathed to him (along with a fortune) in his father's will. When he rubs the lamp, Saladin is interrupted by the arrival of Zeenat Vakil. Zeenat has come to re-introduce herself to Saladin after staying away because she "was just trying to hurt [Saladin]" (318). In short order, they begin a romantic relationship. Saladin becomes more accustomed to life in India and—to illustrate his growing appreciation for his homeland—he reverts to the original spelling of his name, Salahuddin.
During this time, Gibreel has also made the trip to India. His attempts to restart his career have faltered and rumors spread of his "odd behavior" (320), as well as the return of his notoriously bad breath. He plans to finance these films with his own money. However, Gibreel struggles to complete the films. He is not a happy or healthy man and the police are investigating his role in the death of Rekha Merchant. Having lost most of his fortune and having ended his relationship with Alleluia, Gibreel has become unstable. His illness reaches a peak when he discovers that Alleluia is coming to India on a mountaineering expedition. While she is in Bombay, she stays in the same building where Rekha Merchant killed herself and her child by jumping from the roof. Gibreel gets into a fight with Alleluia and throws her from the same rooftop. When the police investigate, they also find that the movie producer S. S. Sisodia has been shot dead inside the apartment belonging to Gibreel.
Gibreel manages to evade the police. Unsure where to go, he visits Saladin. After being invited inside, Gibreel launches into nonsensical story about the murders. As he talks, he rubs the magic lamp. Gibreel continues to talk. Saladin realizes that he has "hidden a gun inside" (325) the lamp. Gibreel takes the gun from the lamp. He tells Saladin that he cannot continue to live with his illness and that he loved Alleluia. A knock on the door indicates that the police have arrived. Gibreel uses the gun to die by suicide. A short time afterward, Saladin stares out of "the window of his childhood" (325), over the Arabian Sea. He notices how the moonlight seems to forge a kind of pathway on top of the waves. Saladin takes a look through the window and decides, finally, to leave his past behind. He hears Zeenat behind him and joins her as they walk together out of the room, "away from the view" (326).
Parts 8-9 Analysis
Gibreel's dreams draw from reality, history, and religion, reimaging the world through his faltering mind. Many of the dreams share similarities. The stories of Mahound and Ayesha, for example, describe religious leaders who inspire those around them following their conversations with the archangel Gibreel. Both Mahound and Ayesha lead their followers on journeys, they both denounce those who do not believe in them, and they both criticize the supposed influence of Satan in creating works to distract people from the true message of God. Likewise, their personalities are similar. Mahound becomes increasingly authoritarian as he becomes more powerful and influential, while Ayesha is similarly demanding of those who follow her.
Though they die in different ways, the symbolism of their deaths reveals the fatal flaws in their characters. Ayesha is so demanding of her followers' belief and faith that she leads them into the sea where they drown. She is blinded by her own self-belief, to the point where she can no longer understand reality. Mahound dies of sickness in his old age. The sickness is brought about by his old enemy praying to a god that Mahound tried to destroy. This goddess, Al-Lat, visits Mahound on his deathbed and reveals her role in his death. Mahound, who has spent most of his life loudly preaching about monotheism, is killed by the first goddess he encountered. After a life spent trying to convert people to monotheism, he does not understand a reality in which many other gods and goddesses might not appreciate his message. Like Ayesha leading her pilgrims into the water because she believes that she has talked to God, Mahound does not see the true shape of the world because he has received a message from the one and only God.
The novel ends with Saladin and Gibreel returning to India. Saladin embraces his forgotten Indian identity and repairs his relationship with his father. He succeeds in doing so, fixing the broken bond that caused so much tension in his life. For the first time in his life, Saladin is happy. However, Gibreel is not so lucky. His mental health has continued to deteriorate, and in a fit of jealous passion, he murders Alleluia by throwing her from the same building where Rekha Merchant killed herself. Gibreel has returned to the site where much of his grief and guilt was forged. Rather than repairing his relationship and resolving his inner tensions, Gibreel loses another lover, trapping himself in a horrific cycle of violence and delusion. The two men travel to India with the same intention but receive different results.
Gibreel’s confession of his sins to Saladin is his most direct attempt to take responsibility for his actions. However, the prose style of the confession is scattered and uneven, reflecting the fractured state of Gibreel's mind. Once he confesses, he decides that there is only one way for him to break free from the vicious cycle: He shoots himself, turning the violence he uses against others against himself. Gibreel's suicide is the product of a disjointed, guilt-ridden mind trying to seize back control of a seemingly unending procession of traumatic and repeated events.
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