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Salman Rushdi's Satanic Verses At aboutislam.netfirms.comWe did not post the book in one part so that you don't download it since if you like what you are reading we think you should support the author of this book by buying it, it is a great book that took years to write, the author deserves the money |
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falls. Mahound does not open his eyes for an instant, but his steps are sure, and he reaches the stage without stumblings or collisions. He climbs the few steps up into the light; still his eyes stay shut. The assembled lyric poets, composers of assassination eulogies, narrative versifiers and satirists—Baal is here, of course—gaze with amusement, but also with a little unease, at the sleepwalking Mahound. In the crowd his disciples jostle for room. The scribes fight to be near him, to take down whatever he might say.
The Grandee Abu Simbel rests against bolsters on a silken carpet positioned beside the stage. With him, resplendent in golden Egyptian neckwear, is his wife Hind, that famous Grecian profile with the black hair that is as long as her body. Abu Simbel rises and calls to Mahound, “Welcome.” He is all urbanity. “Welcome, Mahound, the seer, the kahin.” It’s a public declaration of respect, and it impresses the assembled crowd. The Prophet’s disciples are no longer shoved aside, but allowed to pass. Bewildered, half-pleased, they come to the front. Mahound speaks without opening his eyes.
“This is a gathering of many poets,” he says clearly, “and I cannot claim to be one of them. But I am the Messenger, and I bring verses from a greater One than any here assembled.”
The audience is losing patience. Religion is for the temple; J ahilians and pilgrims alike are here for entertainment. Silence the fellow! Throw him out! -- But Abu Simbel speaks again. “If your God has really spoken to you,” he says, “then all the world must hear it.” And in an instant the silence in the great tent is complete.
“_The Star_,” Mahound cries out, and the scribes begin to write.
“In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful!
“By the Pleiades when they set: Your companion is not in error; neither is he deviating.
“Nor does he speak from his own desires. It is a revelation that has been revealed: one mighty in power has taught him.
“He stood on the high horizon: the lord of strength. Then he came close, closer than the length of two bows, and revealed to his servant that which is revealed.