Alleged Resemblance To Character in The Novel
While few have doubted Yusuf's piety or Sunni Islamic conservatism, some believe that the character "Bilal X" in Rushdie's book is a caricature of Yusuf Islam, and one observer has theorized that this may have been partially responsible for his reaction to The Satanic Verses. The fictional character Bilal X, a successful African-American former pop singer who has converted to Islam, is portrayed by Rushdie as the "favored lieutenant" of "the Imam", a character based on the Shia Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Bilal X's "well-nourished, highly trained" voice serves as "a weapon of the West turned against its makers."
Read more about this topic: Cat Stevens' Comments About Salman Rushdie
Famous quotes containing the words alleged, resemblance and/or character:
“The entire construct of the “medical model” of “mental illness”Mwhat is it but an analogy? Between physical medicine and psychiatry: the mind is said to be subject to disease in the same manner as the body. But whereas in physical medicine there are verifiable physiological proofs—in damaged or affected tissue, bacteria, inflammation, cellular irregularity—in mental illness alleged socially unacceptable behavior is taken as a symptom, even as proof, of pathology.”
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“Admiration. Our polite recognition of another’s resemblance to ourselves.”
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