It helps to have a little background in Islam when reading The Satanic Verses, but unfortunately, I didn’t. The Internet can do wonders, though, and I managed to fill in the largest gaps in my education relatively quickly. It turns out the Satanic Verses in question are ones that assert Muhammad once acknowledged the existence and power of three pagan goddesses but later changed his mind, claiming to have been tricked by the devil. Aside from dealing with that sensitive subject, there are a whole slew of other aspects that many Muslims found offensive, such as calling Abraham a bastard and having a set of prostitutes named after Muhammad’s twelve wives.

Rushdie expected controversy, but nothing close to what he got. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death. A few of the book’s translators were attacked, bombs were planted, and books were burned. The UK and Iran broke diplomatic relations over the controversy, and Rushdie lived in hiding for nine years. He’s no longer hiding, but the fatwa still stands–only the person who issued it can revoke it, and Ayatollah Khomeini died without doing so.

Rushdie said he gets a Valentine, of sorts, every year reminding him that his life is forfeit for insulting the Prophet. He apologized to Ayatollah Khomeinie, back when he was still alive, but it didn’t help. The Ayatollah replied by saying, “Even if Salman Rushdie repents and become the most pious man of all time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he has got, his life and wealth, to send him to Hell.”

Holding this book in my hands seems different, somehow, from the experience of handling other books. It looks the same, just bound leaves of paper. But those crazy ideas inside–and the crazy reactions to them–seem to make it heavier.

It’s a good read, too.