One Hair to rule them all...

In “The Prophet’s Hair,” a short story by Salman Rushdie, a wealthy family in India is brought to ruin by a religious relic.  Salman Rushdie tells this story in satirical way that seems to poke fun at many things that people hold sacred.  However, I noticed that Salman Rushdie satirizes other aspects of human culture besides that of religion.  I also noticed some similarities to another famous novel while reading this short story.

Although I was already expecting this short story to be almost over the top satirically, while I was reading this piece by Salman Rushdie the first bit of irony seemed to jump out at me and surprise me.  Shockingly enough, this bit of satire didn’t deal with the sensitive topic of religion either.  This piece that I am referring to is the introduction to the back alley thieves as a union type organization.  I found myself chuckling at the thought of these men who chose such a dishonorable profession to form a group or union amongst themselves in order to keep their thievery “fair” among each other.  I don’t know if I would have noticed this if I wasn’t expecting satire, but I did enjoy it, and I believe it set a good mood for the rest of the story. 

In this short story, a wealthy money lender, Hashim, encounters the sacred hair of the Prophet Muhammad encased within a glass vial.  Within the next few days, the lives of Hashim and his family are turned completely upside down.  Hashim, who describes himself as “…not a godly man…” (pg. 41) suddenly turns seemingly very religious.  He shows this new faith by praying five times a day, forcing his daughter to cover herself in public, and retreat to her room when there were male guests over.  I found it funny that a simple strand of hair, one of the smallest pieces of the entire human body, and hold such weight in a persons mind.  I think it is the hair’s affect on Hashim that forces him to confess his sins to his family, which include being ashamed of his children and his acts of adultery to his wife.  He doesn’t admit to change his ways or to become a better man, he simply admits his wrongdoings (while he is drunk mind you).  This showed how he was affected very well.  I thought it was funny that the hair of the prophet had changed him so much, yet he still remained the same man.  He prayed five times a day, burned every book in his house beside the Qur’an, but he still remained a shrewd, ruthless business man. 

While reading this story, I couldn’t help but notice some similarities between this story and Lord of the Rings.   This may have been because I had recently seen the first movie on T.V., but I still think the comparisons are valid.  Both the Ring and Hair seem to have the power to corrupt.  In both stories, characters are amazed at the power of their small artifacts.  This corruption usually leads to extreme paranoia over losing this item.  For example, Hashim begins to sleep with the vial under his pillow because he is afraid of losing it again.  The most obvious parallel that I found between these two stories is how the items seemed to have a mind of their own.  In both stories the artifacts seem to want to be found.  This is shown in “The Prophet’s Hair” when Hashim’s son, Atta, attempts to do away with the vial because he believes it to be a curse, the vial finds a way back into Hashim’s possession. 

Although there are a lot of ironic points that could be mentioned throughout the book, I think the ending shows the true satire of the story.  I think its very ironic that the religious actions that the hair of the prophet bring are supposed to be rewarding and help people, but they usually do the opposite.  The hair forced Hashim to become a more religious and honest man, and this caused his previously happy family into ruin with the death of three of the members, and the fourth one going insane.   This is shown again when the thief’s four sons are suddenly healed.  You would think they would be happy because they are able to walk now, but the opposite is true because they aren’t able to make as much money as beggars, very ironic.   The only person who seems to benefit from the hair is the thief’s wife who is now able to see after being blind.  Maybe the message of this short story is that religion is too complex for most people, and just causes chaos, and more harm then good.