Prophet's Hair - Salman Rushdie

Author: Salman Rushdie
Title: The Prophet´s Hair
Published: East, West; 1994
Genre: a short story
Characters:
2 groups: those whose god is money and those whose god is an actual deity, in this case the prophet Muhammad
Motivated by money: the thieves who beat and rob Atta, the flower-vendor who finds him, Sheikh Sin – the Thief of
Thieves, whom Huma hired to steal the hair from her father
Hashim – the moneylender is under the spell of money when he is first introduced into the story, thought he switches his allegiance from money to religion
His family – also under the spell of money, he and his wife made sure to instill the values of money in their children. The characters who can be considered devout Muslims at the outset of the story are few in name. Sin the thief´s wife and four sons can be considered this way.
The only character of any significance left unaccounted for is the Deputy Commissioner of Police, and his allegiance is open to interpretation. One could say his allegiance is to the law, or rather to justice, which in another significant motivator. He seems to be the personification of government in the story.
Brief summary of the plot:
The story takes place in Srinagar during a fierce winter when Hashim a moneylender comes upon a glass jar which contains a strand of silver hair from the prophet Muhammed. Upon finding this glass jar Hashim knows it was stolen only one day prior from the Hazratbal mosque. He is now faced with an important decision. Hashim knows that he must return the hair to the mosque because this is the right thing to do. However, being a collector himself he wants to keep the prophet’s hair as he convinces himself by doing so he is a “finer server” to the Prophet.
Hashim becomes violent and insulting towards his family telling his wife “their marriage had been the worst of his afflictions” (Rushdie 45) and admitting his adultery with hired women. Hashim also insults his son and disowns his daughter and must do something before he loses his family completely. But Hashim is blinded by his greed and the curse that has been put on him by the artifact. Atta, Hashim’s son, attempts to steal the hair from his father in hopes of ridding him of this rage but loses the jar through a hole in his pocket. Hashim finds it once again and is outraged and he turns to Huma his daughter to tell him what happened. Huma is left with only one option, to hire
Sheikh “the Thief of Thieves” (Rushdie 52) to steal the jar from her father. Sheikh had become a pickpocket after going broke from a gambling addiction and had children who he crippled at birth so they would have a “lifelong source of high income” (Rushdie 53). On the night of the burglary everything turns out badly with the death of Atta and Huma and the suicide of Hashim. The jar is found from the pocket of Sheikh and is returned to its resting place. Although the jar has caused much trouble for Hashim and his family it has brought a miracle to the least expected. Sheik’s children are healed but are upset because they can no longer beg, but his wife is blessed with the restoring of her vision.
VOCABULARY:
MOOR - A tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath.
INSALUBRIOUS - unhealthy - unwholesome - insanitary - unsound – sickly.
PECULIAR – strange – odd
GULLY - is a landform created by running water, eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside.
FORESTALL – prevent or obstruct.
INCIPIENT – beginning to happen.
PERIL – serious or immediate danger.
SOLICITUDE – care or concern for something.
INCULCATE - instill.
ALABASTER - is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals.
QUAY - a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place.
RAMIFICATIONS - A consequence of an action or event, esp. when complex or unwelcome.

EQUANIMITY – mental calmness.

TERRACOTTA - , a type of earthenware, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic.
ABHORRED - regard with disgust or hatred.
PERTURBED - Make (someone) anxious or unsettled.
PURDAH - A curtain or screen, used mainly in India to keep women separate from men or strangers.
USURY – is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans.
KUKRI – is a Nepalese knife with an inwardly curved edge, used as both a tool and as a weapon.
RAGA – A traditional melodic type in Hindu music, consisting of a theme that expresses an aspect of religious feeling
CHAGRIN – disquietude or distress of mind caused by humiliation, disappointment, or failure.
ERRANT – Erring or straying from the proper course or standards.
DJINN – genie.
AMASSING – gather together.
CONSTERNATION – feelings of anxiety or dismay.
BULBUL – tropical, often crested, African and Asian songbird (family Pycnonotidae) that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage.
SOMNOLENT – sleepy, drowsy.
AWRY – Away from the appropriate, planned, or expected course
CHARPOY - The Manjaa is a traditional Punjabi name for a woven bed.