Possessions can kill

The world we live in seems to be filled with people that have a sense of greed and entitlement. They want what they can’t have and have what they don’t need.  People use their possessions to show others where the stand in social settings. Now, we have to admit that at some point or another that we are guilty of such materialistic and trivial acts. However, this act has been around for so long I hardly think that a professional team of historians could figure it out where it all started. Take a look a good look at yourself and then take a good look at others and ask yourself do these possessions in my life really make me happy or do they just take up space?

                The story “The Prophet’s Hair” is one of several stories in Salaman Rushdie’s book titled East, West.  This story is about the theft of a famous relic of the Prophet Muhammad. The silver encased vial held the hair of the prophet Muhammad himself which was taken from the shrine at Hazratbal mosque.  The relic was found by by a man named Hashim whom was a well known and respected money lender.  “Having found it by a stroke of great good fortune, Hashim’s duty as a citizen was clear: the air must be restored to its shrine, and the state to equanimity and peace.  But the money lender had a different notion”(43). Hashim decided to keep the relic with his elaborate collection of things.  Although it is the vial that Hashim wishes to have it is the relic within it, the Hair of the Prophet Muhommad that begins to have a certain power over Hashim. He begins to do things out of character and goes so far as to hurt his own family. “and end to politeness!’ he thundered. ‘and end to hypocrisy!’ Next, and in the same spirit, he revealed to his family the existence of a mistress”.  Next Hashim begins attacking those who owe him money.

                In an act of desperation Atta, his son, tries to return the relic to the mosque but is left with even more misfortune when he realizes he loses it through a hole in his pocket and is later found again by his father. Upon finding the relic for the second time Hashim resumes his off the wall and destructive behavior.

                Huma his daughter, in a last act of desperation come up with her own plan. She plans to have the relic stolen by the worst of the worst thieves.  Battered and bruised from her father she goes to the other side of town to convince thieves to take this from her father. At the end of the story when the thieves attempt to steal the relic Hashim accidently kills Huma and then kills himself. Later that night his son dies in his coma from being beaten earlier in the story and to top it off the mother is driven mad. Now as for the thief he is hunted down and killed by the police but by some miracle his four crippled sons and blind wife are miraculously cured by coming in contact with the relic.

                This story was filled with metaphors and religious undertones. I would say that Rushdie is a satirist, yet the story is filled with creative imagination and wit. He develops the story in such a way that you are on the edge of your seat trying to read as fast as you can in order to see what happens next. It’s hard to tell if Rushdie is mocking religious worship and idolization. However it is obvious that he his stressing the point that powerful things can corrupt the noblest.  Although Hashim wasn’t a religious man he was very greedy when it came to money but when he comes in possession of the relic he does.

                Don’t let thing or object get in the way of what truly mater, family and friends. The simple things in life are what make you the happiest. Yet there is nothing wrong in treating yourself once in a while and the trick is to not let the things define you but you define the thing.