The Satanic Verses

Having returned to his human appearance, Saladin thinks about his existence. He thinks about his relationships and the city of London, "its conglomerate nature mirroring his own" (239). For many years, he has experienced the same dream in which he teaches a "small boy of about five" (241) to ride a bike; he imagines this boy is his son. Even though his appearance is no longer monstrous, Saladin is still concerned about returning to normal life as everything he once valued is gone. Saladin visits Pamela with the help of Hanif, Mishal, and Pinkwalla. Pamela drinks whiskey despite her pregnancy, and Saladin realizes that he has "fallen out of love" (242) with her. Saladin announces that he will live in the empty spare bedroom so that he can organize his life. Once everything is in order, he tells Pamela, they can file for divorce. Saladin does not know whether he will ever be able to forgive Pamela.

Once he has moved into the spare bedroom, he deals with the difficult problems of coming back to life. Having been declared dead, Saladin's bank accounts have been frozen and he cannot get a job because casting "start talking about zombies" (245). Saladin begins to feel his anger subside, however, including "his obsessive loathing of Gibreel" (245). During this time, Joshi goes out of his way to be friendly and polite to Saladin as he continues his relationship with Pamela. One day, Joshi invites Saladin to a political protest. Many members of the community (including the Sufyan family, Pamela, and Joshi) are incensed that the community leaders Dr. Uhuru Simba has been arrested. The police believe that Dr. Simba is the serial killer known as the Granny Ripper. Joshi admits that the doctor is a bad person but insists that this "doesn't mean his disembowels senior citizens" (247).

Protesters take to the streets to call for Simba's freedom. After the protest, as Pamela complains of feeling faint, Saladin accompanies Joshi to a karate school. Joshi is a karate instructor and Alleluia Cone is one of his "star" (251) students. She is not present at the class, but everyone knows that she is dating the famous movie star Gibreel. On hearing this, Saladin worries that all the disparate parts of his existence are closing in around him. He hails a taxi and, as he sits in the car, he hears he American voice of Eugene Dumsday talking about his miraculous escape from the hijacking. Saladin thinks about the changes that have taken place in his life and begins to believe that they are "irreversible" (252). 

After being released from a prison in New York, Mimi Mamoulian and Billy Battuta return to London. They throw a Charles Dickens-themed party to celebrate their freedom and invite both Saladin and Gibreel, insisting that the party will be "quite a circus" (253). Among the "society grandees, fashion models, film stars, corporation bigwigs, a brace of minor royal Personages, useful politicians, and suchlike riff-raff" (254), Saladin spots Gibreel standing amid the London-styled decorations and he is overcome by rage. The heavily-medicated Gibreel does not notice Saladin's envious fury and greets him as a friend, politely inquiring about Pamela's health. When Saladin tells Gibreel about Pamela's affair with Joshi, Gibreel is confused. He cannot process the news of Pamela's infidelity and her resulting pregnancy, so he begins to believe that Alleluia has actually been unfaithful to him with her karate instructor, Joshi. Gibreel attacks Joshi.

A week later, Alleluia invites Saladin to join herself and Gibreel on a trip to Scotland because Alleluia believes that Saladin "can really help" (260) Gibreel. Even though he loathes Gibreel and imagines himself murdering the man, Saladin accepts the invitation. They visit Scotland and the heavily medicated Gibreel spends most of his time with Alleluia while Saladin sits alone with his thoughts. He begins to understand that Gibreel is "going off [his] wretched head at a rate of knots" (263), even if he does not forgive him.

After the trip, Saladin spends more time Gibreel. When Gibreel quizzes Saladin on his favorite things and then mocks his "conventional cosmopolitan answers" (265). When he asks Saladin to take him to a favored restaurant, Saladin takes Gibreel to the Shaandaar Café in the hope that he might provoke a fight between Gibreel and Joshi. However, Joshi is not there. Instead, a group of young racist British men spits in Saladin's food. During this time, Gibreel's heavily medicated state means that he unwittingly shares intimate sexual details about Alleluia. Saladin plots revenge against Gibreel using these details. He telephones Alleluia's home and, disguising his voice with his professional talents, makes obscene comments about her body. His words embarrass Alleluia and elicit Gibreel's "demons of jealousy" (267). Eventually, Gibreel and Alleluia end their relationship. Gibreel is distraught and once again takes to walking around London, convinced that he is the archangel Gibreel. He buys a trumpet from the shop belonging to John Maslama and gives it the name Azraeel. 

While in police custody, the Muslim man arrested on suspicion of murder dies. The death of Dr. Uhuru Simba causes outrage and "a sizeable crowd" (271) of people do not believe the police's version of events, in which he broken his neck after falling out of his bed. Arguments, fights, and stand-offs between white and non-white communities break out as "violent incidents" (272) occur more frequently. Pamela and Joshi obtain documents showing that the real reason for Simba's murder was "the work he was doing" (273) to combat racism. Pamela and Joshi go to the Brickhall community relations council's offices to make copies of the documents.

When the serial killer strikes twice more after Simba's death, the minority community in London is outraged. A group of young Sikh men catch the actual Granny Ripper at the scene of his latest crime. He is revealed to be "a bland, pale man" (273) and people suggest that the police will attempt to hide their terrible mistake. The Black and Asian communities in London launch a protest against the police. The police respond with an anti-riot taskforce. The clashes between the two sides are broadcast on the news. A mysterious van follows Pamela and Joshi to the council offices.

Gibreel is still wandering the streets of the city. He "no longer recognizes the distinction between the waking and dreaming states" (275). He struggles to vocalize his thoughts but feels like he is hurtling toward an inevitable "final embrace" (276) with his adversary. In his confused thoughts, this unnamed adversary appears to him with the face of Saladin. Gibreel sees a group of prostitutes. He raises his trumpet Azraeel and blows a sound at them. Fire bursts from the end of the trumpet and burns the men beside the prostitutes. To Gibreel, this miracle is evidence that he is the archangel of his dreams. He continues to walk through London, which now seems to him as though it is on fire. He begins to think that London "is a city that has cleansed itself in flame, purged itself by burning down to the ground" (278).

When Gibreel reaches the Shaandaar Café, he sees that it is on fire. He notices that Saladin is outside. Gibreel breaks from his trancelike state just long enough to remember the details he told Saladin about his sex life. He realizes that Saladin used these details to scuttle Gibreel's relationship with Alleluia and that "the evil is not external to Saladin, but springs from some recess of his own true nature, that it has been spreading through his selfhood like a cancer, erasing what was good in him" (279). He realizes that Saladin has been fully consumed by his hatred and envy, just like the fire is consuming the city.

Saladin runs into the café in a desperate attempt to save the Sufyan family. Gibreel chases Saladin into the café, blowing Azraeel as he enters. The café begins to collapse and Saladin is trapped under a fallen piece of the roof. Gibreel decides that he cannot kill Saladin or leave him to die. He rescues his adversary and drags Saladin out into the street. Gibreel, Saladin, and the other survivors of the fire are rushed to hospital. Pamela, Joshi, and many other people are not so lucky. Their bodies are found inside the community center whether they were copying the documents; the police attribute the fire to an "act of arson" (280) and choose not to investigate the likelihood that Pamela, Joshi, and others were murdered by the police.