The Prophet's Curse

           Parables, stories that after all is said and done has a message or moral to be taught to the reader the meaning or moral will vary from reader to reader. Satire is defined as the art of making fun of something or someone who takes themselves too seriously. In Salman Rushdie’s “The Prophet’s Hair” he adds satire to his parable. “The Prophet’s Hair” is about a money lender named Hashim that is one of large fortune and has a loving wife, son, and daughter. Hashim comes across the prophet’s hair that had been stolen by thieves from its home.  As soon as Hashim set his eyes on it he becomes mesmerized my it. “Closing his fists around this unique discovery, he mustered to the boatman that he’d changed his plans, and hurried to his sanctum, where, behind closed doors, he feasted his eyes on his find” (Rushdie 42). Hashim saw himself as “living honorably in the world” when in reality he was a money lender with high interest rates, and when those that have borrowed from him did not have the money to pay their dues were punished. When Hashim first found the hair his reaction was to take it back to where it was stolen from, but because of his fixation on the hair, and him being a collector made him decide otherwise. The hair forever had the power to take over Hashim’s actions, and changed his life and caused him to lose everything.

            The power of the hair is similar to the power of the ring in the movie “Lord of The Rings” it takes over whoever posses it and they are obsessed with this relic. When in the wrong hands it could do a lot of harm, but even when in the right hands it can still cause destruction. The prophets hair took over Hashim he abused his family, he was harsher to his clients. In the end his children try to hire a thief to come and still the hair. In the process of the thief trying to steal the hair the son dies because of the injuries he had incurred because of his fathers beatings, Hashim ends up stabbing and killing his daughter because he thinks she is the thief, once realizing that it was his daughter he takes his own life. The only survivor of the mess is the mother who than goes to a mental asylum because she had gone crazy. Once the hair is in the thief’s’ hand, his and his families life was also destroyed.

            The parable of this story is that when you value and obsess about material things over other things like family. You end up losing everything for this material thing that means nothing. Rushdie’s added satire makes this story all the better. There are many different aspects of this parable that Rushdie satirizes.  The first one is greed. Hashim is all about greed. His job as a money lender, and his high interest. Him being a collector of things, and than him being obsessed with the prophets hair. These are ways that Rushdie makes fun of greed. There are many other aspects, that are satirized throughout the parable. In a way he even satirizes the concept of a parable itself.  In conclusion, the use of satire makes this parable and interesting and fun one to read.