Characters

The short story “Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies” by Salman Rushdie focuses on two main characters, Miss Rehana and Muhammad Ali. 

Miss Rehana is a young woman who arrives at the British Embassy to get a visa to England, where her fiancé lives. It is later revealed that she hopes her visa will be denied. Consequently, Miss Rehana rejects the tradition of arranged marriages and values her independence. 

Muhammad Ali is a man who scams vulnerable women who apply for visas to England. His traditional views clash with Miss Rehana’s, as he is unable to understand her desire to escape an arranged marriage. However, their meeting makes Muhammad Ali have a change of heart, as he genuinely wishes to help Miss Rehana obtain a visa for free. 

You can read a full characterization of Miss Rehana and Muhammad Ali in the following pages.