Accompanied by the sneers of his former fellow travelers and under the protection of his old adversary, embodied by the British secret service, Salman Rushdie went underground for ten years after the release of The Satanic Verses. He slept in windowless apartments and changed his accommodation several times a week. Often enough he woke up…
Twenty years ago Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa called on to kill the author Salman Rushdie after weeks of protests had been going on about one of his books. Many British Muslims despised The Satanic Verses for blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad and burned copies of Rushdie’s book on British streets. This aroused strong sentiments on all sides,…
Twenty years ago a fatwa was imposed on Salman Rushdie, but as Kenan Malik explains, Islam’s outrage touched more than one man – it altered us all. It was 20 years ago this month that Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced his fatwa on Salman Rushdie. “I inform all zealous Muslims of the world”, he proclaimed, “that the…
A German theater has brought Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses to the stage, with no sign of trouble after authorities promised thorough security precautions. The Hans-Otto Theater in Potsdam says its version, which has 12 actors and ran for nearly four hours, is the first theatrical presentation of the novel. Iran’s late spiritual leader, Ayatollah…
Washington — Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders in the United States have joined together in an interfaith peace-building effort to condemn terrorism and the violence it causes. In supporting this initiative, the Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa, or religious edict, saying “there is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism.” Merle…
