2 The Satanic Verses controversy

The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Fundamentalist Muslim world, due to its irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad (see fatwa, goddess). India banned the book on October 5, South Africa on November 24, and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Qatar followed within weeks. The book was ceremonially burned in Bradford, England, on January 14, 1989. February 12 in Islamabad five people were killed by police gunfire during a protest.

February 14, 1989, a fatwa promising his execution was placed on him by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran, calling his book "blasphemous against Islam". Furthermore, Khomeini condemned Rushdie for the crime of " apostasy" – i.e. attempting to abandon the Islamic faith – which according to the Hadith is punishable by death. This was due to Rushdie's communication through the novel that he no longer believes in Islam. Khomeini called on all "zealous Muslims" to execute the writer, as well as those of the publishers of the book who knew about the concepts of the book. On February 24 Khomeini then placed a three-million- US dollar bounty for the death of Rushdie.

Rushdie lived for a time under British-financed security.

The novel was banned in India and South Africa and burned on the streets of some Arab neighborhoods in England. At the University of California, Berkeley, bookstores carrying the book were firebombed. February 24 in Bombay, 12 people in a protest at the British Embassy died in police gunfire. Several people died in Egypt and other nations. Muslim communities throughout the world held public rallies in which copies of the book were burned. In 1991, his Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi was stabbed and killed in Tokyo, and his Italian translator was beaten and stabbed in Milan. In 1993, his Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was shot and severely injured in an attack outside his house in Oslo.

Rushdie's notorious friendships with occult groups and group members such as Anton LaVey and book shows at popular occult gatherings has linked him to occult activity. In various interviews Rushdie has professed to practicing occcult activites including alchemy. This seemed to only fuel the fire of media and critics. His accusations and critical comments regarding the fatwa later made him a marked man in the Muslim community. Famous people in the Muslim community stepped out in defense of their Muslim faith to protect their image.

Even popular musician Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) indirectly yet infamously stated his agreement with the fatwa. But later in 1989, Yusuf Islam said in a British television documentary that he wasn't against the death sentence in principle: Rather than go to a demonstration where Rushdie would be burned in effigy, "I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing" he said. If Rushdie showed up at his door, he said he "might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like... I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is." The New York Times reported that he stood by his statements in a subsequent interview. [1]

In 1990 Rushdie published an essay In Good Faith to appease his critics and issued an apology in which he seems to have reaffirmed his respect for Islam. However, Iranian clerics did not retract the fatwa. Rushdie has made further statements to defend his book but still many in the Muslim community consider him a wanted man.

In 1997 the bounty was doubled, and the next year the highest Iranian state prosecutor restated his support. After the death of Khomeini, the Iranian Government publicly committed itself in 1998 not to carry out the death sentence against Rushdie. This was agreed to in the context of a larger deal between Iran and the UK to normalise relations. Rushdie afterward declared that he would stop living in hiding. Some believe that the fatwa died with the Ayatolla, but some fundamentalist Islamic media allegedly stated:

"The responsibility for carrying out the fatwa is not the exclusive responsibility of Iran. It is the religious duty of all Muslims – those who have the ability or the means – to carry it out. It does not require any reward. In fact, those who carry out this edict in hopes of a monetary reward are acting against Islamic injunctions."

In 1999 an Iranian foundation put a 2.8M USD bounty on Rushdie's head.

3 Bibliography

• Grimus ( 1975)
• Midnight's Children ( 1980)
• Shame ( 1983)
• The Jaguar Smile : A Nicaraguan Journey ( 1987)
• The Satanic Verses ( 1989)
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories ( 1990)
• Imaginary Homelands : Essays and Criticism, 1981-1991 ( 1992)
• East, West ( 1994)
• The Moor's Last Sigh ( 1995)
• The Ground Beneath Her Feet ( 1999)
• Fury ( 2001)
• Step Across This Line : Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 ( 2002)

4 Film Appearances

• Bridget Jones's Diary ( 2001): A hilarious cameo as himself, particularly memorable as both Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger ask him for directions to the lavatory. Rushdie reminds the viewer of an aged River Phoenix, both in dynamism and comic timing.

• Peter's Friends ( 1992), a small but significantly accomplished cameo in which he signs a copy of his own controversial novel, The Satanic Verses; the performance attracted comparisons with John Candy for its nuanced humour.

5 External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about .

• New York Times special feature on Rushdie, 1999
• A good collection of links plus short descriptions of his novels
• The Rushdie death threat affair
• Rushdie timeline
• Summaries of all his novels and links to interviews by Rushdie (unreliable links)

Rushdie, Salman Rushdie, Salman Rushdie, Salman

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