Salman Rushdie: “The Satanic Verses”, why this book became Rushdie’s ‘Kaal’? Underground for 9 years as soon as the world flared up, the fatwa of death continues for 34 years

Salman Rushdi-The Satanic Verses: British author Salman Rushdie not only received death threats from Iran because of his writings, but he was also attacked several times in the past. The latest case is from New York, USA, where he was stabbed in the neck on the stage at the Chautauqua Institution. He is now on ventilator and is feared to lose one eye. His liver was also damaged after the ‘knife attack’. His agent gave this information and said that ‘the news is not good’. The Mumbai-born British author, a Booker Prize winner, rose to fame with his 1981 book “Midnight’s Children”. But he became known globally after “The Satanic Verses”.

Rushdie was in the spotlight

The controversial author came into limelight in 1981 with his second book, “Midnight’s Children”. This book tells about India after independence. Which was praised internationally, as well as received him the prestigious Booker Prize in Britain. In addition to winning the Booker Prize, Midnight’s Children was named the best Booker Prize winner ever in 2008. Midnight’s Children is an autobiography based on a magical child born at midnight and narrates the post-independence history of India.

Salman Rushdie was born in India to a Muslim family that does not follow religion. Today he identifies as an atheist. He was forced to go underground. Because a reward was placed on his head, which is still there today. Actually a book by Rushdie was banned in Iran. Meanwhile, its supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei issued a fatwa against Rushdie in 1989. A $3 million bounty was set for the person who killed Rushdie.

violent demonstration

Salman Rushdie’s fourth book ‘The Satanic Verses’ has been called blasphemy by many Muslims. Those who see a character in the story as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. After the book’s publication in 1988, there were protests against Rushdie around the world. A protest in Mumbai turned violent, leaving 12 people dead in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai.

edict of death

On February 14, 1989, Khamenei issued a death fatwa against him for writing The Satanic Verses. The cleric said that Islam has been insulted by the book. In a fatwa, or religious decree, Khamenei urged “the Muslims of the world to expedite the execution of the book’s authors and publishers” so that “no one now dares to offend the sacred values ​​of Islam.” At that time, when 89-year-old Khamenei said these things, he died only four months after that. However, after his fatwa, a diplomatic crisis arose in the world. 59 people died due to protests over the book around the world. These include the translator of the book. Rushdie had to go into hiding for nine years due to death threats.

Khamenei also said that if someone was sentenced to death for attempting to kill Rushdie, he would be considered a martyr. Rushdie was kept under police protection in Britain for nine years and as a result, diplomatic relations between Iran and Britain broke down. But the current supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, never issued a fatwa on his own. Nor has the old fatwa been withdrawn. Iran has not paid any attention to the author in recent years.

In 2012, during a conversation in New York, Rushdie said that terrorism is actually the art of fear. He reportedly said, “You can beat it by deciding to avoid being afraid.” He spent nearly a decade in hiding, frequently changing homes, and was unable to tell his children where they lived.

first attempt to kill

In August 1989, Mustafa Mazeh, a Lebanese man, planted a bomb at a hotel in central London. However, when Majeh was planting the bomb, it exploded at the same time. Majeh died in this incident.

Translators attacked, one dead

After Khamenei’s fatwa, the number of people who hated Salman Rushdie increased rapidly. As recently as 2016 money was raised to pay a bounty for his murder, according to The Index of Censorship, an organization that promotes freedom of expression. Although Rushdie had managed to save himself until a recent incident, Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of his controversial book, was stabbed to death in 1991.

Italian translator Ettore Capriolo was also seriously injured in another stabbing incident in 1991, while Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was shot three times in 1993 but survived.

be in controversies about marriage

Salman Rushdie has done four marriages and got divorced from all the wives. His fourth and last marriage was to Padma Lakshmi, an Indian-American model and writer, though the couple parted ways in 2007 after three years of marriage. Rushdie was 51 and Lakshmi was 28 at the time of their marriage. Lakshmi, in her memoir, has written how the physical relationship with the author was painful, she was sexually needy and did not have a sensible husband.

Latest World News