Salman Rushdie, a Booker Prize-winning author, gained worldwide fame with his controversial book, The Satanic Verses, which led to a fatwa being issued against him by Ayatollah Khomeini. Rushdie spent years in hiding and still speaks out against religious fanatics. He has written 14 novels and divides his time between New York and England.
Salman Rushdie is a Booker Prize winning author who has written one of the most controversial books of our time. Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay, India on June 19, 1947. He was raised in a middle class family and was educated in both Bombay and England.
Rushdie’s first published novel was Grimus in 1975, followed by the Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight’s Children in 1981. Grimus was not a particularly well-known novel, but Midnight’s Children has been highly regarded and influential in Indian writing very recently. However, it was with The Satanic Verses, released in 1988, that Salman Rushdie gained worldwide fame.
A large part of the world’s Muslim population reads the content of The Satanic Verses as a blasphemous representation of the Prophet Muhammad. As a result, the book was banned in many countries with large Muslim communities, but worse was to follow. On Valentine’s Day 1989, a fatwa was announced by the Iranian leader on Radio Tehran. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared The Satanic Verses blasphemous and announced that Salman Rushdie was to be executed. A price was placed on Rushdie’s head and Khomeini declared that whoever was responsible for the execution would be considered a martyr if he died.
What followed for Salman Rushdie were years of hiding, sometimes not being able to spend consistent nights in the same bed. He endured nearly round the clock for the next ten years. He moved steadily to secret locations until the fatwa was broken in 1988, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guards again ordered the assassination of Salman Rushdie in 2003.
Most of Salman Rushdie’s literary work has been overshadowed in the public eye by the fatwa. The Satanic Verses may always be the book Salman Rushdie is best remembered for. Since its publication, there has been a succession of violence and deaths. People who have been linked to the publication and translation of the book have been severely attacked, some killed.
Despite the fatwa, Salman Rushdie has never shied away from speaking about the religious fanatics who would have executed him. Rushdie argued that the Muslim world is not only populated by fanatics, but also by courageous and forward-thinking individuals. However, he also fears that the fatwa is no longer just on his head, but on that of the world. He says the West is now slowly changing his thinking and censoring his thoughts for fear of reprisals.
Salman Rushdie now divides his time between New York and England. He says he feels safer in New York than anywhere else. He has written 14 novels and, perhaps more than most, he knows that freedom of speech cannot always be taken for granted.
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