“ torrent of endlessly inventive prose, by turns comic and enraged, embracing life in all its contradictions. In this spectacular novel, verbal pyrotechnics barely outshine its psychological truths.”- Newsday.There have been a number of failed assassination attempts on Rushdie, as well as attacks on translators of the text. Have there been previous attempts on Rushdie’s life? Later, in 2019, a Twitter account connected to Ayatollah Khomeini was temporarily banned after tweeting “Imam Khomeini’s verdict regarding Salman Rushdie is based on divine verses and just like divine verses, it is solid and irrevocable”. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from to $3.3m. The author was forced into hiding under police protection for nine years, but had dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” of people being interested in the reward.

God Willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr.” What has happened since the fatwa was issued?Ī bounty of more than £2.5m ($3m) had been offered to anyone who kills Rushdie. “I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they may be found, so that no one else will dare to insult the Muslim sanctities. It said: “I inform all zealous Muslims of the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses – which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur’an – and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. It sparked a series of protests across the UK attended by thousands of British Muslims, many of which involved publicly burning the book.Ī year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini banned the book in Iran, and issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. However, it also caused major controversy as some Muslims accused the text of blasphemy and of mocking Islam. The Satanic Verses – inspired in part by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, garnered critical acclaim in the UK and won the Whitbread award for novel of the year in 1988. In 2007, Rushdie was knighted for his services to literature.

He has written 14 novels, but is best known for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses. Rushdie is an Indian-born, British Booker prize-winning author.

The satanic verses book