Draft:Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie
File:Ahmad Salman Rushdie.webp
Name	Ahmad Salman Rushdie
Personal Details
Birth Place	Bombay, India
Brith Date	{{{birth_date}}}

Salman Rushdie is the son of a successful Indian merchant who was born in 1947 AD, in a Muslim family in the city of Bombay. The author of the book The Satanic Verses is perhaps one of the most newsworthy authors of the twentieth century; however, not with a book or article that inspires the admiration of readers, but with a writing that aroused the anger of one billion Muslims and created such hatred against himself that even now he cannot walk on the street without protection. The historical decree of Imam Khomeini regarding the killing of this insulting author sparked numerous reactions around the world that continue to this day. Contrary to what is said, the book The Satanic Verses is not a literary book with a scientific and theoretical framework; rather, it is a long story in 9 chapters, the characters of which consist of Muhammad ibn Abdullah (Peace be upon him and his progeny), their wives, and their well-known Companions and Archangel Gabriel. This book contains the most obscene insults to the holy presence of the Prophet (Peace be upon him and his progeny) and the Quran, which has mocked the beliefs of Muslims.

Biography

Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay, India in a Muslim family. His father was an Indian merchant. Rushdie showed signs of mischief even in his adolescence, to the extent that his father was summoned to the police station nearly thirteen times due to Rushdie's actions. Rushdie grew up in an environment full of mystical thoughts belonging to Eastern schools such as Hinduism, and his mind also absorbed many of these thoughts.

Thoughts whose traces can be clearly seen in Rushdie's later works. Eventually, like most Indian youths, Rushdie went to England for education. Salman Rushdie resides in a boarding house belonging to a lady named "Madame Rosa" for his stay in London.

Deviations

Homosexuality

In London, Rushdie became acquainted with a boy named Omar from Egypt. Salman and Omar became so fond of each other that they decided to marry each other, but they could not find a way for this in any of the religions and rituals. When "Madame Rosa" found out, she informed Omar's father. Omar's father, who was an Egyptian general. After hearing this, he took Omar to Egypt and he committed self-immolation. Salman, who was very sad due to Omar's death, decided to mock all religions and sects and religious beliefs.

Activities

In 1968, while a student at Cambridge University, Rushdie joined the left movement and participated in student demonstrations against the Vietnam War. In those same years, watching theater in avant-garde theaters in London revived his love for acting. However, at the end of his studies, he became an editor at a small advertising agency and began writing his first novel. This novel, which was about one of the Muslim saints, was not successfully published, and his second work, the short story collection Grimus, was also not well-received by critics.

But he did not despair and after five years, in 1981, he published the novel "Midnight's Children". A novel that, after its publication, occupied the pages of the English press and is the story of India's independence told from the language of a young Muslim. Coincidentally, this novel by Rushdie also caused a great scandal in India because it labeled Mrs. Gandhi as a widow and criticized the corruption of the current government of India. It is not surprising that in 1983, the author, who still evaluates the world with criteria arising from justice-seeking, in the novel Shame with a style that mixes legend, reality, and history, criticized contemporary political figures of Pakistan and referred to Benazir Bhutto with the epithet "Iron Tin Virgin". The publication of this novel was also banned in Pakistan. It seemed Rushdie intended to achieve fame by any means and by insulting anyone, and this time, to suppress his complexes from his youth, he chose insulting the Honorable Prophet of Islam. Finally, Salman Rushdie wrote the novel The Satanic Verses at the age of 41. A book that, inspired by a fabricated narrative, committed the severest insults to the Prophet of Islam.

The Book The Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses (translation of the English phrase Satanic Verses) is a novel in 547 pages (English version in the first edition) which was published on September 26, 1988) by "Viking" publications (part of the "Penguin" publishing group).

The author of this book, "Salman Rushdie", was an Indian-born Muslim who was considered a citizen of "Great Britain" and "The Satanic Verses" was the fifth novel of this author. "Salman Rushdie" wrote the aforementioned book at the request of "Gillon Ritken" (Jewish head of Viking publications) with an unprecedented fee of 580,000 pounds.

Reactions to the Book

The extensive media support for this book and its widespread publication in various countries from the outset demonstrated the backing of behind-the-scenes circles for its release.

Gradually, the voice of Muslim protests against the publication of this book rose, and a group of Muslims in the city of "Bradford" burned hundreds of copies of this book.

In other Muslim countries, including Pakistan and India, they also showed their protest through widespread demonstrations, which led to the killing of several people.

Ultimately, Imam Khomeini issued his historical ruling based on the apostasy of Salman Rushdie, which turned Rushdie's life into a veritable hell.

Imam Khomeini's Fatwa

"Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un"

I inform the zealous Muslims across the world that the author of the book The Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed, and published against Islam, the Prophet, and the Quran, as well as the publishers aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I ask zealous Muslims to execute them swiftly wherever they find them, so that no one else dares to insult the sanctities of Muslims, and whoever is killed in this path is a martyr, God willing. Additionally, if someone has access to the author of the book but does not have the power to execute him themselves, they should introduce him to the people so that he may reach the punishment for his actions; and peace be upon you and the mercy and blessings of God. Ruhollah al-Musawi al-Khomeini 25 Bahman 1367.

Rushdie Must Be Killed Even If He Becomes the Ascetic of the Age

Shortly after the release of this news by the Imam's Office, a statement was issued as follows: Foreign colonial mass media falsely attribute to the officials of the Islamic Republic system that if the author of the book The Satanic Verses repents, his death sentence will be revoked, but Imam Khomeini made a statement in this regard:

"If Salman Rushdie repents and becomes the ascetic of the age, it is obligatory upon every Muslim to employ all their effort, with life and wealth, to send him to hell."

Imam Khomeini added that "If a non-Muslim becomes aware of his location and has the power to execute him faster than a Muslim, it is obligatory upon Muslims to give him whatever he wants in return for this action as a reward or wage."

The Great Leader of the Revolution stated in this regard:

"By God, if I were young and had the ability to move, I would personally go and kill him [Salman Rushdie]."

The Ruling Remains the Same

In addition to the decisive statements made in support of the Imam's ruling during his lifetime, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution also emphasized the immutability of that ruling multiple times after the Imam's demise; including in Azar 1369, he announced:

"The historical and unchangeable ruling of Imam Khomeini regarding the author of the blasphemous book The Satanic Verses and the commitment of Muslims across the world to implement this Islamic ruling, shows its first fruits in the scene of the confrontation of Islam with global infidelity, and the Western arrogance, which had made the attack on the sanctities of one billion Muslims of the world a preamble for humiliating Muslims and eliminating the motivations for Islamic uprising in the world, has been forced to retreat disgracefully and step-by-step...".

The Western media network has repeatedly announced so far that the death sentence of this author has been withdrawn by Iran, each time of which was denied by the quick reaction of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and it was announced that the religious ruling of a Marja cannot be violated and is even obligatory upon all Muslims after his death. Lastly, in Ayatollah Khamenei's message to the Hajj pilgrims of the House of God in 1383, the status of Salman Rushdie's blood being permissible to shed and the necessity of executing God's ruling were emphasized.

Widespread Reception in the Islamic World

Ahmad Salman Rushdie

Support for Imam Khomeini's Fatwa

Although prior to the issuance of Imam Khomeini's ruling regarding Salman Rushdie, many reactions including protests, censorship, and book burning had taken place in some Islamic countries against the book The Satanic Verses and its author, these reactions were not taken very seriously by Rushdie and his Western supporters. Rushdie even considered the reflection of these reactions and protests in the mass media as a means for his own greater fame in the world and felt satisfied.

With the issuance of Rushdie's apostasy ruling by Imam Khomeini, the reactions of the people and religious elites across the Islamic world regained vitality, and this time, for the first time, Salman Rushdie and his supporters felt danger. This was because the Muslims' reaction no longer meant more fame for Rushdie, but rather counted down to the end of his life and satanic comfort. Thus, immediately after the international reflection of Imam's fatwa regarding Rushdie, he was forced to resort to a hidden life under the protection of the English police (Scotland Yard).

The widespread support of Muslims for the death sentence of the author of The Satanic Verses was so extensive that it surprised everyone, especially Salman Rushdie's Western supporters, and not only cast a shadow of death over Salman Rushdie, but also created a united front against global arrogance.

Severing Relations with England

On the 9th of Esfand, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, during an extraordinary session, announced a one-week ultimatum for England, conditioning the continuation of political relations with the English government on the apology of English officials and their reconsideration of their unprincipled positions towards the Islamic world and the book The Satanic Verses.

According to this resolution, if England did not declare a position against the publication of The Satanic Verses within one week, political and diplomatic relations with that country would be completely severed. The English government, in an obvious retreat, announced that it did not wish to sever relations with Iran. On the 13th of Esfand, Geoffrey Howe, the English Foreign Secretary, without opposing the continued publication of The Satanic Verses and without condemning the insult to Muslim sanctities, announced that his country respects Islam and considers itself separate from the affair of the publication of The Satanic Verses.

However, since these statements and positions lacked a formal and public apology from London to Muslims, on the 16th of Esfand 1367, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement at the end of the one-week deadline to the English government to correct its positions regarding the offensive book The Satanic Verses, due to the non-fulfillment of the Islamic Consultative Assembly's demand, announced the complete severance of Iran's political relations with England. Imam Khomeini, in one of his messages regarding the passive reaction of the West to the announcement of the divine ruling punishing insult to the Quran and the Prophet, wrote:

"Truly, for what reason have the world-devourers become so inflamed following the announcement of the Sharia and Islamic ruling agreed upon by all scholars regarding a foreign mercenary, and have the leaders of infidelity and the Common Market and others like them fallen into desperate struggle and effort? Is it not that the leaders of arrogance have become frightened by the power of Muslims' practical confrontation in recognizing and fighting their sinister plot, and from the fact that today Muslims consider Islam a thriving, dynamic, and epic school, and from the fact that their sphere of evil has been limited and their mercenaries cannot, as in the past, confidently write against sanctities, they have become anxious...

I fear that today's analysts will sit on the bench of judgment ten years later and say that we must see whether the Islamic fatwa and the death sentence of Salman Rushdie were in accordance with the principles and laws of diplomacy or not; and conclude that since the expression of God's ruling had effects and consequences and the Common Market and Western countries took a position against us, so we should not be naive and should pass over those who insult the sacred status of the Prophet and Islam and the school."

Europe's Stance

According to the decision of the اروپا Economic Community, the level of relations with Iran was reduced to its lowest point, and in early Esfand 1989, the ambassadors of 12 European countries were recalled to their home countries and any high-level contact with the Iranian government was canceled. The Iranian government also reciprocally recalled its ambassadors from those countries to Iran. Imam Khomeini emphasized in his message as follows: "... The Satanic Verses is a calculated act to uproot religion and religiosity, and at the top of that Islam ... Western arrogance may have assumed that by mentioning the common market and economic embargo, we would remain stagnant and refrain from executing the decree of the Great God."

In the following weeks, South African writers, out of respect for Muslim sentiments, canceled their previous invitation to Rushdie, and ambassadors of several Islamic and Arab countries in London protested to the British government. In the months of Dey and Bahman, a large number of Muslims residing in England, first in the city of Bradford and then in London, strongly protested in angry demonstrations against the British government's action in supporting the publication of this blasphemous book. The scope of public protests spread to هند and پاکستان until on 23 Esfand, during the demonstration of thousands of Pakistanis in front of the آمریکا Cultural Center in Islamabad, six protesters were killed and dozens were injured. The next day, one person was also killed in the demonstration of Muslims in India.

UK Government Protection

Due to the pressure resulting from the Imam's decree, the British police undertook the duty of protecting Rushdie, and this situation caused his divorce.

Salman Rushdie went into hiding from the moment Imam Khomeini's decree was issued, and the British police (Scotland Yard) undertook his protection in unknown locations. The costs of protecting him were estimated between one to 10 million pounds per year; to the extent that Prince Charles (the Crown Prince of England) once declared: Salman Rushdie is an expensive burden for British taxpayers.

Despite the anger of the Islamic world against him, Salman Rushdie did not refrain from reprinting his blasphemous book, and when England refused to print this book at a low price (without hardcover and with cheap paper), he took it to America and printed it at a low price (to facilitate public purchase).

Conferral of the Queen's Knighthood: ملکه الیزابت دوم of England conferred the title of "Knight" upon Salman Rushdie, who aroused Muslim sentiments after writing the book The Satanic Verses. With this action, henceforth this author is addressed by the title "Sir", which is conferred upon artists, athletes, diplomats, journalists, and others in the Queen's birthday anniversary ceremony. After receiving this title, Rushdie said: "I am excited to receive this great honor and am deeply grateful that my work has been noticed in this way".

Suicide Rumor

In the summer of 1399 SH, the rumor of this apostate's suicide in the city of Manchester, England, was published by some news agencies, which was not true.

Escape to America

After several years, Rushdie fled to America to escape the existing situation in England. But there too, he was forced to use US police protection to remain safe from Muslim revenge.

Rushdie published three other books in America including Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, and Luka and the Fire of Life, and of course, there too he received British royal favor and was awarded the knighthood.

Assassination and Underground Life

Salman Rushdie, in one of his latest books, refers to the misery and humiliation after the publication of The Book The Satanic Verses. In his book, referring to the near-fatal injury of his Italian translator by Italian Muslims and the death of the Japanese translator of The Satanic Verses due to the attack by Japanese Muslims, he recalls the day of the execution of his Norwegian publisher in this way: "The day the Norwegian publisher was shot is one of the worst days of my life". جایگزین= مصطفی محمود مازح|بندانگشتی|مصطفی محمود مازح

In those days, he changed his sleeping location 13 times in just 20 days. Such a hellish atmosphere dominated his life that his wife separated from him and in the press they called him "a cowardly individual". Mostafa Mazeh, a member of Hezbollah Lebanon, was among those who attempted to kill Rushdie and was killed during a bombing in a hotel in Paddington, central London, due to the premature detonation of the bomb. The "British Airways" airline company had declared Rushdie's presence on its airplanes banned until 1998, and the "Air Canada" airline company declared Rushdie's travel on its flights impossible several years ago.

Punishment of Some of Rushdie's Colleagues

In 1991, Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the book The Satanic Verses, was assassinated and killed in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, at the university where he taught.

Also, the Italian translator of the book was beaten and stabbed in Milan.

In 1993, William Nygaard, the Norwegian publisher of the book, was shot and killed.

Thirty-seven people who had gathered for a speech by the translator of parts of the book into Turkish, namely the well-known satirist Aziz Nesin, were burned to death in the hotel where the gathering was held in Sivas, Turkey.

No Regret

Salman, in an interview with the Big Issues newspaper regarding his life under security protection, states: I have no regrets, and if I were to return to the past, I would write that book again. If I were to go to the past and speak to young Salman, I would tell him: You have a great hardship ahead; be prepared for ten years that will not be good days of your life.

See also

• Mostafa Mahmoud Mazeh
• The Satanic Verses (book)