Who is Salman Rushdie?
Salman Rushdie is an English-Indian writer. He is the author of several works, including Midnights Children, The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands, Grimus, Shame, The Ground Beneath her Feet and his much talked about The Satanic Verses. Born in Bombay, India in 1947 (near the dawn of Independence,) Rushdie lives in hiding from a Fatwa imposed by the Ayatollah. The Ayathollah (of the Shi’a tradition) Ruhollah Khomeini (a high ranking authority on the subject of interpreting the Teachings of The Prophet) decreed Rushdies fiction The Satanic Verses to be blasphemous and evil and pronounced Rushdie to be a man destined for hell. This was done in 1988. [Khomeini was a leading figure in the 1979 Revolution in Iran that lead to the downfall of the King of Iran (The Shah) and the calling of an Islamic republic, in which Khomeini soon gained nearly full control. Khomeini and his followers tried to start simillar revolutions in other Arabic Contries, but failed, exept perhaps for Lebanon and pal
by Firas Al-Atraqchi A few weeks ago, infamous author Salman Rushdie published an article, which was carried by various media, in which he attempted to explain his personal theory of Islamism and its relevance to the events of the past two months. Perhaps feeling vindicated for the 1989 fatwa issued against him, and hurriedly jumping on the warhorse bandwagon of “Strike Against Terror”, Rushdie has once stirred the pot of controversy. Firstly, it is prudent to question why Rushdie has taken it upon himself to explain to the rest of us illiterates what the nature of Islam truly is. Having briefly, yet meticulously read through Rushdies C.V. and scholastic background I saw no mention of his record (nor acclaim) as a scholar of Islam, so-called Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic Law, sociology, or anthropology. It was, therefore, quite amusing to see Rushdie propose order from the rubble of the chaos of the past two months. After a 1968 graduation from Kings College, Rushdie returned to work
