[VIDEO] Man sentenced for 25 years for stabbing Salman Rushdie [Update post@483]

[James]

Reminder for everyone when posting about the Prophet PBUH to be careful and respectful.

 

[James]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The man who allegedly stabbed author Salman Rushdie has said that he admires Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini <a href="https://t.co/ST7BR5DlzK">https://t.co/ST7BR5DlzK</a> <a href="https://t.co/60IEnH87zI">pic.twitter.com/60IEnH87zI</a></p>— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1559998759282540546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Robert]

If TPOTEOZ has forgery (which I don't think is the case), why is it banned though? What are they afraid of?

Shouldn't they allow it because of free speech?

If Satanic Verses is allowed, why not this book?

TPOTEOZ was written in Russia in 1903 to help foment a series of pogroms resulting in the murder of thousands of Jews. It’s not banned. It’s just not in print as no reputable publisher would print it.

It was written for the express purpose of stirring up hate speech. To do so would violate hate speech law. You see, free speech is limited when people are likely to get hurt. See Popper’s Paradox - tolerate everyone except the intolerant.

AFAIK Rushdie did not intend to foment violent persecution of Muslims like TPOTEOZ was intended regarding Jews.

 

[sweep_shot]

TPOTEOZ was written in Russia in 1903 to help foment a series of pogroms resulting in the murder of thousands of Jews. It’s not banned. It’s just not in print as no reputable publisher would print it.

It was written for the express purpose of stirring up hate speech. To do so would violate hate speech law. You see, free speech is limited when people are likely to get hurt. See Popper’s Paradox - tolerate everyone except the intolerant.

AFAIK Rushdie did not intend to foment violent persecution of Muslims like TPOTEOZ was intended regarding Jews.

I have read Protocol of Zion (not the whole thing but portions of it).

If you look at today's world and read this book, you can find many suspicious coincidences. It is as if some of the things were already planned.

I am not saying this book is true. But, interesting nonetheless.

 

[SalimBhai]

Is the attacker Lebanese?

 

[sweep_shot]

Is the attacker Lebanese?

He is a Lebanese. Yes.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

I’ve actually read it and Midnights children for school in Germany.

And I’ve read literary critics write their opinion on it.

So to see you come and say that Midnights Children and Satanic verses are both similar level of books is a telltale sign that you actually haven’t read it because no literary critic, contemporary author has ever put them at the same level. And it’s not an opinion thing. You can have an opinion that Mohan Bagan is same level of Real Madrid in football but that’s just not gonna fly and same is the difference between Midnights children and Satanic verses

There’s nothing to grasp here except that you clearly haven’t read the book.

Both are fictional stories with magical realism from a booker award winning author.

So point out where I have said that both books are same. I clearly said that both books are great reads. Define same level in terms of books? How do you quantify the level of books.

You seem to be making things up?and trying to question reading choices but for what purpose.
It’s a great book to read and I enjoyed reading it.


You can read pleothra of books of wide variety of topics and types and like them equally. Does this mean two books are same level ? I never said that and you are losing perspective here due to your some orthodox views which you want to push on others.

Do give Satanic Verses read if you have an open mind.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Opinion I once wanted to burn ‘The Satanic Verses.’ Now I weep for Salman Rushdie.

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and founder of the AHA Foundation.

In 1989, I wanted to burn Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” But I couldn’t afford to buy a copy, even if only to set it ablaze without reading it. I was a teenager in Kenya, a Muslim with the righteous convictions of the young, eager to obey the edicts of the highest religious authorities. When Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of the “Satanic Verses” author, I thought he was standing up for Islam — and for me. So, a group of us did the best we could: We scribbled the book’s title on a piece of cardboard and burned that.

If Rushdie had been murdered then, I would have been happy.

Now that he has been nearly killed in a knife attack, I am shattered.

In the intervening years, I came to realize that the religion of my youth was an oppressive, dangerous version of the faith. Forced into marriage in the early 1990s, I fled to the Netherlands, where I successfully sought political asylum. There, I studied political science, later becoming a member of parliament. And I watched with mounting anger, and horror, as radical Islam pursued its war on modern civilization — perhaps these words can still be said, on Western civilization.

I cherish the freedoms afforded by Western civilization, and I especially cherish the freedom to speak freely. That is why the attack on Rushdie, beyond the terrible fact of his injuries, is so abhorrent.

The freedom to speak out — to challenge and even to offend — is the driver of every form of progress. The advance of science, the emancipation of women, revolutions that have taken down monarchies and corrupt regimes — these achievements, at their core, were driven by free expression.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Rushdie wrote: “The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women’s rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex.”

Speaking as a former teenage believer, I concur: Islamic fundamentalism is a wholesale assault on the foundational principles of the West. We must not only protect but also stand alongside those whose lives are threatened by theocracy merely for what they say or write.

When someone attempts to take Rushdie's life, what’s at stake is not just the inventive language and far-sighted vision of one person. Also at stake is our freedom to share ideas: the lifeblood of Western civilization.

But in place of the courageous confrontation and unified defense that such an assault demands, I see around me today far too much shuffling of feet and mumbling. What ought to have prompted simply a resounding defense of free speech has stirred, from some on the left, criticism of the act itself, but hollowed out by caveats: I believe in free speech … but not if this or that minority is offended.

The secular cult of wokeism uses diversity, equity and inclusion — words that should be pillars of progress — to impose a fearful conformity that is fundamentally inimical to free speech. Indeed, the wokeists and the Islamists have this in common: Both use the language of offense and hurt feelings to shut down ideas. “Hate speech” can be just a secular version of “blasphemy.”

When free speech is under assault, we risk losing the precious values that countless people around the world have bled for — that Rushdie’s blood was spilled for last week. Enough of the tired declarations of sympathy and outrage. It is time to act in defense of our ideals. This means calling out the evils committed in the name of Islam, supporting dissident Muslims fighting to reform their faith, being unafraid and unapologetic in championing Western freedoms and ideals, and fearlessly standing up for free expression — in our universities, as everywhere else.

Yes, many of us are scared. We who live with the fundamentalists’ threats — in the West and in the Muslim world — live with fear, and have done so for years. But we cannot let fear cow us into silence. Times like these reaffirm to me the clear necessity of championing Western values — chief among them the freedom to speak and publish, regardless of hurt feelings, regardless of whether our words violate concepts of blasphemy, old or new.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/16/defend-rushdie-free-speech/

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

[MENTION=141772]Ahmad-GERMANFC[/MENTION] [MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION] [MENTION=141306]sweep_shot[/MENTION]

It seems that even the educated minds like you are poisoned by Orthodoxy and World view of that whatever you think/believe is the only one True thing, and others must just bow down to that viewpoint e.g. not read or like a particular book in this case.

I belong to Sikh Faith, which is monotheistic. There is concept of one true supreme being as per our Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji as well.

But, I never claim to know more or less than anyone, as well as question the beliefs of other people or what they want read/like, as well as trying to denigrate/question someones choices or likes and dislikes and belief system.

What I do question fervently is religious zealots who try to denigrate other belief systems and faiths, including a simple act of wishing good things for an award winning author of one of the great books, Satanic Verses, in my personal opinion.

Have I asked you to like the book? No. But I do ask you to keep an open mind and just read it, if you can.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Rushdie has shown what courage looks like, and its opposite too

Salman Rushdie never set out to be a martyr to enlightenment values but this is where he finds himself: nursing wounds at a Pennsylvania hospital after the attempt on his life at a literary festival. Reports suggest the Booker-prize winner may lose an eye. So tragic for a man who has helped us see truth.

More than almost any writer in the Anglosphere, Rushdie has shown what courage looks like, and its opposite too. He’s illuminated the hypocrisy, delusion and cravenness of the powerful, of the West’s intellectual and literary elite, even of Joe Biden.

Biden’s moral failure is of a different kind, but it’s especially poignant at this time. In the aftermath of the knife attack on Rushdie, the US president resoundingly endorsed the “universal ideals” Rushdie and his work embody. “Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear,” Biden said. “These are the building blocks of any free and open society.”

These are also the building blocks the Biden administration demolished precisely a year ago in Afghanistan when US forces hastily withdrew, damning all who had answered the West’s post-9/11 call to build civil society institutions. We abandoned brave writers, judges and journalists to the Taliban’s death squads.

Rushdie has not forgotten his fellow writers of conscience. He was assaulted while on stage at a New York literary festival for a discussion about the West being a haven for exiled writers. Ironic plot twists everywhere you look.

His assailant is home-grown and is pleading not guilty. His lawyer is urging the public to keep an open mind, and not just assume “something happened for why they think something happened”. Sure, let’s keep an open mind; someone has to.

So many works have been written since Rushdie penned The Satanic Verses in 1988, so much bloody water under the bridge, it’s a strain to remember precisely what it was about the novel that allegedly “insulted the Prophet Mohammed” leading Iran’s supreme Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa on the writer.

At the time of the fatwa, plenty of people argued Rushdie had only himself to blame because his prose was so offensive; a perverted logic whereby the virulent response is taken as proof of transgression. I can almost forgive the muddled thinking back then because the Iranian fatwa was only the first sign of the Islamofascist terror to come.

What I can’t forgive is the people who rolled out the same cowardly line once evidence of systematic jihadist intimidation against free thinkers piled up along with the bodies.

A week after the most unspeakable of the atrocities, the 2015 massacre of 12 people at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French magazine published an edition depicting a regretful Mohammed on the cover. Islam prohibits depictions of the Prophet. Progressive newspapers in the UK and US refused to publish the image or coyly blurred the detail as they might do with naked bodies. Yet, the magazine cover was intrinsically newsworthy, to call it provocative was to cave in to threat.

Even more shameful were the more than 30 acclaimed writers, including Michael Ondaatje and our own Peter Carey, who months after the massacre objected to PEN America, an organisation established to defend literary freedom, honouring Charlie Hebdo. The acclaimed writers condemned the killings, yes. But they also accused the magazine of mocking a “section of the French population that is already marginalised, embattled, and victimised”.

But the satirists at Charlie Hebdo weren’t aiming at “a victimised population,” they were resisting an increasingly dogmatic form of political Islam that’s challenging the ethos of the secular republic. After the slaughter it became all too clear they were also resisting a violent theology seeking to replace the law of the secular republic with the law of the caliphate. A violent theology that as it happens prioritises the victimisation of Muslims considered insufficiently devout. Rushdie, a lapsed Muslim and atheist, said of Carey and the other authors, “I hope nobody ever comes after them”, once more daring the jihadists to come for him.

Having repeatedly put his life on the line, Rushdie was hardly duty-bound to stick his neck out yet again and sign the 2020 Harper’s letter decrying the growing censoriousness – cancel culture, effectively – threatening free thought and speech.

Cancel culture springs from the same pseudo-leftist pathology that gives Islam in general a free pass; the notion certain groups are so “victimised” they ought to be spared rational scrutiny and that rational scrutiny is itself “violence”, an idea only people who don’t routinely confront actual violence can take seriously.

his way of thinking patronises those deemed powerless. It is also inherently contradictory: because a group immune from rational scrutiny is by definition powerful. And it recalls religious fundamentalism, replete with injunctions against forbidden words and ritualised cant.

Please God, Allah, and the whole brigade: let Rushdie keep wielding his pen.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle...ike-and-its-opposite-too-20220816-p5ba5r.html

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Opinion I once wanted to burn ‘The Satanic Verses.’ Now I weep for Salman Rushdie.

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and founder of the AHA Foundation.

In 1989, I wanted to burn Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” But I couldn’t afford to buy a copy, even if only to set it ablaze without reading it. I was a teenager in Kenya, a Muslim with the righteous convictions of the young, eager to obey the edicts of the highest religious authorities. When Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of the “Satanic Verses” author, I thought he was standing up for Islam — and for me. So, a group of us did the best we could: We scribbled the book’s title on a piece of cardboard and burned that.

If Rushdie had been murdered then, I would have been happy.

Now that he has been nearly killed in a knife attack, I am shattered.

In the intervening years, I came to realize that the religion of my youth was an oppressive, dangerous version of the faith. Forced into marriage in the early 1990s, I fled to the Netherlands, where I successfully sought political asylum. There, I studied political science, later becoming a member of parliament. And I watched with mounting anger, and horror, as radical Islam pursued its war on modern civilization — perhaps these words can still be said, on Western civilization.

I cherish the freedoms afforded by Western civilization, and I especially cherish the freedom to speak freely. That is why the attack on Rushdie, beyond the terrible fact of his injuries, is so abhorrent.

The freedom to speak out — to challenge and even to offend — is the driver of every form of progress. The advance of science, the emancipation of women, revolutions that have taken down monarchies and corrupt regimes — these achievements, at their core, were driven by free expression.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Rushdie wrote: “The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women’s rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex.”

Speaking as a former teenage believer, I concur: Islamic fundamentalism is a wholesale assault on the foundational principles of the West. We must not only protect but also stand alongside those whose lives are threatened by theocracy merely for what they say or write.

When someone attempts to take Rushdie's life, what’s at stake is not just the inventive language and far-sighted vision of one person. Also at stake is our freedom to share ideas: the lifeblood of Western civilization.

But in place of the courageous confrontation and unified defense that such an assault demands, I see around me today far too much shuffling of feet and mumbling. What ought to have prompted simply a resounding defense of free speech has stirred, from some on the left, criticism of the act itself, but hollowed out by caveats: I believe in free speech … but not if this or that minority is offended.

The secular cult of wokeism uses diversity, equity and inclusion — words that should be pillars of progress — to impose a fearful conformity that is fundamentally inimical to free speech. Indeed, the wokeists and the Islamists have this in common: Both use the language of offense and hurt feelings to shut down ideas. “Hate speech” can be just a secular version of “blasphemy.”

When free speech is under assault, we risk losing the precious values that countless people around the world have bled for — that Rushdie’s blood was spilled for last week. Enough of the tired declarations of sympathy and outrage. It is time to act in defense of our ideals. This means calling out the evils committed in the name of Islam, supporting dissident Muslims fighting to reform their faith, being unafraid and unapologetic in championing Western freedoms and ideals, and fearlessly standing up for free expression — in our universities, as everywhere else.

Yes, many of us are scared. We who live with the fundamentalists’ threats — in the West and in the Muslim world — live with fear, and have done so for years. But we cannot let fear cow us into silence. Times like these reaffirm to me the clear necessity of championing Western values — chief among them the freedom to speak and publish, regardless of hurt feelings, regardless of whether our words violate concepts of blasphemy, old or new.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/16/defend-rushdie-free-speech/

Ayan Hirsi Ali, another well known graduate from the school of Rushdie alongside Tarek Fatah, Tahir Gora and others. They just keep attacking their so called "previous religion" for cheap fame.

 

[MenInG]

Ayan Hirsi Ali, another well known graduate from the school of Rushdie alongside Tarek Fatah, Tahir Gora and others. They just keep attacking their so called "previous religion" for cheap fame.

Think that explains the motive clearly.

 

[Robert]

Opinion I once wanted to burn ‘The Satanic Verses.’ Now I weep for Salman Rushdie.

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and founder of the AHA Foundation.

In 1989, I wanted to burn Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” But I couldn’t afford to buy a copy, even if only to set it ablaze without reading it. I was a teenager in Kenya, a Muslim with the righteous convictions of the young, eager to obey the edicts of the highest religious authorities. When Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of the “Satanic Verses” author, I thought he was standing up for Islam — and for me. So, a group of us did the best we could: We scribbled the book’s title on a piece of cardboard and burned that.

If Rushdie had been murdered then, I would have been happy.

Now that he has been nearly killed in a knife attack, I am shattered.

In the intervening years, I came to realize that the religion of my youth was an oppressive, dangerous version of the faith. Forced into marriage in the early 1990s, I fled to the Netherlands, where I successfully sought political asylum. There, I studied political science, later becoming a member of parliament. And I watched with mounting anger, and horror, as radical Islam pursued its war on modern civilization — perhaps these words can still be said, on Western civilization.

I cherish the freedoms afforded by Western civilization, and I especially cherish the freedom to speak freely. That is why the attack on Rushdie, beyond the terrible fact of his injuries, is so abhorrent.

The freedom to speak out — to challenge and even to offend — is the driver of every form of progress. The advance of science, the emancipation of women, revolutions that have taken down monarchies and corrupt regimes — these achievements, at their core, were driven by free expression.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Rushdie wrote: “The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women’s rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex.”

Speaking as a former teenage believer, I concur: Islamic fundamentalism is a wholesale assault on the foundational principles of the West. We must not only protect but also stand alongside those whose lives are threatened by theocracy merely for what they say or write.

When someone attempts to take Rushdie's life, what’s at stake is not just the inventive language and far-sighted vision of one person. Also at stake is our freedom to share ideas: the lifeblood of Western civilization.

But in place of the courageous confrontation and unified defense that such an assault demands, I see around me today far too much shuffling of feet and mumbling. What ought to have prompted simply a resounding defense of free speech has stirred, from some on the left, criticism of the act itself, but hollowed out by caveats: I believe in free speech … but not if this or that minority is offended.

The secular cult of wokeism uses diversity, equity and inclusion — words that should be pillars of progress — to impose a fearful conformity that is fundamentally inimical to free speech. Indeed, the wokeists and the Islamists have this in common: Both use the language of offense and hurt feelings to shut down ideas. “Hate speech” can be just a secular version of “blasphemy.”

When free speech is under assault, we risk losing the precious values that countless people around the world have bled for — that Rushdie’s blood was spilled for last week. Enough of the tired declarations of sympathy and outrage. It is time to act in defense of our ideals. This means calling out the evils committed in the name of Islam, supporting dissident Muslims fighting to reform their faith, being unafraid and unapologetic in championing Western freedoms and ideals, and fearlessly standing up for free expression — in our universities, as everywhere else.

Yes, many of us are scared. We who live with the fundamentalists’ threats — in the West and in the Muslim world — live with fear, and have done so for years. But we cannot let fear cow us into silence. Times like these reaffirm to me the clear necessity of championing Western values — chief among them the freedom to speak and publish, regardless of hurt feelings, regardless of whether our words violate concepts of blasphemy, old or new.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/16/defend-rushdie-free-speech/

Thought-provoking.

I don’t consider “wokeism” to be a new religious fundamentalism though. Anti-racism, anti-homophobia and so on is there to prevent people from being physically oppressed or discriminated against, not to spare their feelings from being hurt.

What Rushdie did was hurt a lot of peoples’ feelings. He didn’t oppress anybody.

 

[Robert]

Ayan Hirsi Ali, another well known graduate from the school of Rushdie alongside Tarek Fatah, Tahir Gora and others. They just keep attacking their so called "previous religion" for cheap fame.

Or maybe are trying to purge religion from their life because it distresses them.

That’s what I did. Took decades, but I got there and am happier as a result.

 

[Sidilicious]

Just ordered my copy of the satanic verses. Hope that helps in bringing this book closer to the top spot.

Don’t think I will read it again, but this book has become such an icon for the fight to keep our freedom of expression, it needs to be on every boo lovers bookshelf.

Along with one of the paintings of MF Hussain which hangs in my family home in India (unfortunately, it’s too expensive for me to afford).

 

[Rana]

Just ordered my copy of the satanic verses. Hope that helps in bringing this book closer to the top spot.

Don’t think I will read it again, but this book has become such an icon for the fight to keep our freedom of expression, it needs to be on every boo lovers bookshelf.

Along with one of the paintings of MF Hussain which hangs in my family home in India (unfortunately, it’s too expensive for me to afford).

I’lf this is the first time you will read it, I pray that you understand the pain that is caused by the novel towards the Muslims.

You are probably not going to read it with a rational mind, but I can hope you do.

 

[Sidilicious]

I’lf this is the first time you will read it, I pray that you understand the pain that is caused by the novel towards the Muslims.

You are probably not going to read it with a rational mind, but I can hope you do.

I have already read the book and treated it as a work of fiction and not facts. The book is nowhere near Rushdie‘s other masterclasses.

However, the more people seem to cry about the pain the book causes, the more I tend to question their beliefs. Your belief would be very weak to get offended and hurt by someone’s words.

Anyone with a strong set of belief would just ignore criticism one knows is not true.

Sticks and Stones May break my bones,
But words will never hurt me

 

[Rana]

I have already read the book and treated it as a work of fiction and not facts. The book is nowhere near Rushdie‘s other masterclasses.

However, the more people seem to cry about the pain the book causes, the more I tend to question their beliefs. Your belief would be very weak to get offended and hurt by someone’s words.

Anyone with a strong set of belief would just ignore criticism one knows is not true.

Sticks and Stones May break my bones,
But words will never hurt me

You are either naive or purposely trolling. It has been reiterated time and time again that the vast majority of Muslims follow this mantra of ‘words will never hurt me’. Yet there is a very small percentage of die hard fanatics who will not tolerate it. What is the point of provoking anyone? Your post about wanting this book to be no.1 is provocation as well, it’s not your demonstration for FOS because you clearly do not take into account the vast majority of Muslims who do want to ignore or protest peacefully.

 

[Robert]

Just ordered my copy of the satanic verses. Hope that helps in bringing this book closer to the top spot.

Don’t think I will read it again, but this book has become such an icon for the fight to keep our freedom of expression, it needs to be on every boo lovers bookshelf.

Currently at #12 on Amazon, but a student notes primer on it is #1. That might be worth reading….

 

[Robert]

I have already read the book and treated it as a work of fiction and not facts. The book is nowhere near Rushdie‘s other masterclasses.

However, the more people seem to cry about the pain the book causes, the more I tend to question their beliefs. Your belief would be very weak to get offended and hurt by someone’s words.

Anyone with a strong set of belief would just ignore criticism one knows is not true.

Sticks and Stones May break my bones,
But words will never hurt me

Sure, why doesn’t it just bounce off the strong wall of faith?

I think that by writing this book, Rushdie has pushed a lot of people’s noses right up against the limit of their internal maps of reality. And that’s a scary place to be for many. Some people get so scared that they will turn round and try to kill whoever pushed them.

 

[Rana]

Sure, why doesn’t it just bounce off the strong wall of faith?

I think that by writing this book, Rushdie has pushed a lot of people’s noses right up against the limit of their internal maps of reality. And that’s a scary place to be for many. Some people get so scared that they will turn round and try to kill whoever pushed them.

You are now contradicting yourself. It was you who earlier said you didn’t believe this book has anything to be offended about, now you are claiming this book has pushed the spiritualists to their limits. What is it? Also you have admitted to not reading it. Why are you also purposely provoking??

 

[Robert]

You are now contradicting yourself. It was you who earlier said you didn’t believe this book has anything to be offended about,

Please don't make up things that I am supposed to have said. This is called the strawman fallacy.

now you are claiming this book has pushed the spiritualists to their limits. What is it? Also you have admitted to not reading it. Why are you also purposely provoking??

I didn't say that either.

Clearly you are not comprehending my arguments, so let's call it a day. Goodbye.

 

[Rana]

Please don't make up things that I am supposed to have said. This is called the strawman fallacy.



I didn't say that either.

Clearly you are not comprehending my arguments, so let's call it a day. Goodbye.

I’m pretty sure that you are the one struggling to comprehend your own arguments. I have engaged critically and academically with you and you have continued to deflect. From what I have understood about you:

-You haven’t read the book
-You don’t care about the book
-You don’t think the book has material that can or should be considered offensive towards Muslims
-You think this book has pushed people right up against the wall of their internal maps of reality (which is bizarre as you think Muslims shouldn’t be offended by it)
-you are religiously following the trending patterns of this book in the world market, although you don’t care about the book.

Robert. You are confused. Rushdie is confused. His audience are confused. As I said earlier, protecting the honour of The Prophet s.a and his companions is a stand for something. I believe you stand for nothing.

 

[MenInG]

The man accused of stabbing Sir Salman Rushdie has reportedly said he has only read two pages of the author's controversial novel The Satanic Verses.

Hadi Matar, 24, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the assault at an event in New York last week.

In an interview with the New York Post from jail, Mr Matar said Sir Salman was "someone who attacked Islam".

But he did not confirm that his alleged actions were driven by a fatwa issued by Iran in the 1980s.

Mr Matar is currently being held at Chautauqua County Jail, in New York state.

Sir Salman published his famous and controversial novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, sparking outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous.

The book's release prompted the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa, or edict, calling for the writer's death in 1989.

Mr Matar told the New York Post he had only read "a couple of pages" of the book and did not say whether the fatwa had inspired him.

"I respect the Ayatollah. I think he's a great person. That's as far as I will say about that," he said.

Mr Matar also told the newspaper he was "surprised" to hear that Sir Salman had survived the attack.

"I don't like the person. I don't think he's a very good person. I don't like him very much," Mr Matar said, according to the paper. "He's someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems."

Earlier this week, Mr Matar's mother said she had disowned her son after his alleged behaviour. "I'm done with him," Silvana Fardos said on Monday, adding: "I have nothing to say to him."

Sir Salman suffered a damaged liver as well as severed nerves in an arm and eye injuries in the attack, but was taken off a ventilator on Saturday.

Despite his "life-changing" injuries, the Booker Prize-winning author has retained his "usual feisty and defiant sense of humour", his family said earlier this week.

On Friday, a number of literary figures will read from his works on the steps on New York's public library to show solidarity with the novelist.

Tina Brown, Paul Auster, Kiran Desai, Andrea Elliott, Hari Kunzru and Gay Talese will be among those taking part in Stand With Salman: Defend the Freedom to Write.

BBC

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Just ordered my copy of the satanic verses. Hope that helps in bringing this book closer to the top spot.

Don’t think I will read it again, but this book has become such an icon for the fight to keep our freedom of expression, it needs to be on every boo lovers bookshelf.

Along with one of the paintings of MF Hussain which hangs in my family home in India (unfortunately, it’s too expensive for me to afford).

You should post these views on Indian social media. Pakistanis at home and abroad will rejoice as they watch your previously patriotic Muslims start to reject their nation as a country only fit for Hindutvas.

 

[Rana]

The man accused of stabbing Sir Salman Rushdie has reportedly said he has only read two pages of the author's controversial novel The Satanic Verses.

Hadi Matar, 24, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the assault at an event in New York last week.

In an interview with the New York Post from jail, Mr Matar said Sir Salman was "someone who attacked Islam".

But he did not confirm that his alleged actions were driven by a fatwa issued by Iran in the 1980s.

Mr Matar is currently being held at Chautauqua County Jail, in New York state.

Sir Salman published his famous and controversial novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, sparking outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous.

The book's release prompted the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa, or edict, calling for the writer's death in 1989.

Mr Matar told the New York Post he had only read "a couple of pages" of the book and did not say whether the fatwa had inspired him.

"I respect the Ayatollah. I think he's a great person. That's as far as I will say about that," he said.

Mr Matar also told the newspaper he was "surprised" to hear that Sir Salman had survived the attack.

"I don't like the person. I don't think he's a very good person. I don't like him very much," Mr Matar said, according to the paper. "He's someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems."

Earlier this week, Mr Matar's mother said she had disowned her son after his alleged behaviour. "I'm done with him," Silvana Fardos said on Monday, adding: "I have nothing to say to him."

Sir Salman suffered a damaged liver as well as severed nerves in an arm and eye injuries in the attack, but was taken off a ventilator on Saturday.

Despite his "life-changing" injuries, the Booker Prize-winning author has retained his "usual feisty and defiant sense of humour", his family said earlier this week.

On Friday, a number of literary figures will read from his works on the steps on New York's public library to show solidarity with the novelist.

Tina Brown, Paul Auster, Kiran Desai, Andrea Elliott, Hari Kunzru and Gay Talese will be among those taking part in Stand With Salman: Defend the Freedom to Write.

BBC

He only read two pages? Still more than all those liberals who haven’t read a single word besides the title and are advocating FOS and for Muslims to be tolerant.

Although, murder is not the correct way to channel your anger.

 

[RexRex]

However, the more people seem to cry about the pain the book causes, the more I tend to question their beliefs. Your belief would be very weak to get offended and hurt by someone’s words.

Sticks and Stones May break my bones,
But words will never hurt me

This is so true .. if I can delve into a bit of pysychology here, I would say people who take offense to this 'blasphemy' have extremely low self worth and self esteem and their life situation is in a mess, be it financial, social or family life.

Thers is no way someone with strong unshakeable faith can get offended by a book to the extent that they hurt someone. That can only be described as a mental illness.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Or maybe are trying to purge religion from their life because it distresses them.

That’s what I did. Took decades, but I got there and am happier as a result.

Or maybe they never followed the religion in the first place and have used it as a tool gain popularity and the perks that comes along in the west when someone supposedly of religion esp Islam talks against it.

Can't comment about you but **** like Fatah has openly talked about never believing/following it and Canadian newspapers wrote about including him in the parliament.

Hirsi Ali rose to a level of some parliamentary position after renouncing it openly.

Notice the pattern?

Haven't read Rushdie's works but seriously the likes of James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Steinbeck, Orwell have a far bigger writing legacy yet none of them were knighted with "Sir".

 

[Robert]

Or maybe they never followed the religion in the first place and have used it as a tool gain popularity and the perks that comes along in the west when someone supposedly of religion esp Islam talks against it.

Can't comment about you but **** like Fatah has openly talked about never believing/following it and Canadian newspapers wrote about including him in the parliament.

Hirsi Ali rose to a level of some parliamentary position after renouncing it openly.

Notice the pattern?

I'm not seeing how renunciation of faith will get someone elected to a government. Only convincing lots of voters will do that.

Haven't read Rushdie's works but seriously the likes of James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Steinbeck, Orwell have a far bigger writing legacy yet none of them were knighted with "Sir".

Well two of those guys weren't British therefore ineligible, one didn't sell any books during his lifetime, and the other rocked the establishment boat too much.

Whereas Rushdie is a Fellow of the Royal College of Literature, and won the Booker Prize for Literature.

 

[Champ_Pal]

Or maybe they never followed the religion in the first place and have used it as a tool gain popularity and the perks that comes along in the west when someone supposedly of religion esp Islam talks against it.

Can't comment about you but **** like Fatah has openly talked about never believing/following it and Canadian newspapers wrote about including him in the parliament.

Hirsi Ali rose to a level of some parliamentary position after renouncing it openly.

Notice the pattern?

Haven't read Rushdie's works but seriously the likes of James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Steinbeck, Orwell have a far bigger writing legacy yet none of them were knighted with "Sir".

They gain popularity because Muslims give them the importance. It takes two to tango.

Had Muslims not gone on a rampage after Rushdie's book was released, nobody would have even known that book.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

I'm not seeing how renunciation of faith will get someone elected to a government. Only convincing lots of voters will do that.



Well two of those guys weren't British therefore ineligible, one didn't sell any books during his lifetime, and the other rocked the establishment boat too much.

Whereas Rushdie is a Fellow of the Royal College of Literature, and won the Booker Prize for Literature.

Renunciation of faith is greatly appreciated and the individuals are pushed highly by the powers that be.

You get laurels when you please the establishment, and the establishment usually loves people (especially ex-muslims) who renounce their faith openly.


As per my knowledge, American citizens can be knighted as well but they are not permitted to use the title Sir. But yes you are probably correct regarding him getting the knighthood.

 

[Varun]

You are either naive or purposely trolling. It has been reiterated time and time again that the vast majority of Muslims follow this mantra of ‘words will never hurt me’. Yet there is a very small percentage of die hard fanatics who will not tolerate it. What is the point of provoking anyone? Your post about wanting this book to be no.1 is provocation as well, it’s not your demonstration for FOS because you clearly do not take into account the vast majority of Muslims who do want to ignore or protest peacefully.

At some point, we have to conclude that you are provoking yourself. If the book is so evil, why are you flipping the page from 90 to 91 and beyond? Put it down and find something else to do.

Also if you hate it - stop giving it so much airtime. How many other 34 year old books do you remember?

 

[Rana]

At some point, we have to conclude that you are provoking yourself. If the book is so evil, why are you flipping the page from 90 to 91 and beyond? Put it down and find something else to do.

Also if you hate it - stop giving it so much airtime. How many other 34 year old books do you remember?

What is it that you want?

If Muslims are raging about it, people think they have no business to do so because they most likely haven’t read it,

If Muslims read it and rage about it, they should put the book down and ignore its existence.

There are so many holes in the logic of those who are defending this book

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

At some point, we have to conclude that you are provoking yourself. If the book is so evil, why are you flipping the page from 90 to 91 and beyond? Put it down and find something else to do.

Also if you hate it - stop giving it so much airtime. How many other 34 year old books do you remember?

I was thinking the same thing of non-Muslims to be perfectly honest. Why does it matter so much to you guys? Mr RexRex was doing some amateur psychology in one of the posts above and I was just thinking all those suppositions he was deriving applied equally to those who find it so important tosupport Rushdie's right to insult the Prophet PBUH. It's just a book at the end of the day, why do these people feel it is such an important line in the sand? Considering the content of the book, is it such a great cause to fight for, and come on Pakistani websites to defend it? Why not go to Kuwait or Saudi websites or send your ambassadors to demand justice from those countries?

 

[Cover Drive Six]

Is the attacker Lebanese?

Mother Of Man Who Stabbed Salman Rushdie Says He Changed After Trip To Lebanon

The mother of the New Jersey man, who stabbed author Salman Rushdie at a literary event, has said that the 24-year-old "changed" after visiting Lebanon in 2018. Hadi Matar was arrested after stabbing Mr Rushdie 10 times, including in the neck and the abdomen on Friday. He rushed onto the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in New York. Matar is facing charges of attempted murder and assault, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Speaking to Daily Mail, Matar's mother Silvana Fardos said that her outgoing son turned into a moody and introvert person following a visit to see his father.

"I was expecting him to come back motivated, to complete school, to get his degree and a job. But instead he locked himself in the basement. He had changed a lot, he didn't say anything to me or his sisters for months," she told the outlet. Matar was born in the US to Lebanese parents.

Ms Fardos, 46, said Matar had banned her from entering the basement where he had locked himself up. He would sleep during the days and was awake during the night.

"One time he argued with me, asking why I encouraged him to get an education instead of focusing on religion. He was angry that I did not introduce him to Islam from a young age," she said.

The woman further told Daily Mail that she had never heard of Mr Rushdie before getting a frantic call from her daughter on Friday.

"I never read any of his books. I didn't know that such a writer even exists. I had no knowledge that my son ever read his book," said Ms Fardos.

She, however, said that the family will be moving on "without him".

"As I said to the FBI I'm not going to bother talking to him again. He's responsible for his actions. I have another two minors that I need to take care of. They are upset, they're shocked. All we can do is try to move on from this, without him."

Matar appeared in court on Saturday where he pleaded not guilty to the charges slapped against him.

A preliminary review of Matar's social media showed him to be sympathetic to "Shia extremism" and the causes of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). Though there are no direct links between Matar and the IRGC, investigators reportedly found images of Iranian commander Qassem Solemani, who was assassinated in 2020, in a cell phone messaging app belonging to Matar.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/hadi-matar-mother-of-man-who-stabbed-salman-rushdie-says-he-changed-after-trip-to-lebanon-3256055

 

[James]

The man accused of stabbing Sir Salman Rushdie has reportedly said he has only read two pages of the author's controversial novel The Satanic Verses.

Hadi Matar, 24, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the assault at an event in New York last week.

In an interview with the New York Post from jail, Mr Matar said Sir Salman was "someone who attacked Islam".

But he did not confirm that his alleged actions were driven by a fatwa issued by Iran in the 1980s.

Mr Matar is currently being held at Chautauqua County Jail, in New York state.

Sir Salman published his famous and controversial novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, sparking outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous.

The book's release prompted the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa, or edict, calling for the writer's death in 1989.

Mr Matar told the New York Post he had only read "a couple of pages" of the book and did not say whether the fatwa had inspired him.

"I respect the Ayatollah. I think he's a great person. That's as far as I will say about that," he said.

Mr Matar also told the newspaper he was "surprised" to hear that Sir Salman had survived the attack.

"I don't like the person. I don't think he's a very good person. I don't like him very much," Mr Matar said, according to the paper. "He's someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems."

Earlier this week, Mr Matar's mother said she had disowned her son after his alleged behaviour. "I'm done with him," Silvana Fardos said on Monday, adding: "I have nothing to say to him."

Sir Salman suffered a damaged liver as well as severed nerves in an arm and eye injuries in the attack, but was taken off a ventilator on Saturday.

Despite his "life-changing" injuries, the Booker Prize-winning author has retained his "usual feisty and defiant sense of humour", his family said earlier this week.

On Friday, a number of literary figures will read from his works on the steps on New York's public library to show solidarity with the novelist.

Tina Brown, Paul Auster, Kiran Desai, Andrea Elliott, Hari Kunzru and Gay Talese will be among those taking part in Stand With Salman: Defend the Freedom to Write.

BBC

It’s possible we will find out more about the attacker’s motive when his trial begins.

 

[James]

Sometimes what is missing from this debate around Rushdie is a bit of nuance.

There aren’t just two opinions at polar opposites and people have to choose from these binary options: ie 1. He is a heretic and should be hunted down & killed / or, 2. He is a hero and should be defended at all costs.

I don’t think he is a hero, or a heretic.

He is simply a man, I’m sure of some good attributes as well as many flaws, and IMHO the Satanic Verses is a lower point within his literary output just as much as it was one of the novels which made him rich and world famous.

And, the attempt on his life was/is totally wrong.

 

[Champ_Pal]

Sometimes what is missing from this debate around Rushdie is a bit of nuance.

There aren’t just two opinions at polar opposites and people have to choose from these binary options: ie 1. He is a heretic and should be hunted down & killed / or, 2. He is a hero and should be defended at all costs.

I don’t think he is a hero, or a heretic.

He is simply a man, I’m sure of some good attributes as well as many flaws, and IMHO the Satanic Verses is a lower point within his literary output just as much as it was one of the novels which made him rich and world famous.

And, the attempt on his life was/is totally wrong.

Totally agree with you. He never wanted to be a hero. People made heroes out of him. Mostly Ex-Muslims and right wing from various countries.

 

[MenInG]

Former prime minister Imran Khan has condemned the knife attack on Salman Rushdie, an India-born author and winner of the Booker Prize, saying the anger of Muslims against the author was understandable but it still didn't justify the attack, reported Guardian on Friday.

"I think it is terrible, sad," Imran told the newspaper in a comment on the violent attack that put Rushdie on a ventilator.

"Rushdie understood, because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that. So the anger I understood, but you can't justify what happened," the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim Kashmiri family, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent nine years in hiding under British police protection.

The author sustained severe injuries in the attack, including nerve damage in his arm, wounds to his liver, and the likely loss of an eye, his agent said. But his condition has been improving since the weekend, and he had been taken off the ventilator.

 

[Tubs]

Great to see the usual suspects are championing this act of barbarism.

Salman Rushdie is a very brave man, and I'm glad to see his book sales going up.
[MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] you have mentioned how Muslims will 'never tolerate' such writings about the prophet. Care to elaborate? What if people never stop ridiculing/being crass about him? What would these Muslims that you mentioned do?

 

[sweep_shot]

Great to see the usual suspects are championing this act of barbarism.

Salman Rushdie is a very brave man, and I'm glad to see his book sales going up.
[MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] you have mentioned how Muslims will 'never tolerate' such writings about the prophet. Care to elaborate? What if people never stop ridiculing/being crass about him? What would these Muslims that you mentioned do?

What do you want Muslims to do? Give Rushdie a hug?

If someone insults your loved one, how would you react?

 

[Varun]

What do you want Muslims to do? Give Rushdie a hug?

If someone insults your loved one, how would you react?

Go on - answer the question. What would you do in Canada if Rushdie or similar turned up in your vicinity?

 

[sweep_shot]

Go on - answer the question. What would you do in Canada if Rushdie or similar turned up in your vicinity?

I would condemn him and jeer him without violence. That's the right way to go about it.

 

[Varun]

I would condemn him and jeer him without violence. That's the right way to go about it.

Good answer. Also use a placard if necessary. That's called a peaceful protest and it will get your point across well.

But of course, the damage is done in this case with the book having come out 34 years ago.

 

[topspin]

Former prime minister Imran Khan has condemned the knife attack on Salman Rushdie, an India-born author and winner of the Booker Prize, saying the anger of Muslims against the author was understandable but it still didn't justify the attack, reported Guardian on Friday.

"I think it is terrible, sad," Imran told the newspaper in a comment on the violent attack that put Rushdie on a ventilator.

"Rushdie understood, because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that. So the anger I understood, but you can't justify what happened," the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim Kashmiri family, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent nine years in hiding under British police protection.

The author sustained severe injuries in the attack, including nerve damage in his arm, wounds to his liver, and the likely loss of an eye, his agent said. But his condition has been improving since the weekend, and he had been taken off the ventilator.

Even though it has taken him an age to respond, I have to give credit for IK to condemn this incident. I'm sure they'll be a good number of his supporters in Pakistan who'll be angered by this statement of his.

 

[Tubs]

What do you want Muslims to do? Give Rushdie a hug?

If someone insults your loved one, how would you react?

No, you can hate him with all your heart. I am just wondering what 'not acceptable under any circumstances' means. I see in your later post that, to you, it means non-violently showing your discontent. That is perfectly fine and is your right.

 

[James]

<b>Salman Rushdie: writers gather in New York to read author’s works in solidarity</b>

<I>Event organized by Pen America champions freedom to write after novelist survived assassination attempt last week</I>

Crowds gathered near the steps of the New York Public Library in midtown Manhattan on Friday morning, as writers read works by the novelist Salman Rushdie, who survived an assassination attempt in western New York last week.

The event, Stand With Salman; Defend the Freedom to Write, was organized by Pen America, the library and Rushdie’s publisher, Penguin Random House.

Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution last Friday when he was attacked on stage and stabbed multiple times.

Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault.

Rushdie, 75, was hospitalized with serious injuries after an assault that writers and politicians around the world condemned as an attack on the freedom of expression.

Work that many Muslims consider blasphemous led in the 1980s to death threats against Rushdie from Iran, after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, that called for the writer’s death.

Students, writers, activists and tourists attended Friday’s event in Manhattan. Several police officers with dogs lined the premises, wearing helmets and carrying guns.

One woman wore a white T-shirt that said “Read Rushdie” in colorful letters. Other participants held up large printouts of Rushdie’s book covers, including The Satanic Verses – the subject of the fatwa – Joseph Anton and Quichotte.

Several carried Pen America signs that featured Rushdie quotes. One sign read, “Art is not entertainment. At its very best, it’s a revolution” – an excerpt from Rushdie’s speech at the 2012 Pen America World Voices Festival.

Another said, “If we are not confident of our freedom, then we are not free.”

Pamela Marquez, a staff member at the American Red Cross, commuted by train from Fairfield, Connecticut, to attend.

“It’s really important for us to stand for and protect the rights of writers,” she told the Guardian.

“It’s really important for us to understand the work that writers do and how much effort they put into it and they don’t get enough recognition and so that’s why I’m here.

“Knowledge is power and we get that knowledge through books and we get that knowledge through the creative minds of these writers.”

Salem Fray, an English teacher in Harlem, said he was attending in order to stand up for free speech.

Rushdie “stands as anybody who is willing to say what needs to be said, regardless of what the outcome might be, and I think that’s an important thing to support”, Fray said.

In her opening remarks, the Pen America chief executive, Suzanne Nossel, said: “When a would-be murderer plunged a knife into Salman Rushdie’s neck, he pierced more than just the flesh of a renowned writer.

“He sliced through time, jolting all of us to recognize that horrors of the past were hauntingly present. He infiltrated across borders, enabling the long arm of a vengeful government to reach into a peaceful haven. He punctured our calm, leaving us wide awake at night, contemplating the sheer terror of those moments exactly one week ago.

“He shattered our comfort, forcing us to contemplate the frailty of our own freedom. Today, we gather to stand with Salman, our stalwart leader and comrade who is enduring agony wrought by a 33-year-old vendetta, a death warrant that refuses to die, a declaration of a never-ending war on words.

“We stand with Salman in an effort to boost his spirits but also in a determination to stiffen our spines.”

Jeffery Eugenides, the American novelist best known for The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, prefaced a reading from Rushdie’s 1981 novel Midnight’s Children by describing a time when he was a young writer touring London.

Eugenides recalled how enamored he was by Rushdie’s works and wanted to meet him in person.

“I looked him up in the London phone book. There it was, under the Rs – Rushdie, Salman, along with an address and a telephone number. I took the Tube out to his house. As it turned out, Salman wasn’t at home … but his mother-in-law let me in … I told her why I was there, she got me a piece of paper and I wrote a note to Mr Rushdie and I left it for him and I went back to my hotel.

“That was a world we used to live in, a world where the only craziness that might be visited upon a writer came in the form of a young, over-exuberant reader who showed up at his doorstep. That world was called civilization. Let’s try to hang on to it.”

The crowd applauded.

Other writers who read at the event included Reginald Dwayne Betts, Siri Hustvedt, Gay Talese, Colum McCann and Roya Hakakian.

https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/19/salman-rushdie-writers-new-york-read-works-solidarity

 

[MenInG]

PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that British newspaper The Guardian had taken his comments on author Salman Rushdie’s attack “out of context”.

In an interview with the UK-based publication on Friday, Imran was quoted as terming the knife attack on the Indian-born novelist “sad” and “terrible”, which could not be justified in the name of Islam.

“Rushdie understood because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, and reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that. So the anger I understood, but you can’t justify what happened,” the PTI chairman gave his two cents on the attack that had sent Rushdie to a ventilator.

However, in a statement issued by PTI’s official Twitter account in the wee hours of Saturday, Imran said that his statement was taken out of context.

He explained that he had refused to attend the Indian seminar where Rushdie had been invited. “In the interview, I explained the Islamic method of punishing blasphemers.

“I gave the example of the Sialkot incident […] spoke about Rushdie in the same context,” Imran clarified, referring to the ghastly murder of a Sri Lankan man last year over blasphemy charges.

Later, in a meeting with YouTubers at Bani Gala, Imran reiterated that his “views on Rushie are clear”, adding that he would never approach a forum associated with the author.

Rushdie, whose sacrilegious writings made him the target of death threats, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on August 12.

The 75-year-old writer was being introduced to give a talk to an audience of hundreds on artistic freedom at western New York’s Chautauqua Institution when a man rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist, who has lived with a bounty on his head since the late 1980s.

Stunned attendees helped wrest the man from Rushdie, who had fallen to the floor. A New York State Police trooper providing security at the event arrested the attacker. Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass to the event.

DAWN

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Antagonism breeds fanaticism

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Great to see the usual suspects are championing this act of barbarism.

Salman Rushdie is a very brave man, and I'm glad to see his book sales going up.
[MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] you have mentioned how Muslims will 'never tolerate' such writings about the prophet. Care to elaborate? What if people never stop ridiculing/being crass about him? What would these Muslims that you mentioned do?

That's fair enough, as an anti-Islam activist you will obviously take pleasure in seeing his anti-Islam book sales rise, just as many hindutvas on this thread are also rejoicing. On the other hand, some Muslims would probably be happy to see Salman maimed and fighting for his life, possibly disabled from this disgusting attack. This is life today, the world is polarising and each wants to score pyrrhic victories on this ground.

 

[Tubs]

That's fair enough, as an anti-Islam activist you will obviously take pleasure in seeing his anti-Islam book sales rise, just as many hindutvas on this thread are also rejoicing. On the other hand, some Muslims would probably be happy to see Salman maimed and fighting for his life, possibly disabled from this disgusting attack. This is life today, the world is polarising and each wants to score pyrrhic victories on this ground.

Anti-Islam activist, haha. I'm not sure speaking out about the negatives of all religions (including Islam) makes me an 'anti-Islam activist'. Anyone who doesn't bow to your ideology is seen as anti-Islam.

An interesting point you make about the books. You do know only The Satanic Verses are seen as contentious, right? Midnight's Children, Shame, and the like are not. You also seem to conflate book sales with physical attacks. Obviously, I see the poetic justice of a savage attack on a man for a book he wrote resulting in increased sales of said book. Do you think that people celebrating book sales are just as morally condemnable as those celebrating a man potentially being rendered disabled from a savage stabbing? Please answer the question instead of dancing around it, as you usually do.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Anti-Islam activist, haha. I'm not sure speaking out about the negatives of all religions (including Islam) makes me an 'anti-Islam activist'. Anyone who doesn't bow to your ideology is seen as anti-Islam.

An interesting point you make about the books. You do know only The Satanic Verses are seen as contentious, right? Midnight's Children, Shame, and the like are not. You also seem to conflate book sales with physical attacks. Obviously, I see the poetic justice of a savage attack on a man for a book he wrote resulting in increased sales of said book. Do you think that people celebrating book sales are just as morally condemnable as those celebrating a man potentially being rendered disabled from a savage stabbing? Please answer the question instead of dancing around it, as you usually do.

I was actually the one who mentioned Shame when someone asked which other book he had wrote, if you read through the full thread you might see that. I deplore provocation and violence, but am a realist and understand that in today's world violence is necessary, otherwise we would never deploy weapons of mass destruction.

I do feel a bit sorry for Rushdie though. Unlike you, I don't believe he's a brave man at all, I think the fatwa took him by surprise, and if he had realised this would be the outcome he might never have written this book. His life has been ruined even before the attack, I'm fairly sure he would change it if he could go back in time.

 

[MenInG]

British daily The Guardian's world affairs editor Julian Borger has said the publication did not misquote former prime minister Imran Khan after the PTI chief claimed that the British newspaper had taken his remarks over an attack on author Salman Rushdie 'out of context'.

In an interview with the renowned newspaper last week, the former premier condemned the knife attack on Rushdie, claiming that the anger of Muslims against the author was understandable but it didn't justify the attack.

However, the official Twitter account for the PTI, later said that Imran’s statement was “taken out of context”, and that he had refused to attend a seminar in India because Rushdie was also invited.

“In the interview, I explained the Islamic method of punishing blasphemers,” Imran said.

The PTI chief maintained that he had given the example of the Sialkot tragedy and had spoken of Rushdie in a similar context. Imran was referring to the brutal lynching of a Sri Lankan man in Sialkot over blasphemy allegations.

"We did not misquote Imran Khan. We stand absolutely by our reporting of the interview," Borger said in response to a Twitter user who sought clarity on the matter.

"Khan himself is not saying we misquoted him, only that we took his remarks out of context, but we provided the context, as you can see in the story," he added.

Last week, Rushdie sustained severe injuries in an attack, including nerve damage in his arm, wounds to his liver, and the likely loss of an eye, his agent said. But his condition has been improving since the weekend, and he had been taken off the ventilator.

Express Tribune

 

[SalimBhai]

Imran bhai is back tracking here.

 

[daytrader]

Salman Rushdie Lost Sight In One Eye, Use Of A Hand After Knife Attack
Salman Rushdie was rushed to the hospital after sustaining severe injuries in the attack at an event in New York.

Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following an attack on stage at a literary event in western New York in August, his agent said.
Andrew Wylie, who represents literary giants such as Saul Bellow and Roberto Bolano, described the extent of the injuries Rushdie suffered in the "brutal" attack in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Wylie described the author's wounds as "profound," and noted the loss of sight of one eye. "He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso."

The agent declined to say whether "The Satanic Verses" author, 75, was still in hospital more than two months after police said a 24-year-old New Jersey man stabbed the writer in the neck and torso just before Rushdie was to give a lecture at Chautauqua Institution, a retreat about 12 miles (19 km) from Lake Erie.

The novelist was rushed to the hospital after sustaining severe injuries in the attack, including nerve damage in his arm, wounds to his liver, and the likely loss of an eye, Wylie said at the time.

The attack came 33 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie a few months after "The Satanic Verses" was published. Some Muslims saw passages in the novel about the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.

Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim Kashmiri family, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent nine years in hiding under British police protection.

While Iran's pro-reform government of President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa in the late 1990s, the multimillion-dollar bounty hanging over Rushdie's head kept growing and the fatwa was never lifted.

Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for saying the fatwa against Rushdie was "irrevocable."

The man accused of attacking the novelist has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges. He is being held without bail in a western New York jail.

NDTV

 

[James]

Lucky to survive such a serious attack.

 

[KingKhanWC]

An eye for an eye?

Now this hatemonger will use this attack on him as sympathy to spread more hate.

Expect him to jump on the anti-Iran bandwagon when he can see daylight again.

 

[SalimBhai]

A man loses an eye and feeling in one of his arms just because he wrote a book. And there are people here cheering that. And they have the audacity of calling people woke. What's more woke than that. Anyway wishing him a speedy recovery. Great writer.

 

[Hitman]

A man loses an eye and feeling in one of his arms just because he wrote a book. And there are people here cheering that. And they have the audacity of calling people woke. What's more woke than that. Anyway wishing him a speedy recovery. Great writer.

And the same ones will cry simultaneously about islamophobia.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

A man loses an eye and feeling in one of his arms just because he wrote a book. And there are people here cheering that. And they have the audacity of calling people woke. What's more woke than that. Anyway wishing him a speedy recovery. Great writer.

He actively sought to antagonise Muslims. It wasn't a wise choice

 

[SalimBhai]

He actively sought to antagonise Muslims. It wasn't a wise choice

No he did not.

 

[MenInG]

Six months after being stabbed, British author Salman Rushdie on Tuesday publishes his new novel "Victory City", an "epic tale" of a 14th-century woman who defies a patriarchal world to rule a city.
Written before the US knife attack that nearly took the Indian-born author's life, the novel purports to be a translation of a historical epic originally written in Sanskrit.

The much-anticipated work tells the tale of young orphan girl Pampa Kampana who is endowed by a goddess with magical powers and founds the city, in modern-day India, of Bisnaga, which translates as Victory City.

Rushdie, 75, will not promote his 15th novel due to his physical condition, although his agent Andrew Wylie told The Guardian that his "recovery is progressing".

He was attacked as he was about to speak at a conference in Chautauqua in upstate New York, near Lake Erie, on August 12.

The author had lived in hiding for years after Iran's first supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered his killing for what he deemed the blasphemous nature of "The Satanic Verses".

The stabbing suspect, Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey with roots in Lebanon, was arrested immediately after the attack and subsequently pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Words 'the only victors'

Rushdie, a naturalised American who has lived in New York for 20 years, lost the sight in one eye and the use of one hand, Wylie said in October.

The attack shocked the West but was welcomed by extremists in Muslim countries such as Iran and Pakistan.

While not personally promoting the book, Rushdie has begun to communicate via social network Twitter, most often to share press reviews of his new novel.

Several events are also planned to accompany its release, including a conference with writers Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman that will be broadcast online.

An icon of free speech since he was subjected to the fatwa that forced him into hiding, Rushdie is still an outspoken defender of the power of words.

His new work follows a heroine on a mission to "give women equal agency in a patriarchal world", according to publisher Penguin Random House's summary.

The book tells the tale of Pampa Kampana's creation of a city and of its downfall.

"Over the next 250 years, Pampa Kampana's life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga's, from its literal sowing from a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power," it added.

The novel concludes with the statement: "Words are the only victors".

A 'triumph'

US author Colum McCann wrote in The New York Times that his friend Rushdie was saying "something quite profound" in Victory City.

"He's saying, 'You will never take the fundamental act of storytelling away from people.'

"In the face of danger, even in the face of death, he manages to say that storytelling is one currency we all have."

The Atlantic magazine called it a "triumph - not because it exists, but because it is utterly enchanting.

"When you think about it, Rushdie's novels are a miracle," it added.

Born in Mumbai in 1947, Rushdie published his first novel "Grimus" in 1975, and gained worldwide fame six years later with "Midnight's Children" which won him the Booker Prize in the UK.

"Victory City" will be released in the US on Tuesday and the UK on Thursday

NDTV

 

[pillionrider]

Good to know.

Anyone who welcomed the attack on Rushdie shouldn't utter a word against Modi, if they have something called a conscience.

 

[MenInG]

Sir Salman Rushdie has spoken for the first time about being stabbed last year at an event in New York.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Sir Salman said he was "lucky... my main overwhelming feeling is gratitude".

The award-winning novelist was attacked on stage ahead of a speech in August and spent six weeks in hospital.

He subsequently lost vision in one eye. Sir Salman has long faced death threats for his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.

In a wide-ranging interview with David Remnick, the novelist said: "I've been better. But, considering what happened, I'm not so bad.

"The big injuries are healed, essentially. I have feeling in my thumb and index finger and in the bottom half of the palm. I'm doing a lot of hand therapy, and I'm told that I'm doing very well."

But he said it was difficult to type and to write due to a lack of feeling in some of his fingertips.

BBC

 

[SalimBhai]

Glad he is recovering .

 

[MenInG]

An Iranian foundation has praised the man who attacked novelist Salman Rushdie last year, leaving him severely injured, state TV reported on Tuesday through its Telegram channel.

It also said it would reward him with 1,000 square metres of agricultural land.

Rushdie lost an eye and the use of one hand after the assault allegedly carried out by Hadi Matar, a Shiite Muslim American from New Jersey, on the stage of a literary event held near Lake Erie in western New York State in August.

"We sincerely thank the brave action of the young American who made Muslims happy by blinding one of Rushdie's eyes and disabling one of his hands," said Mohammad Esmail Zarei, secretary of the Foundation to Implement Imam Khomeini's Fatwas.

"Rushdie is now no more than living dead and to honour this brave action, about 1,000 square metres of agricultural land will be donated to the person or any of his legal representatives."

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/midd...sedgntp&cvid=07df474c0c73468fb773c22bb0a70e15

 

[SalimBhai]

An Iranian foundation has praised the man who attacked novelist Salman Rushdie last year, leaving him severely injured, state TV reported on Tuesday through its Telegram channel.

It also said it would reward him with 1,000 square metres of agricultural land.

Rushdie lost an eye and the use of one hand after the assault allegedly carried out by Hadi Matar, a Shiite Muslim American from New Jersey, on the stage of a literary event held near Lake Erie in western New York State in August.

"We sincerely thank the brave action of the young American who made Muslims happy by blinding one of Rushdie's eyes and disabling one of his hands," said Mohammad Esmail Zarei, secretary of the Foundation to Implement Imam Khomeini's Fatwas.

"Rushdie is now no more than living dead and to honour this brave action, about 1,000 square metres of agricultural land will be donated to the person or any of his legal representatives."

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/midd...sedgntp&cvid=07df474c0c73468fb773c22bb0a70e15

The Iranian regime sone sick puppy

 

[MenInG]

Nine months after he was was stabbed on stage, acclaimed author Salman Rushdie in a rare public address has warned that freedom of expression in the West is under threat.

Rushdie, 75, delivered the video message at the British Book Awards on Monday, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award.

The attack at a literary festival in New York left him blinded in one eye.

Rushdie is best known for his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.

The book, which some Muslims have decried as blasphemous, was banned in several countries within months of its publication and ignited protests at bookstores around the world.

Iran's leader also called for Mr Rushdie's assassination in 1989 and placed a $3m (£2.4m) bounty on the author's head.

Davina McCall and Sir Salman Rushdie win at British Book Awards
As he accepted his award, Rushdie said he believes freedom of expression in the West is at a critical juncture.

"Now I am sitting here in the US, I have to look at the extraordinary attack on libraries, and books for children in schools," he said. "The attack on the idea of libraries themselves. It is quite remarkably alarming, and we need to be very aware of it, and to fight against it very hard."

The award-winning author also criticised the rewriting of older books in modern times to remove language deemed offensive, saying that books should "come to us from their time and be of their time."

"And if that's difficult to take, don't read it, read another book," he said.

He appeared wearing sunglasses with one tinted lens covering his injured eye, and looked thinner than usual.

Before he was attacked on stage in New York, Rushdie was about to give a speech about how the US has served as a haven for writers exiled under threat of prosecution.

The Indian-born, British-American writer was forced into hiding for nearly 10 years after The Satanic Verses was published.

The British Book Awards recognised Rushdie with their Freedom to Publish award, which "acknowledges the determination of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the ongoing threats they face."

BBC

 

[MenInG]

British author Salman Rushdie has said that he is writing a book about the knife attack that took place on him last year in New York, as per a report in The Guardian. In a pre-recorded Zoom appearance at the Hay Literary Festival, he said, "I'm trying to write a book about the attack on me - what happened and what it means, not just about the attack, but around it."
The award-winning author added, "It will be a relatively short book, a couple of hundred pages. It's not the easiest book in the world to write but it's something I need to get past in order to do anything else. I can't really start writing a novel that's got nothing to do with this ... So I just have to deal with it."

Mr Rushdie also told the audience that he was in good health, mentioning that he was "doing OK". He also expressed his appreciation for the response to his most recent work, 'Victory City', which he had completed before the stabbing incident. "I never take anything for granted. Most people seem to like the book and that means a lot," he continued.

On August 12, 2022, the novelist was giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York when a man reached the stage and stabbed and punched him several times. He lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following the "brutal" attack and spent approximately two months in the hospital.

Mr Rushdie's attacker Hadi Matar is being held without bail in the Chautauqua County Jail in the village of Mayville. He has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and could face a lengthy prison sentence after the trial is over.

NDTV

 

[SalimBhai]

British author Salman Rushdie has said that he is writing a book about the knife attack that took place on him last year in New York, as per a report in The Guardian. In a pre-recorded Zoom appearance at the Hay Literary Festival, he said, "I'm trying to write a book about the attack on me - what happened and what it means, not just about the attack, but around it."
The award-winning author added, "It will be a relatively short book, a couple of hundred pages. It's not the easiest book in the world to write but it's something I need to get past in order to do anything else. I can't really start writing a novel that's got nothing to do with this ... So I just have to deal with it."

Mr Rushdie also told the audience that he was in good health, mentioning that he was "doing OK". He also expressed his appreciation for the response to his most recent work, 'Victory City', which he had completed before the stabbing incident. "I never take anything for granted. Most people seem to like the book and that means a lot," he continued.

On August 12, 2022, the novelist was giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York when a man reached the stage and stabbed and punched him several times. He lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following the "brutal" attack and spent approximately two months in the hospital.

Mr Rushdie's attacker Hadi Matar is being held without bail in the Chautauqua County Jail in the village of Mayville. He has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and could face a lengthy prison sentence after the trial is over.

NDTV

Glad he is doing well

 

[daytrader]

‘We’re facing another old enemy’: Rushdie warns against global authoritarianism
Salman Rushdie warned of the threat of authoritarianism globally and said the US Republican party is “seeking to undermine” democratic values, at a forum in Philadelphia to discuss the threats against free speech in the US and around the world.

Appearing by video at the National First Amendment Summit on Wednesday, Rushdie attributed the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit to a “golden age myth”.

Rushdie, who was attacked in New York a little over a year ago, spoke as book bans continue to promulgate through the US. Interviewed by Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of the freedom of expression organization Pen America, Rushdie was asked what the greatest threat to free speech is today.

“If you asked me 10 or 20 years ago, I would probably have said that the main problems facing freedom of expression emanate from religious extremism,” Rushdie said.

“I think now we’re facing another old enemy, which is authoritarianism. I think there’s a real rise in authoritarian movements around the world, populist authoritarian demagoguery.

“Coupled with that, [there is] a willingness amongst at least some part of the population to cease to value the democratic values enshrined in the first amendment. So I think the problem is, I would now say, political more than primarily religious.”

MSN

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie rejects plea deal involving terrorism charge

The man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie rejected a plea deal Tuesday that would have shortened his state prison term but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge, the suspect’s lawyer said.

Hadi Matar, 26, has been held without bail since the 2022 attack, in which he is accused of stabbing Rushdie more than a dozen times and blinding him in one eye as the acclaimed writer was onstage, about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.

Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, confirmed that Matar, who lived in Fairview, New Jersey, rejected the agreement Tuesday in Mayville, New York.

The agreement would have had Matar plead guilty in Chautauqua County to attempted murder in exchange for a maximum state prison sentence of 20 years, down from 25 years. It would have also required him to plead guilty to a federal charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, which could result in an additional 20 years, attorneys said.

Rushdie, who detailed the attack and his recovery in a memoir, had spent years in hiding after the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death over Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. The author reemerged into the public the late 1990s and has traveled freely over the past two decades.

Man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie rejects plea deal involving terrorism charge

The man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie has rejected a plea deal that would have shortened his state prison term but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge.

apnews.com

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

Man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie rejects plea deal involving terrorism charge

The man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie rejected a plea deal Tuesday that would have shortened his state prison term but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge, the suspect’s lawyer said.

Hadi Matar, 26, has been held without bail since the 2022 attack, in which he is accused of stabbing Rushdie more than a dozen times and blinding him in one eye as the acclaimed writer was onstage, about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.

Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, confirmed that Matar, who lived in Fairview, New Jersey, rejected the agreement Tuesday in Mayville, New York.

The agreement would have had Matar plead guilty in Chautauqua County to attempted murder in exchange for a maximum state prison sentence of 20 years, down from 25 years. It would have also required him to plead guilty to a federal charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, which could result in an additional 20 years, attorneys said.

Rushdie, who detailed the attack and his recovery in a memoir, had spent years in hiding after the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death over Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. The author reemerged into the public the late 1990s and has traveled freely over the past two decades.

Man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie rejects plea deal involving terrorism charge

The man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie has rejected a plea deal that would have shortened his state prison term but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge.

apnews.com

It should be a life imprisonment.

 

[Bhaijaan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1871844152192749673

 

[Hitman]

Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' Returns To India After 36-Year Ban​

British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie's controversial book "The Satanic Verses" has quietly returned to India 36 years after it was banned by the Rajiv Gandhi government.

A "limited stock" of the book, which caused a furore against its author and content that was deemed blasphemous by Muslim organisations the world over, has been selling at Bahrisons Booksellers in the national capital for the past few days.

"It has been a few days since we got the book and the response has been very good so far. The sale has been good," Bahrisons Booksellers' owner Rajni Malhotra told PTI.

The book, priced at Rs 1,999, is only available at Bahrisons Booksellers stores across Delhi-NCR.

"@SalmanRushdie's The Satanic Verses is now in stock at Bahrisons Booksellers! This groundbreaking & provocative novel has captivated readers for decades with its imaginative storytelling and bold themes. It has also been at the centre of intense global controversy since its release, sparking debates on free expression, faith, & art," the bookseller said in a post on X.

Manasi Subramaniam, Editor-in-Chief, Penguin Random House India, also posted on the social media platform, quoting Rushdie.

"'Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.' At long last. @SalmanRushdie's The Satanic Verses is allowed to be sold in India after a 36-year ban. Here it is at Bahrisons Bookstore in New Delhi," she wrote.

Other bookstores, including Midland Book Shop and Om Book Shop, do not plan to import the book.

In November, the Delhi High Court closed the proceedings on a petition challenging the Rajiv Gandhi government's ban on the import of the novel, saying since authorities have failed to produce the relevant notification, it has to be "presumed that it does not exist".

The order came after government authorities failed to submit the notification dated October 5, 1988, which banned the import of the book.

"In the light of the aforesaid circumstances, we have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists, and therefore, we cannot examine the validity thereof and dispose of the writ petition as infructuous," the court said.

The book ran into trouble shortly after its publication, eventually leading to Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie and his publishers. Rushdie spent nearly 10 years in hiding in the UK and the US.

In July 1991, the novelist's Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi was killed in his office.

On August 12, 2022, Lebanese-American Hadi Matar stabbed Rushdie on stage at a lecture, leaving him blind in one eye.

Even though the book is available for purchase at Bahrisons, it evoked a mixed response from readers, especially due to its price.

Bala Sundaresan, a tech entrepreneur, who has always wanted a physical copy of the book was surprised to hear the price.

"I would rather wait some more time till an Indian print of the book is available. I was only interested in it because of the controversy that has surrounded it for decades, (I am) not really a Rushdie fan," the 33-year-old said.

Jayesh Verma, a 24-year-old Delhi University student, said it only makes sense for a collector or a "die-hard" Rushdie fan to buy the book at its current price.

"To be honest, those who wanted to read it because of all the controversy have already read it by downloading a soft copy. Anyone else who buys it for Rs 2,000 has to be a collector or a die-hard fan," he said.

However, some like literature student Rashmi Chatterjee plan to buy the book for "its place in India's literary history".

"You can't ignore the book, let alone its literary merit. It should be bought solely for being an argument against censorship. It marks a critical point in India's literary history," the 22-year-old said.​

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Link: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/sal...es-returns-to-india-after-36-year-ban-7328796

 

[RexRex]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1871844152192749673

When did the govt lift the ban and how did it not become news ? I think the bookstore will likely be taken to court, if something bad doesn't happen to it first.

 

[rpant_gabba]

When did the govt lift the ban and how did it not become news ? I think the bookstore will likely be taken to court,

https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/salman-rushdie-satanic-verses-india-ban-lifted-37years-124122500394_1.html#goog_rewarded

Ban on 'The Satanic Verses' lifted​

In November 2024, the Delhi High Court, while hearing a 2019 petition challenging the import ban, was informed by the government that the 1988 notification imposing the restriction was “untraceable.” On 5 November, the court declared that in the absence of the required documentation, there was no legal basis to uphold the prohibition.

if something bad doesn't happen to it first.

Sounds like a wish.

 

[RexRex]

Sounds like a wish.

No book should be banned. I remember the wordwide hit 'da vinci code 2003' was banned by the Manmohan Singh government after christians protested. Somebody should challenge that in court too.

 

[rpant_gabba]

No book should be banned. I remember the wordwide hit 'da vinci code 2003' was banned by the Manmohan Singh government after christians protested. Somebody should challenge that in court too.

Indian "secularism" in action.

 

[rpant_gabba]

Sorry but Muslims will not become tolerant in the matter of their Prophet the way the west wants them to become, so don’t poke the bear knowingly. They don’t ask or expect the public/media to mock Christian or mosaic prophets, religious figures. So they shouldn’t be expected to be equally tolerant in the matter that hurts/concerns them the most.

FULL STOP

Then rant about islamophobia and seek protection under the same western laws which allow freedom of speech to ridicule religions and religious figures.

Taqqiya at it best