Fatwa in Chautaqua – by Jeff Eager – Oregon Roundup

The blasphemy and sacrilege begat riots by Muslims around the world, including in London, where Rushdie lived. Ayatollah Khomeini, then Iran s Supreme Leader, issued a fatwa (i.e., more or less, edict – more on that in a bit) calling for the killing of Rushdie.

Khomeini condemned Rushdie, as well as his editors and publishers in any language, to death. He called on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be to go out and kill all of them without delay so that no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth. Whoever is killed in this cause will be a martyr and ascend instantly to heaven. Tehran offered a reward that eventually grew to more than three million dollars.

And kill they did. The Japanese translator of Verses was killed in 1991; the Italian translator was stabbed soon after; the Norwegian published was shot in 1993. That same year, Islamist protesters in Turkey torched the hotel occupied by a man who planned to translate the novel into Turkish. The man escaped but 37 others died in the fire.

Post-fatwa, Rushdie himself went into hiding for 10 years, under protection from the British government. His then-wife has said that the couple moved 56 times in the first few months after the fatwa was issued. Over time, the threat appeared to dissipate and Rushdie assumed a more normal life. He moved to New York City in 2000, and obtained his U.S. citizenship in 2016.

But the threat persisted. Last Friday, Rushdie was preparing to give a talk at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York when he was attacked and stabbed 15 times on stage. As of this writing, Rushdie, after some time on a ventilator, is breathing on his own, but suffers from liver and nerve damage suffered in the attack. He is likely to lose an eye.

via oregonroundup.substack.com

I had forgotten this if I ever knew it.