How Salman Rushdie lived in the shadow of a fatwa for 30 years: The British author went into hiding when Iran’s spiritual leader ordered he be killed for ‘blasphemous’ Satanic verses, but before his stabbing he was living a ‘normal life’ in New York
- Salman Rushdie was stabbed to death on stage in New York more than 30 years after the series The Satanic Verses
- Iran’s theocratic dictatorship forced him into hiding after accusing him of blasphemy and issuing a fatwa
- The regime called on Muslims to murder Rushdie and anyone involved in its publication
- Sir Salman lived in the shadow of the fatwa, with safe houses, permanent armed guards and a new identity
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Salman Rushdie was stabbed on the stage in New York, more than 30 years after Iran’s theocratic dictatorship first forced him into hiding when it called out all Muslims, the celebrated author and anyone involved in the publication of The Satanic Verse was involved in murdering.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, accused the British writer of blasphemy and issued a fatwa in February 1989 demanding his death.
Rushdie was forced into hiding for more than nine years – until the fatwa was lifted by the Iranian regime in 1998 – with ever-changing safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity. His pseudonym, Joseph Anton, was a combination of the first names of two of his favorite writers – Conrad and Chekhov. He was known simply as Joe to his 24/7 bodyguards.
The fatwa also led to the assassination of the book’s Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, and to worldwide riots and book burnings, while The Satanic Verses themselves were banned in many countries.
Speaking of the controversy with the Mail, Sir Salman said: “Being under the fatwa was a prison but I think one of the problems is that it looked glamorous from the outside as I sometimes turned up in jags at places where people were jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. Looks who the hell he thinks he is? Well, it felt like a prison from my side.
“There was this crude argument that somehow I did it for personal gain, to gain publicity or to make money. The worst accusation I received from the Islamic side was that the Jews had forced me to do it. You said mine [second] wife was Jewish. It wasn’t her, she was American.
“If I just wanted to trade an insult to Islam, I could have done it in one sentence instead of writing a 250,000 word novel, a fiction.”
Sir Salman Rushdie holds a copy of The Satanic Verses during a press conference in Arlington in 1992
Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi
“What you need to remember is that The Satanic Verses isn’t called Islam the Prophet, it’s not called Muhammad, the land isn’t called Arabia – it all happens in the dream of someone losing their mind.”
What still shocks him is that no radical Muslims in Britain who supported the call for his assassination have ever been prosecuted.
“There were these occasions, like in Manchester, where Muslim leaders said to their community, ‘Tell me who in this audience would be willing to kill Rushdie?’ and everyone in the audience put their hands up. And the police were fine with that.”
He says, “Suppose I was the queen and an imam said to his congregation, ‘Who would be willing to kill the queen?’ and everyone raised their hand. Do you think the police wouldn’t act?
“I’m just using the Queen as an example to dramatize this, but it seems odd that it could have happened with impunity when it’s a writer of foreign origin and therefore in some ways not fully British.”
Rushdie recalls the split from his wife Marianne as a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA knew of Rushdie’s whereabouts and that his cover was blown. When he realized she was lying, he decided to end the relationship.
People rushed to the author’s aid after the attack in New York, the motive is currently unknown
“It was very shocking. There was just a point at which I had to decide whether I wanted to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with no one to keep me company, or whether I had to somehow come to terms with this person who was difficult to trust to have.
“It was horrific to be told by a police officer that you think your wife is lying to you. It’s an experience most of us don’t have. And then to say that it’s the police that’s to blame and that I shouldn’t trust them, kind of triggers a mindf*** and I had to make my judgement.
“It became impossible for me to believe in their truthfulness. So in the end I thought it was better to break up.”
In an interview three years ago he said: “Islam was not a thing. Nobody thought so. One of the things that has happened is that people in the West are better informed than they used to be.”
He added ruefully: “I was 41 then, now I’m 71. Everything is fine now. We live in a world where things change very quickly. And this is a very old topic. There are now many other things to fear – and other people to kill.