His book was banned in 45 Islamic countries, with hundreds of British Muslims endorsing the death sentence
Sir Salman Rushdie has forfeited his home, freedom, marriage and peace of mind due to his controversial writings. The 75-year-old Indian-born British author, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was stabbed on stage in New York state on Friday, with his current condition in hospital unclear.
The Satanic Verses was banned in 45 Islamic countries, with hundreds of British Muslims endorsing the death sentence. The author was regularly moved from house to house by round-the-clock Special Branch officers in an attempt to keep one step ahead of would-be assassins – with 56 moves in the first three months alone.
Shame, based around the intricacies of Pakistani politics, followed two years later, confirming his reputation as the founder of a new genre, Anglo-Indian “magic realism”, with his own school of stylistic imitators. His 11-year marriage to Clarissa Luard, with whom he had a son, Zafar, ended in divorce in 1987.
In March 1989, two men hunting Rushdie and travelling on forged Moroccan passports were stopped at Santander in Spain en route to Plymouth. Five months later, a man blew himself up in a Paddington hotel room while making a bomb with military plastic explosive. A note to a French newspaper the next day said he died “preparing an attack on the apostate SR”.
Sir Salman, by then 51, acknowledged there was still a degree of threat. However he stressed he had no regrets about the book, adding: “There’s not a chance in hell of the book being withdrawn. We have not fought this battle for freedom of speech to give in at the last moment.”
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