In 1989, Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses caused Iran’s supreme leader to issue a fatwa that contained a death warrant. However, fatwa does not directly mean a religious order to kill.
14:11•Updated 16:45
Writer stabbed on Friday Salman Rushdie has lived much of his life in hiding since becoming Iran’s Ayatollah as supreme religious leader Khomeini in 1989 issued a fatwa related to him.
He called on Muslims to kill Rushdie because he considered his work The Satanic Verses to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
A fatwa is often translated to mean a religious order to kill, although directly it is not.
A fatwa is an Islamic religious scholar’s answer to a question put to him. Any Muslim can ask for a position on, for example, a very personal problem. The answer can also be intended only for him or, for example, for the judges.
Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila tells that a fatwa in Islam is the opinion of a religious scholar on a question put to him. The question can be practically anything, for example, can a Muslim use gelatin in baking.
– Ayatollah Khomeini commented after the publication of The Satanic Verses that, in his opinion, Rushdie has renounced the Islamic faith, on the basis of which he can be killed, says Hämeen-Anttila.
Why did Salman Rushdie get a fatwa?
Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, angered some Islamic scholars as it was considered blasphemous.
In the case of Rushdie, the content of the fatwa was a kill order.
Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila says that other religious scholars have also issued fatwas that forbid killing Rushdie. However, they have not received as much appreciation as Khomeini’s fatwa. There are two reasons for this.
– Khomeini was the most respected religious leader of his time. The fatwas he gave had the most meaning. Second, after his fatwa, an Islamic foundation also promised a bounty to Rushdie’s killer. A couple of years ago, it was at least theoretically valid. The ransom money was about a couple of million dollars.
Khomeini’s successor, the current supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khameneireported in 2005 that the fatwa given to Rushdie was still in effect.
How has the fatwa affected Rushdie’s life?
After the fatwa was issued in 1989, Rushdie and his then-wife went into hiding. They moved more than 50 times in five months and were always accompanied by an armed security guard.
Rushdie lived in hiding throughout the 1990s.
However, Rushdie has preferred to live a relatively open life in recent years. He has lived since 2000 in Manhattan, New York City.
One person has been arrested in connection with Friday’s attack on Rushdie. New York authorities said Saturday afternoon that the suspect is a supporter of the Shiite extremist movement and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the IRGC.
Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila thinks it’s special that a 33-year-old fatwa, which has already been largely forgotten, still makes someone act like this.
– The surprise is also indicated by security measures, which apparently have hardly existed in practice. I would also find it very surprising if there was someone other than this person carrying out the kill order.
Iranian leaders have not yet commented on the incident, but the attacker has been praised in the country’s ultra-conservative newspapers.
– Bravo to this brave and dutiful man who attacked this renegade, declared Kayhan newspaper, according to Reuters news agency.
According to Reuters, Lahti’s chief editor is Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran.
The story was updated on 13.8. at 16:15: Added Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila’s comments.