Author Salman Rushdie Recovering After Attack

Controversial author, public speaker, and icon of free speech, Mr. Salman Rushdie was attacked in the town of Chautauqua, New York while on stage on Friday, August 12th. The 75-year-old who has courted controversy throughout his long career remains in hospital but is expected to recover from his wounds. The international figure was participating in a panel of guest speakers when an assailant stormed the stage. According to reports, he plunged a knife into Mr. Rushdie's neck and abdomen before beings subdued by a state trooper and local sheriff's deputy present at the scene.

Controversy and fatwa
Mr. Rushdie won the Booker prize for his novel Midnight’s Children in 1981 but shot to international infamy in 1988 with his book The Satanic Verses. This latter publication is arguably the most controversial book of our time and caused Mr. Rushdie to be the recipient of a fatwa from the then Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.The term fatwa at the time was an obscure one and although its literal meaning is a legal ruling based upon Islamic law delivered by a qualified jurist, the term became synonymous in Western nations with a death penalty.

At the time of publication, due to Mr. Rushdie's literary fame and position as a fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, the book caused an immediate and intense reaction. It was banned in 13 countries with large Islamic communities and caused mass demonstrations in liberal democracies where it was not. Although not entirely happy with the political crisis caused by Mr. Rushdie, the British government chose to support him and offered him round-the-clock protection as well as the option to go into hiding for as long as the fatwa would remain in place.

Years of hiding
For nearly a decade following the fatwa, attempts on his life, mass book burnings, and attacks on those publishing his works, Mr. Rushdie went into hiding. The threat to his life was very real and was periodically re-iterated by the authorities in Iran. A bounty of $2 million was put on his life prompting both the religious and the irreligious to speculate as to his whereabouts. The first attempt was made in 1989, just one year after the book's publication. Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died while preparing a bomb in a hotel in central London destined for Rushdie.

Conversion to Islam
In the early days of the controversy, Rushdie was defiant and in an interview on BBC Radio 4, when questioned about the threat to his life he said, "I wish I had written a more critical book," adding, “It's not true that this book is a blasphemy against Islam. I doubt very much that Khomeini or anyone else in Iran has read the book or more than selected extracts out of context." 

Return to public life
In the early years of hiding the mystery as to where Salman Rushdie was located was a closely guarded secret. He would occasionally show up via satellite link or at a book festival at the last minute. In one of his more notable appearances, he was invited by U2 frontman, Irish rocker Bono to come onstage with the band while they were performing at Wembley Stadium on August 11th, 1993. 

It was on the 11th that the writer finally decided to appear to the surprise of everyone, including the band members. The reaction from the audience was explosive with nothing but support for the banned writer and after this appearance, he was given a backstage pass which he then apparently used as often as possible. In subsequent years diplomatic relations between Iran and the UK have been restored and in 1998 former president of Iran, Mohammed Khatami announced that the fatwa was "finished". Despite this Iranian religious leaders continue to reaffirm the judgment and increase the bounty for his death.

Alleged attacker

Hadi Matar is a 24-year-old man from New Jersey who protests his innocence in the face of accusations that he attempted to kill Mr. Rushdie on Friday, August 12th. According to his mother, Silvan Fardos, the young man was radicalized during a visit to his father in Lebanon in 2018. Ms. Fardos claims that her son was a normal, outgoing person before he visited the Middle East but then subsequently became angry, introverted, and resentful that she had not raised him according to Islamic principles. Despite staying only 28 days in the country his mother claims that the transformation was complete and that he shut her out of his life since his return. Nevertheless, she was as shocked as everyone else when she heard the news and has now disowned her son.

Recovering well

Mr. Rushdie was airlifted to the hospital after the attack on Friday and underwent several hours of surgery before his condition was pronounced to be stable. According to reports he was placed on a ventilator and although conscious was unable to speak to family or the press. Although his life is no longer in danger his publicist says that the news is not good and that Mr. Rushdie will lose one eye, and that his liver and nerves in his arm were damaged in the attack.