It comes as no surprise that al Qaeda number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, has condemned the British and threatened retribution on them for conferring knighthood on Salmon Rushdie. Rushdie first raised ire in the Islamic world with the publication of The Satanic Verses, a book I found difficult to wade through. It requires massive suspension of disbelief and its language can be confusing, and while I won't say I've given up it, let's just say I'm still wading.
At any rate, when the book was first published Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of Rushdie and offering a million dollars or so to anybody who would kill him. According to Khomeini the book was an insult to Islam, but it was never clear just what was insulting.
The work is clearly perceived as offensive to Islam, but what exactly is regarded as insulting has not been spelled out.
The Iranian Government condemned the book as ''a dirty conspiracy'' against Islam and urged followers of Ayatollah Khomeini around the world to take action against it.
As a result of the fatwa Rushdie gained instant worldwide notoriety and his book sold millions, but it drove Rushdie into hiding. He took the threat seriously. As for the book, at least one Amazon Reviewer of the Satanic Verses shared my take on it. Reviewer Mark said,
I truly believe this is a book that would be more interesting if one increased their medication level way past the recommended daily dosage.
I never bothered to read the thing back when it first came out, even though I was often highly medicated on draught beer. I expected the book to be just as reviewer Mark described. And since I would often say as much, the fatwa being such a hot topic of conversation, I was somewhat surprised when a friend of mine asked me if I'd heard about Mr. Rushdie's plans for a sequel. I rolled my eyes. He said, "No kidding. He's coming out with a sequel to Satanic Verses. He's calling it 'Buddha, You Fat Fuck'."
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