Sir Salman Rushdie

 

Salman Rushdie (born Ahmed Salman Rushdie, on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India) Salman is an Indian-born British essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. He grew up in Mumbai (then Bombay) attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Rugby School in Warwickshire, then King's College, Cambridge in England. Following an advertising career with Ayer Barker, he became a full-time writer.

His narrative style, blending myth and fantasy with real life, has been described as magic realism. In 2004, Rushdie married for the fourth time, this time to prominent Indian model and actress Padma Lakshmi.

He is best known for the violent criticism his book The Satanic Verses (1988) inspired in radical Muslims. After death threats and a fatwa calling for his assassination, he spent years underground, appearing in public only sporadically. He is still under supervision by the British Secret Services and has constant bodyguards. Salman Rushdie is still, technically, a wanted man. There are still several indictments pending against him in various Middle Eastern countries.

Rushdie's notorious friendships with occult groups and group members such as Anton LaVey and book shows at popular occult gatherings has linked him to occult activity. In various interviews Rushdie has professed to practicing occcult activites including alchemy. This seemed to only fuel the fire of media and critics. His accusations and critical comments regarding the fatwa later made him a marked man in the Muslim community. Rushdie has made statements to defend his book but still many in the Muslim community consider him a wanted man. Famous people in the Muslim community stepped out in defense of their Muslim faith to protect their image.

After the death of Khomeini, the Iranian Government publicly committed itself in 1998 not to carry out the death sentence against Rushdie. This was agreed to in the context of a larger deal between Iran and the UK to normalise relations. Rushdie afterward declared that he would stop living in hiding. Some believe that the fatwa died with the Ayatolla, but some fundamentalist Islamic media allegedly stated:

"The responsibility for carrying out the fatwa is not the exclusive responsibility of Iran. It is the religious duty of all Muslims – those who have the ability or the means – to carry it out. It does not require any reward. In fact, those who carry out this edict in hopes of a monetary reward are acting against Islamic injunctions."