Khomeini Calls for Rushdie’s Death
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Arts and Culture Series
- Categories: Literature, Publishing, Religion, Ethics, Terrorism
- Subcategories: Authors, Writers, Novelists, Short Story Writers, Islam, Muslims, Mosques, Censorship
- Curriculum: 20th & 21st Century European History, Middle Eastern History
- Geographical Location: Middle East, London, Iran
- Date: February 14, 1989
Article abstract: Novelist Salman Rushdie’s 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses led Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to sentence him to death, forcing the novelist into hiding and renewing debate over writers’ freedom of speech.
Summary of Event
Although born into a Muslim family in India that later moved to Pakistan, Rushdie’s encounters with Islamic orthodoxy, together with his prolonged stay in the West, led him to give up his faith. He thus came to have what he called a “God-shaped hole” inside him, one that he tried to fill with...
[The entire page is 2665 words long]
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