
Salman Rushdie and the fatwa
The story of how Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses led to a call for his killing
The Real Story · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
The Indian-born British writer Salman Rushdie was recently stabbed on stage at an event in New York state more than three decades after Iran issued a fatwa calling for his assassination. He is currently recovering in hospital. The novelist spent years in hiding after his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, prompted accusations of blasphemy. So why did a novel provoke such an strong reaction? Ritula Shah looks back at the story of the author, the book and the fatwa.