From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair

Speaker:
Kenan Malik

Chair:
Amol Rajan

This year is the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses, which led to one of the most famous free speech controversies of modern times. Deemed offensive to Muslims because of its portrayal of the prophet Mohammed, the book provoked large demonstrations by British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, some of who publicly burned copies of the book. The book was banned in India, and in February 1989 the Ayatollah of Iran issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's head. As a result, The Satanic Verses became a totem of the battle for free expression across the world.

Today, the controversy continues to illuminate not so much a clash of civilisations as fault lines within the West itself. The response to the fatwa first revealed many anxieties familiar in contemporary debates about identity and 'social cohesion'. In particular, the spectre of multiculturalism has haunted the book's wider reception. Many believe that home-grown terrorism is proof that policies designed to quell discontent and minimise social atomisation, have achieved the opposite effects.

The journey from the Ayatollah's fatwa to self-directed jihad waged by a small sect of British Muslims is complex. What does the Rushdie affair really tell us about the origins of radical Islam? And does the West still have an appetite for intellectual freedom?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• battle
• ideas
• institute
• politics
• debate
• 2008
• books
• Islam
• multiculturalism