Salman Rushdie Attacked Onstage : The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

You may have read in the news that British-American novelist Salman Rushdie was the victim of a vicious attack on Friday 12^th August 2022. While speaking onstage at a New York event, he was ambushed by a young man and stabbed several times in the face, neck and torso.

What would cause such a reaction? Rushdie has long been a controversial author, and in the 1980s, mass censorship saw his titles join the ranks of banned books worldwide. Who is Salman Rushdie and why is he so contentious?  

Born in Mumbai in 1947, Rushdie’s father was a self-described ‘Scholar of Islam’ but lacked any sort of religious faith. Thus, Rushdie grew up exposed to Islamic culture at home but with permission to question what he felt, read, learned and saw.   

The publication in 1981 of Midnights Children was a literary turning point. The novel follows a child born at the stroke of midnight on the day India gained independence from British colonial rule. It won the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and brought him fame.

His 1998 second novel The Satanic Verses went on to win him another Booker Prize. A fictional retelling of the life of the Prophet Mohammed, it combines history and magical realism with modern events. Although well received in the west, it enraged sections of the Islamic world.

Accused of blasphemy, insulting the Prophet Muhammed, and portraying the religion as an ignorant one, Rushdie found his novel the subject of book burnings. In 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa against him.

Fatwa does not officially mean death sentence, more a way to seek answers though a legal process. Interpretation differs but one thing remains, being under fatwa is not safe. Rushdie was forced into hiding for over a decade and the fatwa was never officially lifted.

It may come as no surprise that the tragic event Rushdie was orating at was on the subject of Free Speech. Some commentators believe that authors and artists like Rushdie exploit the basic idea of free speech to mock and condemn Muslim belief systems.  

Rushdie continues to be a popular voice in literary circles, releasing 8 novels since The Satanic Verses and dozens of titles for children, and was knighted in 2007 for his accomplishments. He has been taken off a ventilator and is recovering from his horrific ordeal.

His family have thanked first responders for jumping to his aid and said in spite of the pain he has retained his 'feisty and defiant sense of humour'. The road to recovery for the critically acclaimed author has begun.

Proof that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.