Written by: Nihal Abu Al-Saud
Tuesday, February 07, 2023 12:02 PM
Author Salman Rushdie said in his first interview, following being stabbed on a stage in upstate New York with The New Yorker, that he was grateful to the people who showed support for him and the emergency workers who responded following his attack.
“I’m lucky… what I really want to say is that my main feeling is gratitude,” Rushdie said. “At some point, I’d like to go back out there and say thank you.”
Rushdie was stabbed in the neck before giving a talk at an education center in eastern New York in August, sustained serious injuries and had to be put on a ventilator. Hadi Matar, a New Jersey man, was charged with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault in the attack. August.
Rushdie, who is still recovering from his injuries, said in an interview with The New Yorker that he still needed “constant checkups” and that he might not write well as a result of his injuries: “There were nightmares not only the accident.. I’m fine. I’m able to get up and walk around. When I say I’m fine, I mean, there are parts of my body that need checks.” It was a massive attack.”
When asked what he thought of Matar, the man who attacked him, Rushdie said, “I don’t know what to think of him, because I don’t know him.”
He continued, “All I’ve seen is his idiotic interview in the New York Post, which only an idiot would do. I know the trial is still far away. It might not happen until late next year. I guess I’ll know more regarding him following that,” Matar was interviewed from prison with The New York Post reported shortly following the attack and said he was “surprised” that Rushdie had survived.
And he thinks Salman Rushdie is now writing an essay regarding the attack in a sequel to his book Joseph Anton, A Third-Person Memoir published in 2012. He said it probably wouldn’t be written in the third person, and said, “I think when somebody grabs a knife and sticks it in your body that’s a story of Personal perspective, this is my story.
According to the Associated Press, Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses”, which has been banned in Iran since 1988, sparked great controversy. A year later, the late Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, in which he called for Rushdie’s death and a reward of more than 3 Millions of dollars for whoever kills him.
