PA Vasudevan
sight
August 22, 2022 5:30 am
“Your writing or your neck” is a pertinent question. The neck has always been the price to pay for writing. This was true until last Friday, when New Jersey man Hadi Mater stabbed Salman Rushdie in the neck as he began to preach on a New York lecture stage. This truth will not stop here. Those who oppose it today may face the same tomorrow if someone else speaks against their beliefs. This combination of scenes will remain unchanged as long as human intolerance exists. Salman Rushdie is the current victim. Hadi Mater is very young. Perhaps he realized his life’s mission at this age. Rushdie himself wrote that old people pour their poison into childhood and youth. The intolerances of old age make them poison vessels.
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Salman’s greatest sin was writing a novel called ‘The Satanic Verses’. The theme, production and style of the novel must have offended the faith of a large section. We must know that no deep faith is capable of being offended. Opposition has always traveled with faith and prophethood. This was the experience of Muhammad, Jesus, Gandhiji and writers from every part of the world. Greatness and prophethood have always faced threats, harassment and even murder. But time has swept away the objections and the detractors and brought out the greatness. It is their words that we learn and try to take care of, even if we cannot follow them. Only their footprints can be seen in the old ways that many people have passed.
Salman Rushdie himself writes “What is freedom of expression? Without the right to protest, freedom is lost”. It is that belief that Rushdie tried to reveal through his novel. As mentioned earlier, Rushdie is not the only person who made this happen. There are writers who have done it more keenly than he. They did it by breaking the existing system and beliefs. Even then there were intolerant people. Creativity has had to accept their persecution. Now the writer of Indian origin is Salman Rushdie.
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In 1988, Rushdie’s book ‘Satanic Versus’ burst onto the market and became the focus of a widespread revolt. Believers came against it accusing it of blasphemy. The alleged crime was blasphemy. Guardians of all religions are always ready to undertake such tasks. In 1989, the head of Iran’s religious administration, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa against Rushdie. And an attractive reward for those who kill him. It has been three and a half decades. Rushdie was physically fit. Contact with the outside world has ended. He has only recently come to the public stage. He also did not come to the writers’ conference in Jaipur, India. On February 12, 1989, six people were shot dead in a riot in Islamabad. There was a demonstration against the sale of this book in the US. Twelve people were shot dead in a protest in Mumbai on February 24 of the same year. The riots continued unabated in many places.
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In London, boards were placed in front of the bookshops of the publisher of this book. In 1991, Etolo Capriola, its Italian translator, was stabbed to death in his apartment in Milan by a man claiming to be an Iranian national. Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi stabbed to death in Tokyo. The assailant could not be found. In the meantime this book has reached people in many languages. Nations also know that wounds do not heal when it comes to religion. Many countries including India have banned this book. Objected to this without reading the book. As a matter of custom, Iran, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Thailand, Tanzania, Indonesia, Singapore, Venezuela, South Africa and countless other countries have banned Rushdie’s book. Even the opposition in India did not say anything against this ban. Due to opposition from some Muslim groups, Rushdie was unable to attend the literary festival in Jaipur. There were also widespread and global protests against his awarding of ‘nethood’ by the British Queen.
He once said some things in a speech. ‘I don’t like any book pointing fingers at me and telling me what to think. No novel likes speeches. I love creating a space. The reader must be in that space. You must engage the reader. What happens next is the greatest driving force in literature.’
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Iran, meanwhile, has denied its country’s role in the assassination attempt. They are also confused about the reason behind this. But this punishment was taken by Rushdie and deserved by many. ‘I don’t know Rushdie,’ said a man on a street in Iran’s capital from beneath a statue of Ayatollah Khomeini. But he insulted Islam’. A local newspaper captioned a picture of Rushdie on a stretcher: ‘Salman on the road to hell.’
Salman’s current physical condition is not known. There were reports that he was in critical condition. Such incidents will continue from time to time in all countries. Because everywhere there are people and intolerances that overwhelm them. It has no religious-national differences. That is the knowledge given by Taslima Nasrin’s book ‘Homeless’. Pastor Nake’s experience is no different. Kerala witnessed the experience of the ‘Sixth Ascension of Christ’. The memories of Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi remain unsettled even today. Dr. It was the Hendava intensity that made UR Ananthamurthy unable to leave.
These are small stories. The stories of human grudges are endless. The current story is Salman’s.