Indian clerics condemn Rushdie knighthood decision
Top Muslim clerics in India said today that the British government had offended Muslims all over the world by conferring a knighthood on novelist Salman Rushdie.
A grouping of several Muslim organisations including the Islamic Centre of India, All India Sunni Board and Ulema Council of India also sent a joint statement condemning the decision to the British High Commission in the capital New Delhi yesterday. The Ulema Council of India, the top body of Muslim clerics, said that the decision to honour the Indian-born author was a reflection of the anti-Islamic mind-set of the British government.
“Salman Rushdie is a detested figure among Muslims. The British government has hurt Muslim feelings by honouring a person, who is facing fatwa for blasphemous writings,” Maulana Abul Hasan of the Ulema council said.
In 1989, Iran’s then-spiritual leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa or religious edict ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie for his book, The Satanic Verses.
