AN INTERACTION

AN INTERACTION Other scholars who remained silent on the matter could also be considered indirect supporters of the fatwa since their silence implies indirect support in such cases. I firmly expressed my complete disagreement with this fatwa, considering it both unlawful and un-Islamic. Here is a summary of what I conveyed to them on this matter: “Ayatollah Khomeini issued a call for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, the author of ‘The Satanic Verses.’ Many Sunni scholars, either directly or indirectly, have endorsed this call. However, from an Islamic standpoint, this is unequivocally incorrect. 1. Why did Muslims demand the killing of Salman Rushdie? The general reason cited is that he committed blasphemy against the Prophet and Islam. Salman Rushdie’s book portrays certain “events” in a fictional manner, such as the story of the false accusation involving Hazrat Ayesha (the wife of the Prophet) and Safwan bin Muattal. These stories are old narratives, and Salman Rushdie did not invent them. He incorporated these incidents into his novel in a fictionalized form. Since the actual originators of these stories were not subjected to the death penalty by the Prophet of Islam, why should the author of ‘Satanic Verses,’ who merely repeated them, be punished with death? 2. When Islam prescribes punishment for a crime, it does not imply that any individual can take it upon himself to implement it in an ad hoc manner. In Islam, every punishment is a judicial punishment.