Muslim Cleric Deplores Attack On Salman Rushdie

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, a senior member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Saturday denounced the attack on controversial writer Salman Rushdie.

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Lucknow: Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, a senior member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Saturday while denouncing the attack on controversial writer Salman Rushdie said that no one has the right to take the law into his hand. Salman Rushdie, who faced death threats for years from Islamists after writing “The Satanic Verses” in the 1980s, was attacked on Friday by a 24-year-old man at an event in western New York who stormed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and began stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced.

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali said Prophet Mohammed always gave the message of peace. “Hence, the Muslims should take the path shown by Him,” he said.

The chairman of the All-India Shia Personal Law Board Maulana Saem Mehdi, said, “Three decades ago Shia cleric and leader Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa against Rushdie. So, it would be inappropriate for any other member of the Shia community to give views on it.”

Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania where the 75-year-old writer underwent surgery. The writer has also won the Booker Prize for his novel “Midnight’s Children”. Rushdie was on a ventilator with a damaged liver and may lose one of his eyes.

(With agency inputs)