Hadi Matar, who has recently been accused of stabbing writer Salman Rushdie in New York, said he only read two pages of his book The Satanic Lives and admitted he was surprised by Rushdie’s survival.
Matar, 24, a Lebanese-American, said in a video interview with the New York Post from behind bars in the Chautauqua County Jail where he is being held for attempted murder and assault that he read two pages of Rushdie’s controversial book: I Haven’t Read the Whole Book from the Cover to the core.”
Rushdie, 75, was attacked on stage Friday as he was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute.
Police say he received at least 10 stab wounds and sustained liver damage, severing nerves in his arm and eye.
It is noteworthy that his novel The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, caused much controversy and some Muslims considered the novel offensive to the prophet Muhammad. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa on the shedding of Rushdie’s blood.
Rushdie, an atheist born in India to non-practicing Muslim parents, was forced into hiding after a financial reward was given to whoever killed him, which is still in place.
The British government placed Rushdie under police protection in the United Kingdom, and his translators and publishers were killed or attempted to kill.
In 1991, the Japanese Hitoshi Igarashi was stabbed to death, who translated his book The Satanic Verses.
Rushdie remained hidden for about ten years, changed residence several times, and was unable to tell his children where to live.
Rushdie did not resume his public appearances until the late 1990s, after Iran said it did not support his assassination.
Source: The Independent + RT