Update [June 19, 2007]: Rushdie knighthood ‘justifies suicide attacks’:
The award of a knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie justifies suicide attacks, a Pakistani government minister said today.
“This is an occasion for the 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision,” Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, told the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad. “The west is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologises and withdraws the ‘sir’ title.”
Someone should kick their ass and tell these assholes that nothing justifies suicide attacks. If they are so much repulsed by Salman Rushdie or what he has written in his book, they should come up with a counter book. They should write their own version of The Satanic Verses and let the world know what was wrong with the original book. But then that’s a tougher task than blowing up people. Any moron can blow himself or the others up.
Update ends
Salman Rushdie has been knighted. And Iran obviously has a problem with that. Ah! The Muslims of the world have been downright insulted.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the decision to grant Britain’s highest honor to Rushdie, who wrote the controversial novel “The Satanic Verses,” was an insult to the Muslim world.
“Awarding a person who is among the most detested characters in the Islamic society is obvious proof of anti-Islamism by ranking British officials,” said Hosseini during his weekly press conference.
Calling him “Sir Salman Rushdie” seems strange as he has always sounded sort of anti-establishment. It makes you sad when your idol is blemished, tarnished by colonial titles and he feels proud of it:
“I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honor, and am very grateful that my work has been recognized in this way,” Rushdie said in a statement.
Salman Rushdie is about to turn 60. I’m sure (or I think I’m sure) he would have politely refused the title, although “honored all the same”, had he been in his 30s or 40s. By the age of 60 such titles and nomenclatures begin to matter.
My natural reaction was “Yikes!”, but then I thought, this is a country’s way of appreciating a person’s contribution to a particular field, literature in this case. But the problem is, the person permanently becomes “Sir”. You are always Sir This and Sir That and by the dint of this “Sirness”, you are always tied to a British title. This is something that nags me. For instance, I agree to what this link says:
Britain has an absurd, out-dated, elitist, imperial, patronising and hugely loved and revered honours system. Twice a year or so, the Queen publishes a list of the great and not so great who have been awarded what is technically known as a gong – a peerage, a knighthood and various forms of orders, medals and companions of the British Empire. The liberal establishment tends to sneer and there’s probably a real element of honours in exchange for political favours delivered – and even sometimes the sniff of money playing a part. But nonetheless, the recipients – the real ones who deserve their recognition – by and large appreciate it.
You can read a small profile of his illustrious writing career at the BBC website.
More links on Salman Rushdie being knighted:
- Britain defends knighthood as criticism grows
- The Salmanic Verses: Knighthood For Salman Rushdie
- Salman Rushdie: from fatwa recluse to knighted socialite
- Congratulations, Sir Salman
[tags]salman rushdie, salman rushdie knighted, salman rushdie honoured, sir salman rushdie[/tags]
