Reaction in Pakistan and Iran to the knighting of Salman Rushdie has not been celebratory.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini has said: ‘Honouring and commending an apostate and hated figure will definitely put the British officials [in a position] of confrontation with Islamic societies.’
We beg to differ.
The wealth of his literature aside, it might also be pointed out that the 'Sir'-ing of Salman Rushdie goes some way to cancelling out an insult done to all moderates by a knighting in the Queen’s birthday honours list two years ago. It was on that occasion that Iqbal Sacranie, former head of the Muslim Council of Britain, was awarded a knighthood.
‘Sir’ Iqbal had of course distinguished himself at the time of the Satanic Verses crisis by stating publicly that:
‘Attempting to insult the blessed prophet, peace be upon him, is the most serious crime in the eyes of Islamic law. The crime is considered as transgressing the limits and is worse than treason and is a capital offence.’
This culminated in Sacranie’s famously unguarded statement on Rushdie’s fate that:
‘Death, perhaps, is a bit too easy for him...his mind must be tormented for the rest of his life unless he asks for forgiveness to Almighty Allah.'
The unfortunate award of a knighthood to Iqbal Sacranie has finally been in some measure atoned for. And in any case, contra Mr Hosseini, surely calling for a fellow Muslim to be killed is more 'confrontational' than writing a novel which most people never made it to the end of?
I aagee with your comments However I am surprised and disappointed that you have not responded in any way to the report from the Commission on integration and Cohesion.
You now have an pportunity to rectify this.