Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c10.s8.80

c10.s8.80

⁷² Nine years have passed since the fatwa (religious ruling) was issued by Iran's late spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini months before his death. The fatwa condemned Salman Rushdie to death for alleged blasphemy against Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses. It said that any Muslim in a position to kill the author had a duty to do so. After this many rewards were announced for the killing. On its ninth anniversary the British Foreign Secretary wrote to the Government of Iran for revocation of the fatwa. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi said a fatwa issued by a supreme religious jurisprudent is irrevocable and will remain so throughout history, The Times of India, New Delhi, 16 February 1998.