Bin Laden Crowned in response to British Knighthood

By Amin George Forji

The dust over the controversy surrounding the British decision to knight Indian born writer, Salman Rushdie is yet to settle. The 60-years old Rushdie’s 1984 book, The Satanic Verses, seriously outraged Muslims the world-over who considered the publication to be blasphemous.

On Thursday, June 21, 2007, a group of Pakistani Muslim clerics, known as the Pakistan Ulema Council announced that if the Knighthood is not revoked, it will retaliate by knighting the world’s mot wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden with the religious title of “Saifullah,” translated to mean “The Sword of Allah”.

Rushdie’s crime and fame both come from his controversial fourth novel “The Satanic Verses” (1988). As whimsical as the tale was, Rushdie’s tale which was a mere re-telling of an old legend in a fictional form, depicted many verses in the Qu’ran as not only misleading, but originating from Satan, and that Prophet Muhammad had deleted many of them.

In response to what was widely considered by Muslims as an abomination to their religion, the then Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 issued a fatwa ordering Rushdie’s execution, enforceable by any Muslim in any part of the world. The release of the book led to several angry protests and demonstrations in various cities in the Muslim world, which ended with the loss of at least 25 lives.

Although banned in many countries, the irony is that the more people protested, the more the book became a best seller. But Rushdie had to pay a bitter price. He was forced to go into hiding for a good part of his life, returning to public life only after a decade in 1999.

Iran Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned its Tehran UK ambassador Geoffrey Adams in protest of the knighthood.

“This insulting, suspicious and improper act by the British government is an obvious example of fighting against Islam… It has seriously wounded the beliefs of 1.5 billion Muslims and followers of other religions.” Ebrahim Rahimpour Iran’s Foreign Ministry Director for Europe later declared on the state-run Irna news agency.

The Pakistani foreign ministry also summoned it’s Islamabad, British High Commissioner Robert Brinkley on he same issue. Before the meeting, Mohammad Ejaz ul-Haq, the Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister had sparked controversy when he said the award may now justify syicide bombings.
“If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Muhammad, his act is justified,” Ejaz ul-Haq was quoted as saying by reporters.