By now, you’re probably well aware of the horrific attack on author Salman Rushdie. Most of you won’t have to struggle to fathom the motive of Hadi Matar, 24, the would-be murderer.
In which case, you’re doing better than the New York Times.
Just a heads-up for the Times:
Matar had a fake driver’s license on him. Daily Mail reported that it was in the name Hassan Mughniyah – “names which are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
[…]Law enforcement sources told NBC New York that review of Matar’s social media accounts “shows he is sympathetic to Shia extremism and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps causes.”
Heavy
Amazingly, the 75 year old author and free speech titan appears to have survived being stabbed more than a dozen times, although he has apparently suffered horrific injuries, including the loss of an eye and severed nerves in one arm.
Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk, after being stabbed more than a dozen times while giving a speech about freedom of expression in New York.
Fellow author Aatish Taseer told US media the acclaimed British novelist was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking.” Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed Mr Taseer’s comment without offering further details.
The Australian
Being a “religion of peace” and all, Muslim social media is jubilant about the attack. “The Australian Muslim”, a Facebook page with over 2.4 million followers, was clear whose side it takes.
We Muslims love our religion more then we love ourselves. The Quran to us is a guidance and way of life, we read it, memorise and recite it at least 5 times a day. We are very protective over it. When someone goes out of their way and dedicate their whole life to attack the Quran which is the book of God then expect to be the enemy of almost 2 billion Muslims. I’m not saying to go and take the law in your own hands and kill anyone but I’m clearly saying that you brought to yourself 2 billion enemies.
The Australian Muslim
The post has over 5,000 “Likes”, more than 7,000 “Loves”, and 1,000 “Hahas”. Not a single “Angry” or “Sad” reaction.
Twitter is also making clear whose side it takes. When author JK Rowling tweeted in sympathy to Rushdie, she received the reply, “don’t worry you are next”. Twitter at first refused to remove the tweet.
Rowling, 57, was among dozens of prominent authors to express anger over the assault on Rushdie, tweeting her hope that he would be OK. She later shared screenshots of a message from a Twitter user who had written “don’t worry you are next” in response […]
The same Twitter account posted messages praising Rushdie’s attacker. The tweet to Rowling, from an account in Pakistan, was later taken down. Other authors who faced threats online after expressing support for Rushdie included Taslima Nasrin, who had to flee her home in Bangladesh after a court said her novel, Lajja, offended Muslims’ faith.
What doesn’t “offend Muslims”?
Scottish police are investigating the threat.
[UK] Labour faced criticism because Sir Keir Starmer made no comment about it for more than 24 hours. Starmer said on Saturday evening that Rushdie “has long embodied the struggle for liberty and freedom against those who seek to destroy them”, adding that the attack was “cowardly” and that the Labour Party was praying for a full recovery […]
Yesterday (Sunday) the charity Humanists UK, of which Rushdie is a patron, said anyone who believed in freedom of speech should support the author. Andrew Copson, the chief executive, said:
This is a moment for everyone who believes in freedom of choice, of thought, of expression and the values of an open and democratic society to be full-throated in their defence.”
Lisa Appignanesi, a friend of Rushdie and former president of the writers’ organisation English PEN, said the “ghastly” attack was a reminder to publishers to back writers.
“Freedom of expression is best defended by writers writing what they see and publishers being open to imaginative excellence and daring and less to what they feel are forces of social demand.
“The Satanic Verses predicted our own day as much as it was of its time. The point about danger is you never know where it is in a text that it’s going to arise. When I read it I had no idea I was reading something people might see as blasphemous.”
The Australian
There is no word as yet from the authors who wrote a collective letter to PEN in 2015, decrying their decision to honour the murdered Charlie Hebdo staff and (the authors claimed) “valorizing selectively offensive material: material that intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Maghreb, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world.”
And they wonder why savages feel emboldened to try and murder authors.
