Attack on author Rushdie can’t be called correct: Muslim cleric

Lucknow: Senior member of All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali on Saturday said no one has the right to take the law into his hand and the attack on controversial writer Salman Rushdie can’t be termed as correct.

The Mumbai-born controversial author, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing “The Satanic Verses”, was stabbed by a 24-year-old man on Friday while he was being introduced at an event in Western New York in the US.

Mahali said Prophet Mohammed always gave the message of peace. “Hence, the Muslims should take the path shown by Him,” he said.

The chairman of the All-India Shia Personal Law Board Maulana, Saem Mehdi, said, “Three decades ago Shia cleric and leader Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa against Rushdie. So, it would be inappropriate for any other member of the Shia community to give views on it.”

Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania where the 75-year-old writer underwent surgery. The writer has also won the Booker Prize for his novel “Midnight’s Children”.

Rushdie was on a ventilator with a damaged liver and may lose one of his eyes.