Author Salman Rushdie: 'Joseph Anton,' Fatwas and Freedom

Salman Rushdie is best known as the author of The Satanic Verses, a book that resulted in the declaration of a fatwa against him by Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. Rushdie was subsequently placed under protective custody for years due to threats of violence against him, as well as the murder of the book’s Japanese translator and the firebombing of bookstores.

His newest book, Joseph Anton, recounts his years in hiding, and takes its name from the alias he used during that period.

On September 17, stated attended a reading by Rushdie at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York, where he shared several notable observations on religion and his time in hiding. Here are just a few…

• “If you can avoid being condemned to death by the tyrannical leader of a foreign country, I recommend doing so.”


• “If you’re a satirical writer, it’s much easier to know what you’re against then what you are for. It’s one of the great gifts that period [of hiding] gave me. It taught me what I was for. Freedom.”


• “The relationship between man and God is complicated, because man actually exists. That gives man the edge.”