The Disappeared

"The Disappeared" by Salman Rushdie is a very engaging article; the author discuses about his ordeal after publishing one of his novels. He and his wife had to go into hiding after his book "Satanic Verses" was released; it was considered as a book against the religion of Islam. The novel was banned in some countries like India; it also caused protests and the American flag was burned  at the riots. The novel did very well in the US though, it was on the New York Times best seller list. With all this said, his book enraged many Muslims which caused his family and his life to be in danger.

The Muslim community was so outraged that they wished death upon him. Ayatollah Khomeini, who was a Muslim revolutionary leader, was the one who sentenced him to death. Others saw his book as offensive, but he saw it as artistic. Rushdie believes that no one gave his novel a chance and that it was just judged from the start. After Khomeini made his announcement, his house was swarmed with reporters and photographers from BBC and CBS. Rushdie had to think fast about his next move, after receiving death threats.

Rushdie was not able to return to his home, so he was watched by police because the threat level was so high. He was afraid he was not going to be able to see his son and the rest of his family anymore. With all this happening, he never said sorry or thought of saying sorry to the public. He said he did not want to admit defeat and just disregard all the principles of his book. Finally after the encouragement of his advisors, he decided to write a public apology, but he was not happy about it. Even after he wrote a public apology, his life was never going to be the same.

In the end, I believe that Salman Rushdie was one very courageous man. He stood to defend his book against everyone that doubted it. I have not read the book, so I do not know if it does actually criticize Islam, but I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. My opinion is that he should have apology sooner so that he could have avoided all this chaos that put him in danger. Some people have accepted his apology and others did not; there are still criticisms lingering today about his book.


Word count: 407
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/17/120917fa_fact_rushdie