nationalpost:

Salman Rushdie dismisses demands of Islamic group calling for his ban from India
Controversial author Salman Rushdie has dismissed demands by an influential Islamic seminary in India that he should be banned from entering the country to attend a literature festival later this month.

Rushdie, who was threatened with death in a “fatwa” order from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then the spiritual leader of Iran, over his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, is due to speak in the city of Jaipur alongside fellow writers such as Lionel Shriver and Richard Dawkins.

The Darululoom Deoband seminary, one of the world’s most important Islamic universities, is known for its conservative teachings thought to have shaped the views of some radical Islamist groups such as the Taliban.

Maulana Qasim Nomani, a seminary official, called for India to cancel Rushdie’s visa, saying that “the man whose blasphemous writings have hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world must not be allowed to set foot on Indian soil.”

Rushdie — who was born in Mumbai in 1947 — responded late on Monday by pointing out on Twitter that he did not need a visa to visit India. (Photo: Brian Harkin for National Post)

(via fuckyeahsouthasia)