The attempt on the writer’s life is not an isolated incident; those who dared criticise Islamic beliefs have faced similar threats
The 1989 fatwa imposed by Iran’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Salman Rushdie for his novelhas haunted many liberal novelists and thinkers whose writings were also seen as insulting to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
In recent years, underground Muslim militants and jihadi preachers and leaders have used social media to incite Muslims globally to kill those who they say denigrate Islam and the Prophet.A fatwa is a legal decree on a point of Islamic law or opinion given by a high-ranking Islamic religious leader, religious authority or qualified council of scholars. It can address a range of issues — including individuals.
Arab governments allied to the West have failed to curb their own religious authorities and teachings or to provide protection for writers and thinkers who were put on the death list by Muslim hardliners.
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