From Fatwa to Jihad by Kenan Malik

Malik claims this was a calculated move by Khomeini – then facing the ignominy of withdrawal from the war in Iraq – to subvert reformist voices within Iran and gain political ground across the Muslim world. "The fatwa sowed confusion and division among supporters of the Saudi regime," writes Malik. "A number of militants who had taken part in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and who had been within Riyadh's orbit now pledged allegiance to Tehran… The reformers were forced to denounce Rushdie." The fatwa also turned Islam into a domestic issue for the West. Malik, who was born in India but grew up marching along anti-racism rallies in 1980s Britain, explains how it was these progressive rallies that made the ground fertile for the seed of the fatwa to grow into the cactus of Islamism. -- Saif Shahin THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE By Saif Shahin VALENTINE'S Day is usually an occasion to write mellifluous letters of love. But 20 years ago, a letter penned that day was so vile in its content and so bilious in temperament that, almost like some talisman out of magic realist literature, it tore apart relations between communities and changed the course of history in its wake.  That letter was the fatwa issued by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the head of Salman Rushdie, a little less than five months after the publication of 'The Satanic Verses'. And yes, it was that succinct four-paragraph letter – and not the literary tome itself – that stirred up the maelstrom which continues to (mis)shape life and death for many across the world.
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