The Fatwa - Salman's Story

0:00:06 > 0:00:10"Nobody is going to take away my father," Luke cried.

0:00:10 > 0:00:16Not even you, Mr Whatever-Your-NameIs, with your scary tales.

0:00:16 > 0:00:18Haroun went with his father whenever he could,

0:00:18 > 0:00:21because the man was a magician. It couldn't be denied.

0:00:22 > 0:00:25He would climb up on some little makeshift stage in a dead-end alley

0:00:25 > 0:00:28packed with raggedy children and toothless old-timers,

0:00:28 > 0:00:30all squatting in the dust.

0:00:32 > 0:00:35"How do you know about the fire of life?" the Fire Bug wanted to know, becoming cross.

0:00:35 > 0:00:37"Water is everyone's favourite.

0:00:37 > 0:00:40"And when they call it the Fountain of Life,

0:00:40 > 0:00:41"well, that just bugs me to bits.

0:00:41 > 0:00:45"Life is not wet, young man. Life burns."

0:00:49 > 0:00:5323 years ago, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa - a death sentence -

0:00:53 > 0:00:58against the British writer Salman Rushdie.

0:00:58 > 0:01:01VOICEOVER:

0:01:12 > 0:01:17Now Rushdie has written a memoir about the ten years that followed,

0:01:17 > 0:01:21in which he lived in hiding, fearing for his life.

0:01:21 > 0:01:23The book is written in the third person,

0:01:23 > 0:01:26under the name of Joseph Anton.

0:01:26 > 0:01:28No-one really knows what happened,

0:01:28 > 0:01:33no-one really understands much about what it was like,

0:01:33 > 0:01:36and the book explains both.

0:01:58 > 0:02:01- NEWSREADER:- The Ayatollah Khomeini this morning sanctioned the death

0:02:01 > 0:02:03of the author Salman Rushdie.

0:02:03 > 0:02:05- NEWSREADER:- The Ayatollah Khomeini

0:02:05 > 0:02:09has ordered Muslims to kill a British author on sight.

0:02:09 > 0:02:11A BBC reporter called him at home

0:02:11 > 0:02:14without explaining how she got the number.

0:02:14 > 0:02:16"How does it feel," she asked,

0:02:16 > 0:02:19"to know that you have just been sentenced to death

0:02:19 > 0:02:22"by the Ayatollah Khomeini?"

0:02:22 > 0:02:27It was a sunny Tuesday in London but the question shut out the light.

0:02:27 > 0:02:31This is what he said. "It doesn't feel good."

0:02:31 > 0:02:36This is what he thought: "I'm a dead man."

0:02:36 > 0:02:38I put down the phone

0:02:38 > 0:02:41and sort of ran around the house locking the doors

0:02:41 > 0:02:44I mean, a stupid thing to do, but it's the sort of thing you do.

0:02:44 > 0:02:48And...I really did think at that moment

0:02:48 > 0:02:51that I probably didn't have very long to live.

0:02:53 > 0:02:58I had agreed to go to my friend Bruce Chatwin's memorial service.

0:02:58 > 0:03:00So I'd better go.

0:03:03 > 0:03:06I left the house that morning

0:03:06 > 0:03:09and didn't go back again for several years.

0:03:11 > 0:03:14"The wings, the beating wings."

0:03:18 > 0:03:24- Every time I come here, I pass this, I remember that day.- Me too.

0:03:24 > 0:03:29"Always the wings of that giant blackbird, the exterminating angel,

0:03:29 > 0:03:32"beating close at hand."

0:03:34 > 0:03:39'By coincidence on that day when the world as he'd known it stopped,

0:03:39 > 0:03:41'all literary London was gathering here,

0:03:41 > 0:03:44'to commemorate the writer and traveller Bruce Chatwin.'

0:03:44 > 0:03:46It was a strange event in itself,

0:03:46 > 0:03:50Bruce Chatwin's memorial service in the Greek Orthodox Church.

0:03:50 > 0:03:53- Yeah.- None of us really knew that he had such an interest

0:03:53 > 0:03:55in Greek Orthodox Christianity.

0:03:55 > 0:03:58We were all stuck there listening to this thing

0:03:58 > 0:04:00that almost none of us could understand.

0:04:00 > 0:04:04I was in a place of religious belief,

0:04:04 > 0:04:07which is not something in which I find myself very often,

0:04:07 > 0:04:09when there was this religious attack.

0:04:11 > 0:04:14I've always thought that it was sort of Bruce's last joke.

0:04:16 > 0:04:19Like his father, he was fascinated by God,

0:04:19 > 0:04:22even if religion had little appeal.

0:04:22 > 0:04:25The concerns of these religions with the great questions of existence -

0:04:25 > 0:04:28where do we come from?

0:04:28 > 0:04:33And now that we are here, how shall we live? - were also his.

0:04:34 > 0:04:36By the end of the service there was a buzz

0:04:36 > 0:04:38going all the way round the congregation really.

0:04:38 > 0:04:40Paul Theroux said something to you, didn't he?

0:04:40 > 0:04:44He was sitting in the pew behind me and he leaned forward and said,

0:04:44 > 0:04:47"I suppose we'll be here for you next week."

0:04:52 > 0:04:56When I came out, there was hundreds of photographers over there.

0:04:56 > 0:04:59And then I was sort of mobbed and didn't know how to get away,

0:04:59 > 0:05:02and that's when you showed up with your car

0:05:02 > 0:05:04and it was incredibly helpful

0:05:04 > 0:05:08because I was able to get in there and be driven away.

0:05:12 > 0:05:14And then I remember we switched on the radio and there it was

0:05:14 > 0:05:16on the bulletins.

0:05:16 > 0:05:18Ayatollah Khomeini makes a death threat

0:05:18 > 0:05:20against the British author Salman Rushdie.

0:05:20 > 0:05:22Ayatollah Khomeini has ordered Muslims

0:05:22 > 0:05:25to murder Salman Rushdie and his publishers

0:05:25 > 0:05:28for blasphemy against Islam.

0:05:28 > 0:05:31Did you yourself ever think during this day,

0:05:31 > 0:05:32as we were circling in the car,

0:05:32 > 0:05:35this is something that would end an ending sooner rather than later?

0:05:35 > 0:05:39I was 41 at the time,

0:05:39 > 0:05:43and I thought it was pretty unlikely that I would see my 42nd birthday.

0:05:44 > 0:05:48You didn't know that you might not be able to see your son any more.

0:05:48 > 0:05:51All of that, I didn't, I didn't understand how...

0:05:51 > 0:05:55Uh, how radically my life was about to change.

0:05:55 > 0:05:58When I got home I tried to phone him, and couldn't.

0:05:58 > 0:05:59As Martin Amis put it,

0:05:59 > 0:06:02he'd disappeared into the front page.

0:06:02 > 0:06:06He was everywhere but nowhere.

0:06:06 > 0:06:08He'd become a secret.

0:06:12 > 0:06:15The crisis around the book had been building up for months.

0:06:15 > 0:06:19It was publicly burned in Bradford and just two days before the fatwa,

0:06:19 > 0:06:22five protestors were killed in Pakistan.

0:06:23 > 0:06:27"Rushdie, you are dead," the demonstrators shouted,

0:06:27 > 0:06:30and for the first time he thought they might be right.

0:06:30 > 0:06:35Violence begat violence. Blood will have blood, he thought.

0:06:38 > 0:06:45I remember having lunch with Salman in about '85 or '86

0:06:45 > 0:06:48and he said he was writing a book called the Satanic Verses,

0:06:48 > 0:06:49and I wrote down the words,

0:06:49 > 0:06:53"And he said he thinks it will cause trouble."

0:06:53 > 0:06:57But of course nobody could ever have anticipated what happened.

0:06:57 > 0:07:01I'd read the novel, admired a great deal,

0:07:01 > 0:07:03and thought in a strange way,

0:07:03 > 0:07:08the novel almost foresaw the events that were coming.

0:07:08 > 0:07:13First of all, just that sense of dream sequence followed by reality.

0:07:13 > 0:07:17So the dreaming of a novel followed by the reality of the publication.

0:07:17 > 0:07:21But also religious absolutism

0:07:21 > 0:07:25is one of the central matters of the book.

0:07:25 > 0:07:28And suddenly here it was.

0:07:31 > 0:07:34He couldn't go home, so he and his then-wife,

0:07:34 > 0:07:38the novelist Marianne Wiggins, went to a flat nearby

0:07:38 > 0:07:40that she used for writing.

0:07:40 > 0:07:44They weren't getting on, but on this day their private difficulties

0:07:44 > 0:07:46- felt irrelevant. - CHANTING

0:07:46 > 0:07:50On this day there were crowds marching down the streets of Tehran

0:07:50 > 0:07:54carrying posters of his face with the eyes poked out,

0:07:54 > 0:07:59making him look like one of the corpses in The Birds.

0:07:59 > 0:08:01This is the latest stage in a campaign

0:08:01 > 0:08:03that began with smears and vilifications

0:08:03 > 0:08:05and distortions of the book,

0:08:05 > 0:08:07which has escalated through all sorts of levels of violence.

0:08:07 > 0:08:10Frankly I wish I had written a more critical book.

0:08:10 > 0:08:13I mean, a religion that claims... That is able to behave like this,

0:08:13 > 0:08:16religious leaders, let's say, who are able to behave like this,

0:08:16 > 0:08:18and then say that this is a religion

0:08:18 > 0:08:20which must be above any kind of whisper of criticism,

0:08:20 > 0:08:23that doesn't add up. It seems to me that Islamic fundamentalists

0:08:23 > 0:08:25could do with a little criticism right now.

0:08:25 > 0:08:26Thank you very much for joining us.

0:08:26 > 0:08:30Didn't you think you might be exacerbating the situation...?

0:08:30 > 0:08:33I don't know what I was thinking, just, "This is what I think, I'm going to say it."

0:08:33 > 0:08:34My heart was pounding.

0:08:34 > 0:08:39I mean it was absolutely, I didn't know what to think, what to do.

0:08:39 > 0:08:42Salman was very good - he rang immediately

0:08:42 > 0:08:45and said "Don't worry," and, "I'll be in touch."

0:08:45 > 0:08:47And I picked up my daughter from nursery

0:08:47 > 0:08:49and just drove straight home.

0:08:49 > 0:08:53I could see outside tube stations, as I drove, large hoardings that,

0:08:53 > 0:08:56that said "death sentence".

0:08:56 > 0:08:58Were you worried about your son Zafar?

0:08:58 > 0:08:59I was very worried about him.

0:08:59 > 0:09:05First of all I was worried about seeing him so that I could...

0:09:05 > 0:09:10try and talk to him about it in a way that would reduce his fear

0:09:10 > 0:09:14and panic and so on, you know. I just...

0:09:14 > 0:09:17As a parent I felt this is not just happening to me,

0:09:17 > 0:09:21it's happening to him, and he's a kid, you know.

0:09:21 > 0:09:24He was at that time not even 10

0:09:24 > 0:09:28and I could only imagine what it must be like for him

0:09:28 > 0:09:29to see such things on television..

0:09:33 > 0:09:36He was living with his mother in North London.

0:09:36 > 0:09:39I went round to see him and the police were there.

0:09:39 > 0:09:43They said, "Oh, there you are, we were wondering where you were."

0:09:43 > 0:09:47My dad did a very, very good job, along with my mother,

0:09:47 > 0:09:49at giving me enough information

0:09:49 > 0:09:53that I felt empowered by knowing something

0:09:53 > 0:09:57but not so much that I was reduced to a crying wreck.

0:10:00 > 0:10:03"We need to know," the police officer was saying,

0:10:03 > 0:10:06"what your immediate plans might be."

0:10:06 > 0:10:10He told them about the basement where Marianne was waiting.

0:10:10 > 0:10:15"When you do get back, sir, don't go out again tonight."

0:10:16 > 0:10:19There were two policemen in the square.

0:10:19 > 0:10:22When he got out of his car, they pretended not to notice.

0:10:22 > 0:10:26He could hear their footsteps even when he was indoors.

0:10:26 > 0:10:30He realised in that footstep-haunted silence

0:10:30 > 0:10:34that he no longer understood his life, or what it might become.

0:10:40 > 0:10:42The next morning we had a visitation

0:10:42 > 0:10:46from a couple of senior officers from the Yard

0:10:46 > 0:10:50who then formally offered the police protection.

0:10:50 > 0:10:51What the police said to me

0:10:51 > 0:10:53was that you just have to lie low for a few days

0:10:53 > 0:10:55and let the politicians sort it out.

0:10:55 > 0:10:57Ten years later...

0:10:57 > 0:11:00Yeah, exactly. That's what's extraordinary about it.

0:11:00 > 0:11:03Everybody thought it was going to take a few days to sort it out.

0:11:05 > 0:11:08At that very moment thousands were protesting

0:11:08 > 0:11:10outside the British Embassy in Tehran.

0:11:10 > 0:11:13CHANTING

0:11:16 > 0:11:191989 was a momentous year.

0:11:19 > 0:11:21It wasn't just the fatwa - it was Tiananmen Square,

0:11:21 > 0:11:23it was the fall of the Berlin Wall.

0:11:23 > 0:11:27One felt there was an earthquake going around the world

0:11:27 > 0:11:29and everything was shifting.

0:11:29 > 0:11:31CALL AND RESPONSE CHANTING

0:11:33 > 0:11:36It was ten years after the Iranian revolution

0:11:36 > 0:11:40and they were whipping up the masses to keep control of their country.

0:11:42 > 0:11:44And Salman was the excuse.

0:11:47 > 0:11:49- NEWSREADER: - The Salman Rushdie affair

0:11:49 > 0:11:52took an even more horrific turn today when an Iranian cleric

0:11:52 > 0:11:56offered a million-dollar reward for the successful assassination

0:11:56 > 0:11:58of the author of the Satanic Verses.

0:11:58 > 0:12:02A group of writers led by Harold Pinter presented

0:12:02 > 0:12:04a petition at 10 Downing St.

0:12:04 > 0:12:07Hanif Kureishi, you've presented your petition today.

0:12:07 > 0:12:09What can it achieve?

0:12:09 > 0:12:12Well, as I'm sure you know, it's bad enough getting a bad review

0:12:12 > 0:12:15in the Guardian - being condemned to death for a book you've written

0:12:15 > 0:12:18is obviously a risible matter, if it weren't so deeply serious.

0:12:18 > 0:12:22I suppose what we want to do is to impress on Mrs Thatcher

0:12:22 > 0:12:25the importance of her trying to persuade the Ayatollah

0:12:25 > 0:12:27to repudiate what he said.

0:12:27 > 0:12:30If you were Salman Rushdie, what would you be doing now?

0:12:30 > 0:12:33I'd be hiding under the bed with a sawn-off shotgun next to me.

0:12:33 > 0:12:36At the time we were completely bewildered and frightened,

0:12:36 > 0:12:37and completely unaware

0:12:37 > 0:12:40of what the consequences of this really would be.

0:12:40 > 0:12:42The police brought Salman over to say goodbye,

0:12:42 > 0:12:44and that felt like such an emotional thing -

0:12:44 > 0:12:47"What do you mean goodbye?", you know.

0:12:47 > 0:12:50Cos at the time he said, "I don't know when I'll see you again."

0:12:50 > 0:12:54It seemed unthinkable that we couldn't be told where he was,

0:12:54 > 0:12:55and why wouldn't we be told?

0:12:55 > 0:12:58And he said cos the police say it's for your safety,

0:12:58 > 0:13:00the less you know the better.

0:13:00 > 0:13:04We were suddenly in this very strange other world,

0:13:04 > 0:13:05that didn't make any sense.

0:13:07 > 0:13:09They asked me to think of a pseudonym.

0:13:09 > 0:13:11"Don't make it an Indian name, cos it's too obvious."

0:13:13 > 0:13:17It's a pretty strange thing to be asked to give up your name anyway.

0:13:18 > 0:13:22I invented a name out of the first names

0:13:22 > 0:13:24of Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekov.

0:13:24 > 0:13:26And that was the name which was used for all those years,

0:13:26 > 0:13:29and so that's why it's the title of the book.

0:13:29 > 0:13:32The name change was partly for the security guards' benefit,

0:13:32 > 0:13:35so they wouldn't make the potentially fatal error

0:13:35 > 0:13:37of saying "Salman" in public.

0:13:37 > 0:13:41So they called him Joe, much to his annoyance.

0:13:43 > 0:13:47I went to meet one of the officers from Salman's protection team.

0:13:47 > 0:13:50The threat was...huge.

0:13:50 > 0:13:53You've looked after prime ministers and high officials.

0:13:53 > 0:13:56How was this protection operation compared to that?

0:13:56 > 0:14:00Um...this was the most high risk.

0:14:00 > 0:14:03It was certainly the highest security

0:14:03 > 0:14:06of any protection that I'm aware of.

0:14:06 > 0:14:09There was a massive threat against him.

0:14:09 > 0:14:12He had the very best protection he could possibly have

0:14:12 > 0:14:16in the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.

0:14:17 > 0:14:20Rushdie now had his entourage of policemen.

0:14:20 > 0:14:23But short of staying on an army base, where was he to go?

0:14:25 > 0:14:28"You can't go home, obviously," the protection officer said.

0:14:28 > 0:14:30"That wouldn't be too kosher.

0:14:30 > 0:14:33"Is there anywhere you'd like to go for a few days?"

0:14:33 > 0:14:35"Maybe the Cotswolds," he said.

0:14:35 > 0:14:40There was a famous country inn there he had often wanted to go to.

0:14:43 > 0:14:46He was on the front page of every newspaper.

0:14:46 > 0:14:48It was alarming to be so intensely visible

0:14:48 > 0:14:51at exactly the moment that he was being asked to lie low.

0:14:51 > 0:14:55A woman came up to him in the street and said, "Good luck."

0:15:00 > 0:15:04In the hotel, the staff couldn't prevent themselves from gawping.

0:15:04 > 0:15:05He had become a freak show.

0:15:07 > 0:15:12They were given a small private room to eat their meals in.

0:15:12 > 0:15:16One of their other guests was a journalist from the Daily Mirror,

0:15:16 > 0:15:20who'd taken a neighbouring room for a few days with a lady

0:15:20 > 0:15:21who was not his wife.

0:15:21 > 0:15:26At that moment when the tabloid press had employed teams of snoops

0:15:26 > 0:15:30to find out where the author of the Satanic Verses had gone to ground,

0:15:30 > 0:15:34the tabloid journalist in the room next door missed his scoop.

0:15:52 > 0:15:56The Satanic Verses was Rushdie's first book with a new agent,

0:15:56 > 0:15:58an American who had lured him away

0:15:58 > 0:16:00from the British agent he'd had before.

0:16:02 > 0:16:04When he appointed them,

0:16:04 > 0:16:07he didn't know they would be going to war together

0:16:07 > 0:16:10and nor could they have known what lay ahead.

0:16:10 > 0:16:14But when the war came, he was glad they were standing with him.

0:16:14 > 0:16:18He's the most famous and formidable literary agent in the world.

0:16:18 > 0:16:19Here I am.

0:16:22 > 0:16:23I like the way this looks.

0:16:23 > 0:16:27- Yeah, I like having a little page by itself too.- Yeah.

0:16:28 > 0:16:32They'll be different covers in almost every territory.

0:16:32 > 0:16:33You like this?

0:16:33 > 0:16:35It's kind of Byzantine,

0:16:35 > 0:16:38sort of halfway between western and eastern.

0:16:39 > 0:16:42I mean, it looks like a picture of a broken world.

0:16:42 > 0:16:44Absolutely.

0:16:44 > 0:16:47- I think everything in the bookstore tends to scream, you know?- Yeah.

0:16:47 > 0:16:50And it's nice to be the one not screaming.

0:16:50 > 0:16:51What?!

0:16:52 > 0:16:56As soon as Salman went into hiding,

0:16:56 > 0:16:58we began a kind of...

0:16:58 > 0:17:01HE began a new way of life,

0:17:01 > 0:17:03and I had a new way of life.

0:17:03 > 0:17:06For about two or three years,

0:17:06 > 0:17:11I was on the phone with him three times a day,

0:17:11 > 0:17:15and more or less once a month I would go across and meet with him.

0:17:15 > 0:17:18When you read Satanic Verses the first time,

0:17:18 > 0:17:20did you see any likelihood that this could be...

0:17:20 > 0:17:22No.

0:17:22 > 0:17:24No, and you know, the, uh...

0:17:26 > 0:17:28..suggestion which arose later

0:17:28 > 0:17:32that somehow Salman intended this

0:17:32 > 0:17:34is so preposterous if you think about it,

0:17:34 > 0:17:38I mean, you know, "Let me see, I'll write a book

0:17:38 > 0:17:42"and the head of a country will condemn me to death

0:17:42 > 0:17:44"and I'll be pursued."

0:17:46 > 0:17:48Fairly unlikely scenario.

0:17:53 > 0:17:56On his second day at the Lygon Arms,

0:17:56 > 0:17:59he was told he had 24 hours to find himself somewhere else to go.

0:18:03 > 0:18:06He had been making phone calls to everyone he could think of

0:18:06 > 0:18:07without success.

0:18:07 > 0:18:12Then he checked his voicemail and found a message from Deborah Rogers,

0:18:12 > 0:18:15the agent he had dismissed when he appointed Andrew Wylie.

0:18:15 > 0:18:18"Call me. I think we may be able to help."

0:18:19 > 0:18:22Deb and her husband, the composer Michael Berkeley,

0:18:22 > 0:18:25offered him their farm in Wales.

0:18:25 > 0:18:27He was deeply moved.

0:18:29 > 0:18:32The next day, his strange little circus descended on them.

0:18:35 > 0:18:37- Welcome back.- Thank you. It's been a while.

0:18:37 > 0:18:40All disputes swept away by the pressure of events.

0:18:41 > 0:18:46- "Stay as long as you need to," Deb said.- Hello.

0:18:46 > 0:18:48He stayed here for the next two weeks.

0:18:51 > 0:18:57Michael said, "Look, because you have been so publicly, in a way..."

0:18:58 > 0:18:59..erm...

0:19:01 > 0:19:05..sort of separated, I don't know what the word is,

0:19:05 > 0:19:09denounced by Salman, we would be probably

0:19:09 > 0:19:13one of the last places anybody would ever think of looking.

0:19:13 > 0:19:18Before they let you come here, they sort of vetted the place

0:19:18 > 0:19:20and the police went along the...

0:19:20 > 0:19:25- Up on the ridge?- On the road along the top with binoculars

0:19:25 > 0:19:27to see how easy it would have been for them to...

0:19:27 > 0:19:31They thought it was pretty good, actually. Unless there was somebody

0:19:31 > 0:19:33with a high-velocity rifle up there, but yeah.

0:19:33 > 0:19:38Everybody has a very vivid memory of the details of the security

0:19:38 > 0:19:41because it was unusual that people would come to your house

0:19:41 > 0:19:45and they'd look through your windows and they'd kind of snoop about

0:19:45 > 0:19:49but me, because I had to live with it all the time,

0:19:49 > 0:19:50I tried to wipe it out, you know

0:19:50 > 0:19:53so I could sort of pretend that I was just there by myself

0:19:53 > 0:19:56so in my memory of these visits to various people's houses,

0:19:56 > 0:19:58I sort of don't remember the police at all,

0:19:58 > 0:20:00whereas it's all they remember.

0:20:00 > 0:20:02One of the funniest things was

0:20:02 > 0:20:06because Steven, who we do the farm with,

0:20:06 > 0:20:09he prides himself on being able to read tyre marks

0:20:09 > 0:20:12and who's been here and who hasn't been here

0:20:12 > 0:20:14and he said to me one day,

0:20:14 > 0:20:17"I just can't understand it! There's a Jaguar there,"

0:20:17 > 0:20:21but he said the tyre marks were from a sort of ten-tonne lorry

0:20:21 > 0:20:23and he said, "I can't work this out,"

0:20:23 > 0:20:26and of course it was an armoured car.

0:20:26 > 0:20:29Those armoured cars, they weigh as much as a small tank.

0:20:34 > 0:20:39He couldn't be seen at the farm or its safety would be compromised.

0:20:39 > 0:20:41A farmer came to talk to Michael.

0:20:41 > 0:20:44"You'd better get out of sight," Michael told him

0:20:44 > 0:20:47and he had to duck down behind a kitchen counter.

0:20:47 > 0:20:51As he crouched there, he felt a sense of deep shame.

0:20:51 > 0:20:55To hide in this way was to be stripped of all self-respect.

0:20:55 > 0:20:59To be told to hide was a humiliation.

0:20:59 > 0:21:03"Maybe to live like this would be worse than death."

0:21:03 > 0:21:07He had written about the workings of Muslim "honour culture,"

0:21:07 > 0:21:09honour and shame.

0:21:10 > 0:21:13He came from that culture, even though he was not religious,

0:21:13 > 0:21:18and had been raised to care deeply about questions of pride.

0:21:18 > 0:21:22To skulk and hide was to lead a dishonourable life.

0:21:22 > 0:21:27He felt, very often in those years, profoundly ashamed.

0:21:27 > 0:21:29Both shamed and ashamed.

0:21:32 > 0:21:34One of the things that people perhaps didn't understand

0:21:34 > 0:21:38about those days - sometimes it looked very grand, the protection.

0:21:38 > 0:21:41You know, you're zooming around in armoured Jaguars

0:21:41 > 0:21:44and people are jumping out and opening doors.

0:21:44 > 0:21:48It didn't feel grand on the receiving end. It felt like jail.

0:21:50 > 0:21:53He's just a person lost, locked away and the keys are thrown away,

0:21:53 > 0:21:56finding a way to carry on,

0:21:56 > 0:21:59I think that must have been incredibly hard.

0:22:04 > 0:22:10So this sitting room was the one we provided for the protection team.

0:22:10 > 0:22:13The thing that was most worrying and stressful

0:22:13 > 0:22:17was that it was made clear to me right at the beginning

0:22:17 > 0:22:21that it was up to me to find these houses to live in.

0:22:21 > 0:22:25I owned a house which I wasn't allowed to go to

0:22:25 > 0:22:28and I had to constantly find other places

0:22:28 > 0:22:31and also, places which they would approve of.

0:22:31 > 0:22:34So one of the constant worries, even when I was here,

0:22:34 > 0:22:36was, "Where do you go next?"

0:22:38 > 0:22:40It was just very cooped up.

0:22:40 > 0:22:45To go out even and stretch my legs was worrying in case somebody saw me.

0:22:47 > 0:22:50When I wanted to go on a walk, they would have to take me somewhere...

0:22:52 > 0:22:53..somewhere else.

0:22:55 > 0:22:57We're going to try to start now.

0:22:57 > 0:23:00VOICES SHOUT

0:23:01 > 0:23:03APPLAUSE

0:23:03 > 0:23:09In America, a group of eminent writers led by Susan Sontag

0:23:09 > 0:23:13were organising support, with readings from The Satanic Verses

0:23:13 > 0:23:16by the likes of Norman Mailer and Don DeLillo.

0:23:16 > 0:23:19American PEN has called this meeting

0:23:19 > 0:23:21to express our solidarity

0:23:21 > 0:23:23with Salman Rushdie...

0:23:25 > 0:23:28..with his publishers,

0:23:28 > 0:23:32with the independent booksellers who are continuing to sell his book...

0:23:32 > 0:23:35APPLAUSE

0:23:45 > 0:23:47When I sat down to write this morning,

0:23:47 > 0:23:50the first thing I did was think of Salman Rushdie.

0:23:50 > 0:23:54It is an essential part of my daily routine.

0:23:54 > 0:23:57I pick up my pen, and before I begin to write

0:23:57 > 0:24:00I think of my fellow novelist across the ocean.

0:24:00 > 0:24:04I pray that he will go on living another 24 hours.

0:24:04 > 0:24:08I pray that his English protectors will keep him hidden

0:24:08 > 0:24:10from the people who are out to murder him.

0:24:10 > 0:24:11The man's life is in ruins,

0:24:11 > 0:24:15shunted from one safe house to another,

0:24:15 > 0:24:16cut off from his son,

0:24:16 > 0:24:18surrounded by security police.

0:24:18 > 0:24:21Salman Rushdie is fighting for his life.

0:24:22 > 0:24:25Most of all, I pray that a time will come

0:24:25 > 0:24:28when these prayers are no longer necessary,

0:24:28 > 0:24:30when Salman Rushdie will be as free

0:24:30 > 0:24:32to walk the streets of the world as I am.

0:24:37 > 0:24:44I don't think people can imagine the pressure of living in small rooms

0:24:44 > 0:24:47without an ability to go out,

0:24:47 > 0:24:49completely uprooted,

0:24:49 > 0:24:52moving from one room to the next

0:24:52 > 0:24:54because of perceived and real threats.

0:24:58 > 0:25:02Satan, being thus confined to a wandering condition,

0:25:02 > 0:25:04is without any set and abode

0:25:04 > 0:25:08for though he has, in consequence of his angelic nature,

0:25:08 > 0:25:12a kind of empire in the liquid waste or air,

0:25:12 > 0:25:15yet this is certainly part of his punishment -

0:25:15 > 0:25:18that he is without any fixed place allowed him

0:25:18 > 0:25:21to rest the sole of his foot upon.

0:25:30 > 0:25:32In the third week of the fatwa,

0:25:32 > 0:25:35my partner Philippa and I drove up to a cottage

0:25:35 > 0:25:37that Ian McEwan had rented near Gloucester,

0:25:37 > 0:25:40so we could all spend an evening together with Salman.

0:25:40 > 0:25:44It was a shock to see men with machine guns at the door.

0:25:45 > 0:25:48I remember packing up a kind of hamper

0:25:48 > 0:25:52to go out to the cottage to cook for us,

0:25:52 > 0:25:57and feeling panic and paranoia.

0:25:57 > 0:26:01I stopped two or three times along the way, on the A40,

0:26:01 > 0:26:04with this idea that I might be being followed.

0:26:07 > 0:26:11The evening, there was a kind of horrible merriness in the air,

0:26:11 > 0:26:14as if by raising a glass of red wine together,

0:26:14 > 0:26:15we were defeating the whole lot

0:26:15 > 0:26:19and then remembering even as the wine had slipped down our throat

0:26:19 > 0:26:20that we had not defeated anyone.

0:26:20 > 0:26:24As I remember it, you'd been to his house in Islington,

0:26:24 > 0:26:27you'd picked up his toothbrush, his pyjamas.

0:26:27 > 0:26:29I saw these being handed over

0:26:29 > 0:26:32as if he was going in for a long hospital stay.

0:26:34 > 0:26:37Another memory that is very clear to me was the next morning,

0:26:37 > 0:26:41he was the lead item on the 8 o'clock news.

0:26:41 > 0:26:43Some fresh group in the Middle East

0:26:43 > 0:26:46had sworn to join in to hunt him down.

0:26:48 > 0:26:53And I remember feeling this sort of huge love for him

0:26:53 > 0:26:55and feeling, um...

0:26:56 > 0:26:58..suddenly how alone he was, actually,

0:26:58 > 0:27:00for all the expressions of support,

0:27:00 > 0:27:03it was him, it was no-one else they were after. It was him.

0:27:06 > 0:27:08This village here, Gladestry,

0:27:08 > 0:27:12is a place I stayed in for a few nights in 1989.

0:27:12 > 0:27:14A sort of bed-and-breakfast place

0:27:14 > 0:27:17that was run by a retired policeman and his wife

0:27:17 > 0:27:20and we needed a place for a few nights

0:27:20 > 0:27:23and we actually rented the whole thing,

0:27:23 > 0:27:28so there were four police officers and me staying there,

0:27:28 > 0:27:31somewhere in this little village here.

0:27:33 > 0:27:36When it comes to our role,

0:27:36 > 0:27:39come the, you know, the worst-case scenario,

0:27:39 > 0:27:42he has to react to our reactions to get him to safety.

0:27:44 > 0:27:47It had to be a grown-up relationship.

0:27:47 > 0:27:50You couldn't be too pally.

0:27:54 > 0:27:56He was protected in hiding.

0:27:56 > 0:27:58He's with a bunch of policemen.

0:27:58 > 0:28:00Every time we saw him, there were different people

0:28:00 > 0:28:02and that was very unnerving,

0:28:02 > 0:28:05he was always living intimately closely

0:28:05 > 0:28:08with a different bunch of people.

0:28:08 > 0:28:12I remember being with him in a house...

0:28:14 > 0:28:16..and I was sleeping on the sofa.

0:28:18 > 0:28:20Every car that came towards the house,

0:28:20 > 0:28:24you'd have that thing of headlights coming at you

0:28:24 > 0:28:31and I kept waking up, thinking, "I'm about to get blown into...

0:28:31 > 0:28:32"space."

0:28:32 > 0:28:37Late in the night, we were all lifted up and put in cars

0:28:37 > 0:28:41and the reason we were lifted up and put in cars

0:28:41 > 0:28:43was that someone was in the neighbourhood,

0:28:43 > 0:28:47so this was a pretty ghastly way to live.

0:28:47 > 0:28:50The worst day I had

0:28:50 > 0:28:53was the moment when I thought that they'd got my son.

0:28:53 > 0:28:56There'd been a king of ongoing deal

0:28:56 > 0:29:01that at 7pm every night, he would call for a chat and a catch-up.

0:29:01 > 0:29:02He had to call us

0:29:02 > 0:29:05because I wasn't allowed to know the number for wherever he was.

0:29:05 > 0:29:11Remember, this is happening at a moment before cell phones.

0:29:11 > 0:29:14And I said, if for some reason they could not be there,

0:29:14 > 0:29:17would they leave a message on my answering machine at my old house?

0:29:21 > 0:29:26I was living in a small rented cottage in mid-Wales.

0:29:29 > 0:29:32I called, there was no reply.

0:29:33 > 0:29:36I checked the messages and there was no message.

0:29:38 > 0:29:42And I began to call more and more compulsively

0:29:42 > 0:29:45and to get more and more worried about it.

0:29:46 > 0:29:48One of the police officers who was with me said,

0:29:48 > 0:29:50"We'll get a police car to do a drive-by."

0:29:55 > 0:29:59They said, "The front door is open and all the lights are on."

0:30:01 > 0:30:04You can imagine what one sees in one's mind's eye.

0:30:09 > 0:30:11The police said, "Given the circumstances,

0:30:11 > 0:30:14"we can't just ask officers to go in there.

0:30:14 > 0:30:16"We have to..." I've never forgotten the phrase,

0:30:16 > 0:30:18"We have to prepare an army."

0:30:20 > 0:30:26I was in a state of, you know, complete collapse, really.

0:30:28 > 0:30:30I remember saying to one of the police officers

0:30:30 > 0:30:35that if that if this is some attempt to ransom him for me,

0:30:35 > 0:30:37I'm going to go.

0:30:37 > 0:30:39And then this police officer said to me,

0:30:39 > 0:30:41"That only happens in the movies.

0:30:41 > 0:30:44"If they've taken him and his mother,

0:30:44 > 0:30:46"they're probably dead

0:30:46 > 0:30:49"and what you have to decide is if you want to die as well."

0:30:54 > 0:30:56Suddenly,

0:30:56 > 0:30:57the phone's answered

0:30:57 > 0:31:00and there's Zafar's voice

0:31:00 > 0:31:03and he's saying, "Dad, what's the matter?"

0:31:03 > 0:31:05We kind of tottered home

0:31:05 > 0:31:07to find a lot of police outside our house

0:31:07 > 0:31:09and my father kind of panicking down the phone.

0:31:09 > 0:31:12It turned out the police had looked at the next-door neighbour's house

0:31:12 > 0:31:15and it hadn't been our front door that was open,

0:31:15 > 0:31:17it was our neighbour's.

0:31:18 > 0:31:20We'd been stuck at a parents' evening

0:31:20 > 0:31:22or some kind of school function.

0:31:22 > 0:31:24My mother had tried to leave him a message and it hadn't worked

0:31:24 > 0:31:27and there'd just been a big miscommunication.

0:31:27 > 0:31:29I mean, it was just beyond...

0:31:29 > 0:31:31You can't imagine what it was like.

0:31:31 > 0:31:33Or perhaps you can imagine

0:31:33 > 0:31:36because, I mean, anybody who has children could imagine.

0:31:38 > 0:31:40We'd get calls at home from people

0:31:40 > 0:31:44telling us they knew our number and were coming to kill us.

0:31:44 > 0:31:47I'd pick up the phone and there'd be a voice down the end of the phone

0:31:47 > 0:31:50saying they knew your number, they know your address,

0:31:50 > 0:31:51somebody will be there soon,

0:31:51 > 0:31:54at which point I would sort of say, "Mum, it's for you!"

0:31:56 > 0:32:01He spent an hour with his mother and Sameen at the Pinters' home.

0:32:01 > 0:32:05Just as in the days before and after his father's death,

0:32:05 > 0:32:07his mother hid her fear and worry

0:32:07 > 0:32:10behind a tight but loving smile,

0:32:10 > 0:32:13but her fists often clenched.

0:32:13 > 0:32:14She lived in Pakistan.

0:32:14 > 0:32:17Her starting position when she came was to say to him,

0:32:17 > 0:32:19"Oh, this is not Allah's fault -

0:32:19 > 0:32:24"there's a just a few Muslims and it's not everybody."

0:32:24 > 0:32:27And her own position began to shift.

0:32:27 > 0:32:31Her own sisters didn't really stand by her.

0:32:31 > 0:32:35At my parents' house, the name Rushdie is on the gates outside.

0:32:35 > 0:32:41And um, they asked her to take the name down, her sisters,

0:32:41 > 0:32:44and she said, "No. That will stay there,"

0:32:44 > 0:32:48and that name always stayed there, and she never took it down.

0:32:52 > 0:32:55The other thing that will surprise people

0:32:55 > 0:32:59is that you're not really Salman Rushdie anyway, are you?

0:32:59 > 0:33:02So that's a second pseudonym you have here.

0:33:02 > 0:33:04My father decided he had to have a modern...

0:33:04 > 0:33:07You know, like a surname and so he chose this name Rushdie

0:33:07 > 0:33:10because he was a great admirer

0:33:10 > 0:33:14of the medieval Arab philosopher Imni Rush,

0:33:14 > 0:33:17known in the west as Averroes,

0:33:17 > 0:33:24who was, in his time, a very modernising sensibility in Islam.

0:33:24 > 0:33:28It seemed extraordinary that my father had chosen that name,

0:33:28 > 0:33:30another modernising voice.

0:33:30 > 0:33:35We grew up in a secular but Muslim family,

0:33:35 > 0:33:40but aware of there are areas that you don't touch.

0:33:40 > 0:33:42One of the important things that Salman did

0:33:42 > 0:33:44was to throw open that door.

0:33:46 > 0:33:51Things don't have to be out of bounds, you can talk about anything.

0:33:51 > 0:33:55When, during the smoother passages of their bumpy journey

0:33:55 > 0:33:59as father and son, they sat on a veranda in a warm evening

0:33:59 > 0:34:02and argued passionately about the world,

0:34:02 > 0:34:05they both knew that although they disagreed on many topics,

0:34:05 > 0:34:08they had the same cast of mind.

0:34:08 > 0:34:12Everything, even holy writ, could be investigated

0:34:12 > 0:34:15and, just possibly, improved.

0:34:17 > 0:34:20I first met Salman in 1981,

0:34:20 > 0:34:24making a programme about his novel, Midnight's Children, for the BBC.

0:34:24 > 0:34:29That was the book in which he took on his multifarious birthright.

0:34:29 > 0:34:32I was born on August 15 1947

0:34:32 > 0:34:36and the time... The time matters, too.

0:34:36 > 0:34:39Well, then at night. No...

0:34:39 > 0:34:42It's important to be more...

0:34:42 > 0:34:46On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact,

0:34:46 > 0:34:50clock hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came.

0:34:51 > 0:34:55Oh, spell it out, spell it out.

0:34:55 > 0:34:58At the precise instant of India's arrival at independence,

0:34:58 > 0:35:01I tumbled forth into the world.

0:35:01 > 0:35:05- JAWAHARLARL NEHRU:- At the stroke of the midnight hour,

0:35:05 > 0:35:09when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.

0:35:11 > 0:35:15That 1981 film was literally the first time

0:35:15 > 0:35:18I'd ever been on television, which is why I looked so posh.

0:35:18 > 0:35:21I felt I had to dress up for it.

0:35:24 > 0:35:27Now, as you see, it's all different.

0:35:27 > 0:35:30I'm going to Cambridge.

0:35:30 > 0:35:34I must say, it's nice to be going, I haven't been for some years now.

0:35:35 > 0:35:38I was very happy at Cambridge,

0:35:38 > 0:35:43after having been very unhappy at boarding school.

0:35:44 > 0:35:47To middle class Indians of my parents' generation,

0:35:47 > 0:35:51the British public school was the acme of educational possibility

0:35:51 > 0:35:55and so they decided that they wanted me to go to one and sent me.

0:35:55 > 0:35:57So I went to Rugby.

0:35:57 > 0:35:59I had a certain amount of racist trouble,

0:35:59 > 0:36:02with people writing slogans on the wall of my room

0:36:02 > 0:36:06and tearing up my essays for me and nice things.

0:36:06 > 0:36:09Suddenly I realised that I didn't actually belong.

0:36:10 > 0:36:14He didn't tell his parents what school had been like

0:36:14 > 0:36:15until after he left it.

0:36:15 > 0:36:19So, in his letters home, he created his first fictions

0:36:19 > 0:36:23about idyllic schooldays of sunshine and cricket.

0:36:24 > 0:36:29Cambridge was like a discovery

0:36:29 > 0:36:33that being educated in England could be fun.

0:36:34 > 0:36:38I studied history. One of the subjects I chose

0:36:38 > 0:36:42was about Muhammad and the rise of Islam.

0:36:42 > 0:36:45That was the year in which I first came across

0:36:45 > 0:36:48the so-called incident of The Satanic Verses.

0:36:52 > 0:36:56- SAMEEN:- Some of his engagement on that subject comes from my father.

0:36:56 > 0:37:00My father always said that he loved the prophet Muhammad,

0:37:00 > 0:37:02but he loved him as a man in a time in history

0:37:02 > 0:37:05who he thought did interesting things,

0:37:05 > 0:37:09and that's the way in which that subject was discussed in our home.

0:37:11 > 0:37:14The thing that interested me about the origins of Islam

0:37:14 > 0:37:19are basically that it's the only one of the great world religions

0:37:19 > 0:37:22that really was born and developed

0:37:22 > 0:37:25in what we could really call recorded history.

0:37:25 > 0:37:28We know about Muhammad as a historical person

0:37:28 > 0:37:33and we also therefore know about the birth of this idea

0:37:33 > 0:37:35as an event inside history.

0:37:37 > 0:37:41At the gates to Mecca stood temples to three goddesses,

0:37:41 > 0:37:44winged goddesses, like exalted birds.

0:37:44 > 0:37:46Or angels.

0:37:47 > 0:37:50Each time the trading caravans went through the city gates,

0:37:50 > 0:37:53they made an offering - paid a tax.

0:37:53 > 0:37:56The wealthiest families in Mecca controlled the temples

0:37:56 > 0:38:01and much of their wealth came from these "offerings".

0:38:01 > 0:38:05In the building known as the Cube, or Kaaba, in the centre of town

0:38:05 > 0:38:08there were idols of hundreds of gods.

0:38:08 > 0:38:11One of these statues, by no means the most popular,

0:38:11 > 0:38:14represented Al-Lah, meaning "the god",

0:38:14 > 0:38:18just as Al-Lat was "the goddess".

0:38:18 > 0:38:21The man who would pluck Al-Lah from near-obscurity

0:38:21 > 0:38:24and become his prophet was Muhammad.

0:38:24 > 0:38:29He may - just may - have been offered an attractive deal,

0:38:29 > 0:38:31designed to buy him off.

0:38:31 > 0:38:35If Muhammad could agree that the bird-goddesses could be worshipped

0:38:35 > 0:38:39by followers of Islam then the persecution of Muslims would cease.

0:38:39 > 0:38:43The Prophet came down from the mountain one day

0:38:43 > 0:38:45and recited this sura.

0:38:45 > 0:38:47"Have you heard of the exalted birds?

0:38:47 > 0:38:50"Their intercession is greatly to be desired."

0:38:54 > 0:38:59But later he returned to the mountain and came down, abashed,

0:38:59 > 0:39:03to state that he'd been deceived on his previous visit -

0:39:03 > 0:39:07the devil had appeared to him in the guise of the archangel

0:39:07 > 0:39:11and the verses he had been given were not divine, but Satanic,

0:39:11 > 0:39:15and should be expunged from the Qur'an.

0:39:16 > 0:39:21After that, the monotheism of Islam, having been tested in the cauldron,

0:39:21 > 0:39:23remained unwavering and strong.

0:39:25 > 0:39:27The first or second floor, I can't exactly remember.

0:39:27 > 0:39:30Ironically, it was here in Cambridge

0:39:30 > 0:39:33under the tutelage of an inspirational history don

0:39:33 > 0:39:38that he first discovered the story of The Satanic Verses.

0:39:38 > 0:39:41Just up there, that was the birthplace of the novel.

0:39:41 > 0:39:43Up there by the river.

0:39:45 > 0:39:48It was a generation of great historians who were there

0:39:48 > 0:39:50teaching me at the time.

0:39:50 > 0:39:52Especially Arthur Hibbert,

0:39:52 > 0:39:54who was really one of these polymathic figures

0:39:54 > 0:39:56who knew everything about everything.

0:39:56 > 0:39:59Arthur's rooms were... You can see them here,

0:39:59 > 0:40:02that corner room was where I used to go every week

0:40:02 > 0:40:06for supervisions on my Muhammad And The Rise Of Islam paper.

0:40:06 > 0:40:10The Satanic Verses took 20 years to be born, but that's where it started.

0:40:11 > 0:40:15Hello! Goodness, you look so smart.

0:40:15 > 0:40:18Well, it's great to see you, too.

0:40:19 > 0:40:22I've written a memoir and obviously a part of it has to do

0:40:22 > 0:40:26with the special subject I did in my final year,

0:40:26 > 0:40:28- which was about Muhammad... - I can remember.

0:40:28 > 0:40:32They stopped it because you were the only person who wanted to read it.

0:40:32 > 0:40:36- That's right. - And I knew a tiny, tiny little bit.

0:40:36 > 0:40:39More than that, but it was great because you agreed to supervise me

0:40:39 > 0:40:42and I think I therefore became the only person in the university to do it that year.

0:40:42 > 0:40:45It was very much you.

0:40:45 > 0:40:48It was, kind of, fate, isn't it?

0:40:48 > 0:40:52- There was one person at the university...- You made your fate.

0:40:56 > 0:40:58The great questions of history -

0:40:58 > 0:41:00you know, are we masters or victims of our times -

0:41:00 > 0:41:04gave me my subject as a writer. If I'd studied English literature,

0:41:04 > 0:41:06I'd probably have ended up reviewing books.

0:41:06 > 0:41:10It's a subject that reshaped itself in front of your eyes

0:41:10 > 0:41:12for you, as it were.

0:41:12 > 0:41:16Here is a problem, here is something funny,

0:41:16 > 0:41:20here is something of breathtaking importance - whatever it was.

0:41:20 > 0:41:24There was no set path.

0:41:24 > 0:41:27You just wandered around picking and choosing

0:41:27 > 0:41:30as your intelligence suggested.

0:41:35 > 0:41:39I remember you telling me that people shouldn't write history

0:41:39 > 0:41:42until they could hear the people speak.

0:41:42 > 0:41:46It's true. I recognise that. That's mine, yeah.

0:41:46 > 0:41:50It got stuck in my head and actually when I came to write fiction

0:41:50 > 0:41:53I thought that was very good guidance.

0:41:56 > 0:42:02- You knew Forster, didn't you?- Oh, very well. Very well indeed, yes.

0:42:02 > 0:42:05I ran into him a few times. He told me a story

0:42:05 > 0:42:11about how he sometimes would dream in words rather than images

0:42:11 > 0:42:14and that he got in the habit of waking himself up

0:42:14 > 0:42:17and writing them down in a diary, but nobody ever found it.

0:42:17 > 0:42:21It sounds highly original and therefore highly likely.

0:42:28 > 0:42:31Passage To India is a great book anyway

0:42:31 > 0:42:33and it's a very important book to me

0:42:33 > 0:42:37and to any writers thinking of writing about India in English.

0:42:37 > 0:42:41And in a way, I constructed the language of Midnight's Children

0:42:41 > 0:42:45as a kind of response to that very cool Forsterian English.

0:42:48 > 0:42:53That's not how India felt to me. India felt to me hot, not cool

0:42:53 > 0:42:55and so I set about trying to create

0:42:55 > 0:42:58if you like a sort of anti-Forster language,

0:42:58 > 0:43:03you know, hot, vulgar, crowded, noisy, smelly language.

0:43:08 > 0:43:10I used to have rooms on the top floor

0:43:10 > 0:43:15and on the floor below were Forster's rooms.

0:43:15 > 0:43:18And so literally I would have to pass his door every day

0:43:18 > 0:43:20on my way up to my room.

0:43:23 > 0:43:28We met each other by chance on the day that Evelyn Waugh died.

0:43:28 > 0:43:31He said, "That's a truly great writer, not like me."

0:43:31 > 0:43:34He was a very modest man,

0:43:34 > 0:43:40but it always felt to me like a real special moment in my life

0:43:40 > 0:43:45that I just got to touch the hem of his garment.

0:43:47 > 0:43:51I remain to this day inspired by his great novel.

0:43:56 > 0:43:58Rushdie began to write.

0:43:58 > 0:44:03His battling with his own traditions made him a chapter in history.

0:44:03 > 0:44:08He did become a different kind of writer - hot, not cool.

0:44:08 > 0:44:15That mix of fable, magical realism, highly political discussion,

0:44:15 > 0:44:18as well as dream sequence

0:44:18 > 0:44:23was a very highly charged, combustible mixture.

0:44:25 > 0:44:29A novel like Satanic Verses, is perfectly constructed

0:44:29 > 0:44:33to capture that era, that time of massive global transformation.

0:44:36 > 0:44:40Violence, murders, expulsions of suspected assassins

0:44:40 > 0:44:43continued from the first year into the second.

0:44:43 > 0:44:47Salman was still in hiding, increasingly isolated.

0:44:49 > 0:44:52He didn't hear the wings of the exterminating angel,

0:44:52 > 0:44:57but they were up there, above him, coming lower all the time.

0:45:00 > 0:45:03I can understand Muslim fundamentalists

0:45:03 > 0:45:08following the party line and perceiving Salman as a devil,

0:45:08 > 0:45:11but anybody in the west with our tradition of human rights...

0:45:11 > 0:45:17I don't see how anyone could make that argument, but many did and...

0:45:17 > 0:45:20I think it's a failure to make a distinction about, you know,

0:45:20 > 0:45:25tolerating plural views and something criminal.

0:45:25 > 0:45:29I can think of John Le Carre, Roald Dahl, different people who...

0:45:29 > 0:45:33- Who really turned on him.- Who turned on him and were very abusive.

0:45:33 > 0:45:35I mean, writers, of all people,

0:45:35 > 0:45:38are the ones who should believe in freedom of speech.

0:45:40 > 0:45:43The other thing that people imagine is that Salman is being given protection,

0:45:43 > 0:45:46so there must be someone in the Great British Government

0:45:46 > 0:45:47who's looking after him.

0:45:47 > 0:45:51And actually what happened, for up to a couple of years,

0:45:51 > 0:45:55no-one in the government contacted him, no-one spoke to him.

0:45:55 > 0:45:57I had been asked not to talk.

0:45:59 > 0:46:06It did feel for a long time that I had become this empty space

0:46:06 > 0:46:09into which everybody else could pour their opinions

0:46:09 > 0:46:12and prejudices and attitudes.

0:46:15 > 0:46:18Early on, Rushdie had tried to defuse the situation by apologising.

0:46:22 > 0:46:24But Khomeini had again called on

0:46:24 > 0:46:28every Muslim to employ everything he has got, to send him to hell.

0:46:29 > 0:46:32But in a sense, Salman was in hell already.

0:46:33 > 0:46:36This was his lowest ebb. He was desperate for a way out.

0:46:39 > 0:46:45It felt like a really bleak moment.

0:46:45 > 0:46:50I was in this kind of almost self-destructive frame of mind.

0:46:52 > 0:46:54For two years, he'd been heading down a road

0:46:54 > 0:46:56towards the heart of darkness.

0:46:56 > 0:47:00He saw himself swaying on the edge of a great abyss.

0:47:02 > 0:47:04But he was also hearing the seductive murmur of hope.

0:47:06 > 0:47:09Muslim leaders said they could see a way out -

0:47:09 > 0:47:11if he would declare himself a Muslim.

0:47:12 > 0:47:16They met at a maximum security police station in London.

0:47:16 > 0:47:21There was this inquisitorial set-up all sitting behind a long table,

0:47:21 > 0:47:23I was supposed to face them.

0:47:23 > 0:47:27They were saying, "We really want to bring you back towards us

0:47:27 > 0:47:30"and there's no question of your withdrawing the book

0:47:30 > 0:47:33"and, you know, maybe a good idea to delay the paperback

0:47:33 > 0:47:36"while we could go out there and get everybody to calm down

0:47:36 > 0:47:39"but we will throw our weight behind you," etc. etc.

0:47:39 > 0:47:40But the price of the ticket

0:47:40 > 0:47:43was that I had to make this statement of faith.

0:47:43 > 0:47:48Well, I just felt in a kind of state of despair, almost,

0:47:48 > 0:47:53and, kind of, befuddled myself into signing the document.

0:47:53 > 0:47:55I was completely stunned.

0:47:55 > 0:47:58And I remember very clearly ringing Salman

0:47:58 > 0:48:02and saying, "What is this about? Have you gone mad?"

0:48:02 > 0:48:06At that point, he had had a couple of days to think about it

0:48:06 > 0:48:08and I think he began to think he HAD gone mad.

0:48:08 > 0:48:11The moment I was in the car

0:48:11 > 0:48:15I began to feel physically sick.

0:48:15 > 0:48:17First of all, it was a really stupid thing to do.

0:48:17 > 0:48:20It was kind of a bottom of the barrel moment for me.

0:48:20 > 0:48:22But I was, for a time anyway, stuck in the trap

0:48:22 > 0:48:23cos I just put myself in it.

0:48:23 > 0:48:27- INTERVIEWER:- And you have now effectively become a Muslim?

0:48:27 > 0:48:30What I have said is that in all my writing,

0:48:30 > 0:48:34I have moved closer and closer to an engagement with religious faith.

0:48:34 > 0:48:37I have no quarrel with the central tenets of Islam,

0:48:37 > 0:48:39which is the oneness of God.

0:48:39 > 0:48:42And the validity of the prophecy of the prophet Muhammad.

0:48:42 > 0:48:46- So you're a believer?- I am able to accept the central principle

0:48:46 > 0:48:51of Islam. As I've been saying, I'm by no means a perfect believer...

0:48:51 > 0:48:54'Interviews I had to give at the time was kind of strangled

0:48:54 > 0:48:56'and tortured and trying to say what I think.

0:48:56 > 0:49:00'You're trapped in that language in which you can't operate.'

0:49:00 > 0:49:01He came round and I said,

0:49:01 > 0:49:04"We've put a little room there. You can go in there

0:49:04 > 0:49:05"and say your prayers before dinner.

0:49:05 > 0:49:08"I'm certainly not serving you any wine tonight."

0:49:08 > 0:49:10And he said, "Oh, piss off! Shut up!"

0:49:12 > 0:49:15I don't think anybody blamed him for trying it on.

0:49:15 > 0:49:17You know, who wouldn't have done the same,

0:49:17 > 0:49:20anything to get out of that terrible situation?

0:49:20 > 0:49:25And the awful thing about it was that it didn't really work.

0:49:25 > 0:49:29The Ayatollah said, you can't repudiate a fatwa anyway,

0:49:29 > 0:49:32so there's no good pretending to be a good man now.

0:49:32 > 0:49:33You know it's too late.

0:49:33 > 0:49:38You're not getting off the hook by conceding.

0:49:38 > 0:49:41That's not how you play poker.

0:49:41 > 0:49:46They immediately started demanding the withdrawal of the book totally,

0:49:46 > 0:49:48and saying that I was not sincere unless I did that.

0:49:48 > 0:49:51But I mean, they're probably right about the not being sincere.

0:49:51 > 0:49:54'So anyway, the whole thing just spiralled downwards.'

0:49:54 > 0:49:56Right, on the phone to me

0:49:56 > 0:49:59is Mr Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses.

0:49:59 > 0:50:01- Mr Rushdie, good morning to you. - Good morning.

0:50:01 > 0:50:04Let's go straight to our first question, which comes from Said,

0:50:04 > 0:50:09- calling from Southall. - I would like to know, are you prepared to withdraw

0:50:09 > 0:50:12all copies of The Satanic Verses published so far?

0:50:12 > 0:50:15No, I'm not prepared to withdraw The Satanic Verses.

0:50:15 > 0:50:17I think that would be an unreasonable request.

0:50:17 > 0:50:20'I think it's the only time that he made

0:50:20 > 0:50:22'a dishonest judgement'

0:50:22 > 0:50:26and it was a no win situation, and I think he realised that.

0:50:26 > 0:50:30But what I realised was that even I, who is so close to him,

0:50:30 > 0:50:32hadn't understood how dark the place

0:50:32 > 0:50:35that he was living in had now become.

0:50:36 > 0:50:39A month later, the experiment was over.

0:50:41 > 0:50:45That was the start for Salman just saying,

0:50:45 > 0:50:49"Right, I'm now going to do this my own way."

0:50:49 > 0:50:52He grew and grew. He became such a tiger for his corner.

0:50:55 > 0:50:58Salman had come out blinking into the light.

0:50:58 > 0:51:01Seizing the initiative brought him back to life.

0:51:01 > 0:51:04He became inspirational at that point, it was transforming.

0:51:12 > 0:51:14If somebody is trying to kill you,

0:51:14 > 0:51:18if many people say that they want you dead,

0:51:18 > 0:51:21the question is, is it worth dying for?

0:51:22 > 0:51:25What is it that you would put your life on the line for?

0:51:25 > 0:51:29Free speech and the life of imagination?

0:51:29 > 0:51:32Liberty from religious constraint?

0:51:32 > 0:51:35These were the things that I cared most about.

0:51:35 > 0:51:39I didn't pick this battle but given that it's here,

0:51:39 > 0:51:42it's the war I'm prepared to fight.

0:51:44 > 0:51:47He later became president of American PEN,

0:51:47 > 0:51:49which had sprung to his defence,

0:51:49 > 0:51:51fighting for writers all over the world.

0:51:51 > 0:51:56Perhaps we can argue that art is stronger than the censor.

0:51:56 > 0:51:58And perhaps it often is.

0:51:58 > 0:52:02Artists however are vulnerable.

0:52:02 > 0:52:04'If the creative artist worries

0:52:04 > 0:52:07'whether he will still be free tomorrow,

0:52:07 > 0:52:10'then he will not be free today.

0:52:10 > 0:52:14'If we are not confident of our freedom, then we are not free.'

0:52:14 > 0:52:18I'm from India and I'm very happy that I could read your novel here.

0:52:18 > 0:52:20- Can I have your autograph?- Yes.

0:52:20 > 0:52:24As Salman grew into the role of defending himself,

0:52:24 > 0:52:28he became the defender of freedom of expression in general.

0:52:28 > 0:52:29And took the community,

0:52:29 > 0:52:34the literary community and many others outside that, with him.

0:52:34 > 0:52:38I mean, that's the story, I think it's a heroic story.

0:52:41 > 0:52:45Publishers had to decide whether to risk being heroes.

0:52:45 > 0:52:47In Germany, they banded together

0:52:47 > 0:52:49to avoid any one of them being singled out.

0:52:49 > 0:52:52But when it came time to bring out the paperback,

0:52:52 > 0:52:54even this ruse wasn't enough.

0:52:54 > 0:52:58Every single publisher in New York

0:52:58 > 0:53:01said, "No, we will not publish the paperback.

0:53:01 > 0:53:05"Not by ourselves and not in a group."

0:53:05 > 0:53:11So I was walking along and inspired by the German precedent,

0:53:11 > 0:53:14I thought, "Well if we can publish the paperback ourselves,

0:53:14 > 0:53:17"Salman and me, and call it The Consortium,

0:53:17 > 0:53:21"then every publisher in New York will not want it known

0:53:21 > 0:53:23"that he is not a member of The Consortium

0:53:23 > 0:53:25"and will assume that his neighbour is."

0:53:25 > 0:53:29And so that's how the book was published.

0:53:29 > 0:53:32I've told a couple of people what happened,

0:53:32 > 0:53:37but most publishers, if you were to go up to them and say,

0:53:37 > 0:53:40"So were you a part of that consortium that publishes?"

0:53:40 > 0:53:42"Yes, yes, yes. I was."

0:53:46 > 0:53:48People were scared, but with reason.

0:53:49 > 0:53:52The gentleman who knifed the Italian translator

0:53:52 > 0:53:58wanted Salman's address and the poor translator didn't have it.

0:53:59 > 0:54:03In Japan, the translator was killed in an elevator.

0:54:03 > 0:54:06His throat was cut and it was horrific.

0:54:07 > 0:54:11Earlier, the Japanese publisher had been attacked.

0:54:11 > 0:54:13The whole situation was horrific,

0:54:13 > 0:54:15but either you cave or you don't

0:54:15 > 0:54:20and it always seemed pretty clear to me that you don't cave.

0:54:22 > 0:54:24Or there's no freedom of speech.

0:54:26 > 0:54:29The Norwegian publisher was the first

0:54:29 > 0:54:33to bring out a paperback edition, but there was a price to pay.

0:54:35 > 0:54:37He went out to his car one morning

0:54:37 > 0:54:39and found the front tyre was punctured.

0:54:46 > 0:54:49I went to the other side of the car

0:54:49 > 0:54:51to get the phone number of the AA.

0:54:53 > 0:54:55I was trying to use my mobile.

0:54:58 > 0:55:01The first shot came.

0:55:01 > 0:55:04I didn't understand it was a shot.

0:55:04 > 0:55:08I didn't understand anything at the beginning.

0:55:08 > 0:55:10I was a bit paralysed

0:55:10 > 0:55:13until the second shot came.

0:55:17 > 0:55:20The shot came from behind.

0:55:20 > 0:55:23I started running and jumped down the hill.

0:55:28 > 0:55:29I never saw the gunman.

0:55:32 > 0:55:34'I feel responsible.'

0:55:34 > 0:55:38It was obvious to me that William was the soft target.

0:55:38 > 0:55:42They were attacking William because they couldn't get to me.

0:55:42 > 0:55:45There were several days when it wasn't at all clear

0:55:45 > 0:55:49that he was going to survive. I called the hospital room.

0:55:49 > 0:55:50I began to apologise to him,

0:55:50 > 0:55:53I began to say, "Look, you know, I feel guilty.

0:55:53 > 0:55:56"I feel terrible about what's happened." And he stopped me.

0:55:56 > 0:56:01He said, "I'm a grown-up person.

0:56:01 > 0:56:04"I run a publishing company and I know perfectly well

0:56:04 > 0:56:06"what I'm doing when I publish a book."

0:56:06 > 0:56:11And he said, "I'm very proud to be the publisher of the book.

0:56:11 > 0:56:13"The true publisher.

0:56:13 > 0:56:16"What's more, I've just ordered a very large reprint."

0:56:20 > 0:56:23Despite the constant police escort,

0:56:23 > 0:56:26Salman, now parted from Marianne, met someone else

0:56:26 > 0:56:29at a house he was using for meetings in London.

0:56:31 > 0:56:32I'd been house sitting.

0:56:32 > 0:56:36In fact, it wasn't house sitting, it was parrot sitting.

0:56:39 > 0:56:41He said, "Perhaps we could have supper."

0:56:41 > 0:56:44And I said, "Yes, yes! That would be nice."

0:56:44 > 0:56:47And he said, "Well, you'll have to cook."

0:56:48 > 0:56:53And I put the phone down, thinking, "What have I just agreed to?"

0:56:53 > 0:56:55He arrived with a policeman first,

0:56:55 > 0:56:59who would always come in and check out the house.

0:56:59 > 0:57:01And we had this lovely supper.

0:57:01 > 0:57:04I think we saw each other the next day as well,

0:57:04 > 0:57:07with the policeman sitting in the next room!

0:57:07 > 0:57:11And I... You know, those couple of occasions,

0:57:11 > 0:57:16they were kept up rather late before he went home.

0:57:16 > 0:57:18Late starts, very late finishes as well.

0:57:18 > 0:57:21We'd be out several nights a week.

0:57:21 > 0:57:24People may look back now and say,

0:57:24 > 0:57:27"Well, yes, it was expensive," but it allowed a British citizen

0:57:27 > 0:57:31to go about his own life, rather than having somebody

0:57:31 > 0:57:34sort of hidden for, you know, the rest of their days.

0:57:34 > 0:57:39Salman decided that he was not going to be afraid,

0:57:39 > 0:57:42and he was not going to jump at shadows.

0:57:42 > 0:57:45It enabled him to lead a much more normal life.

0:57:45 > 0:57:49And I think I enabled him to lead that normal life.

0:57:49 > 0:57:52I think I was perhaps

0:57:52 > 0:57:55the calm in his life.

0:57:57 > 0:58:00My older daughter Maya, she was a baby when this happened.

0:58:02 > 0:58:05It became a while before she realised that every time

0:58:05 > 0:58:07she saw her uncle, he was in a different house.

0:58:07 > 0:58:10Maya thought he was really, really rich

0:58:10 > 0:58:12and he had lots of different houses

0:58:12 > 0:58:15and lived always with lots of friendly people.

0:58:17 > 0:58:20For Zafar too, the abnormal became normal.

0:58:21 > 0:58:23What's very weird is to think

0:58:23 > 0:58:27that it's not weird to go out

0:58:27 > 0:58:28with four armed men

0:58:28 > 0:58:31in two armoured bulletproof cars

0:58:31 > 0:58:34to drive 40 minutes in the wrong direction,

0:58:34 > 0:58:38change cars in a car park for a cinema somewhere,

0:58:38 > 0:58:41get into two more armoured bulletproof cars

0:58:41 > 0:58:43with eight more armoured armed men,

0:58:43 > 0:58:45and drive back to where you were going in the first place,

0:58:45 > 0:58:48which sometimes was ten minutes from the starting point.

0:58:48 > 0:58:50That was our normal way of getting places.

0:58:52 > 0:58:54Secrets become a part of everyday life.

0:58:56 > 0:58:59That's a hard thing I think to get used to as a kid,

0:58:59 > 0:59:02and also to explain to your friends later on.

0:59:02 > 0:59:06To understand when it's OK to lie, you have to grow up quite quickly.

0:59:13 > 0:59:15Even four years into the fatwa,

0:59:15 > 0:59:19Rushdie couldn't go to the toilet unaccompanied.

0:59:26 > 0:59:30The most dangerous zone was the space between the exit door

0:59:30 > 0:59:33of a building and the door of the car.

0:59:33 > 0:59:37The police had suggested a wig. He was extremely dubious.

0:59:38 > 0:59:41He was offered bulletproof vests to wear.

0:59:41 > 0:59:44He refused them. He would not scuttle.

0:59:44 > 0:59:46He would try to walk with his head held high.

0:59:51 > 0:59:54He felt caught in a trap. America called.

0:59:55 > 0:59:57'I want to be in America.

0:59:57 > 0:59:59'America where everyone is like me,

0:59:59 > 1:00:03'because everyone comes from somewhere else.

1:00:03 > 1:00:06'All those histories, persecutions, all those secret ceremonies,

1:00:06 > 1:00:09'hanged witches, weeping wooden virgins

1:00:09 > 1:00:11'and horned unyielding gods.

1:00:13 > 1:00:16'All that yearning, greed. All those variform manglings of English

1:00:16 > 1:00:19'adding up to the livingest English in the world.

1:00:19 > 1:00:23'And above everything else, all that smuggled-in music.

1:00:23 > 1:00:26'America, a magic land.''

1:00:35 > 1:00:38He wanted to come, he wanted to come, he wanted to come.

1:00:39 > 1:00:42Eventually the British government

1:00:42 > 1:00:45allowed that he could be conveyed

1:00:45 > 1:00:47on a navy transport.

1:00:47 > 1:00:50He gave a speech at Colombia.

1:00:50 > 1:00:52More security than you can imagine.

1:00:54 > 1:00:59We had a, for some reason, white stretched limousine

1:00:59 > 1:01:02with doors this thick.

1:01:02 > 1:01:04We left Colombia

1:01:04 > 1:01:07and went down 125th Street,

1:01:07 > 1:01:08past The Apollo Theatre.

1:01:10 > 1:01:13If you are a James Brown fanatic, as I am,

1:01:13 > 1:01:17you can't do better than riding down 125th Street

1:01:17 > 1:01:19in a white stretch bulletproof limo

1:01:19 > 1:01:21with helicopters and motorcycles.

1:01:21 > 1:01:24Everyone in Harlem stopped and thought,

1:01:24 > 1:01:28"This is the king of all drug busts or something."

1:01:32 > 1:01:35I was sitting in the back, saying, "Salman, this is it.

1:01:35 > 1:01:38"This is heaven. This is as much fun

1:01:38 > 1:01:41"as it's possible to have in this town."

1:01:47 > 1:01:51Security in New York explained that Elizabeth

1:01:51 > 1:01:53could not ride in the car with Salman.

1:01:53 > 1:01:57She could be a plant, she could kill him.

1:01:59 > 1:02:03And I said, "Oh I'm pretty sure that's not the situation!"

1:02:05 > 1:02:08The man said, "You don't understand, Mr Rushdie.

1:02:08 > 1:02:11"She could have a concealed fork - in the neck!"

1:02:13 > 1:02:16So Elizabeth became known as The Forkist.

1:02:26 > 1:02:30And then Salman and Elizabeth were allowed to buy their own home.

1:02:32 > 1:02:35'It had been agreed at the highest level, the police said.

1:02:35 > 1:02:39'It was difficult to explain to the building contractor

1:02:39 > 1:02:43'why a publisher like Mr Anton required bulletproof glass

1:02:43 > 1:02:47'in the ground floor windows, or a safe room upstairs.

1:02:47 > 1:02:51'It took nine months to prepare the house for Mr Anton,

1:02:51 > 1:02:54'who lived there for the following seven years,

1:02:54 > 1:02:57'and the secret was kept throughout that time.'

1:02:59 > 1:03:01Everyone lived behind their wrought iron gates

1:03:01 > 1:03:05and no one's really opening their own front door.

1:03:05 > 1:03:07I think that's why he went to live somewhere like that,

1:03:07 > 1:03:11because it wouldn't seem odd that the owner never opened the door.

1:03:13 > 1:03:16It had to be a place that allowed

1:03:16 > 1:03:18for four policemen to live in.

1:03:18 > 1:03:21And the police said, "It fits our criteria."

1:03:33 > 1:03:35I arranged to meet the senior protection officer

1:03:35 > 1:03:38who lived with Salman in the Bishops Avenue years,

1:03:38 > 1:03:40at the place he loves the most - Lords.

1:03:42 > 1:03:45'Whispering Frank the cricket lover,

1:03:45 > 1:03:47'the kindly protection officer

1:03:47 > 1:03:51'with whom Elizabeth and he had forged the closest relationship.'

1:03:52 > 1:03:5595, we came to a test.

1:03:55 > 1:03:56As I was a member of MCC,

1:03:56 > 1:04:01I was able to go ahead and choose decent seats

1:04:01 > 1:04:05and managed to get up there in the Warner Stand.

1:04:05 > 1:04:09He and Harold Pinter enjoyed a lovely day's cricket.

1:04:09 > 1:04:12Harold Pinter, who was a great, great cricket lover, of course.

1:04:12 > 1:04:15Yes, but he's a gentle man.

1:04:15 > 1:04:19You could talk cricket with Harold very sensibly.

1:04:22 > 1:04:25But it wasn't all cricket.

1:04:25 > 1:04:27I remember it was one afternoon.

1:04:27 > 1:04:29I was looking at the screen,

1:04:29 > 1:04:36and I saw this little chap inveigle his way into the courtyard.

1:04:36 > 1:04:38He went over to the cars, tried the door handles.

1:04:38 > 1:04:40I thought, "This is a problem."

1:04:40 > 1:04:42We had three options.

1:04:42 > 1:04:46One was to let him go, which wasn't very satisfactory,

1:04:46 > 1:04:48you know, from a police point of view.

1:04:50 > 1:04:53The other was to arrest him

1:04:53 > 1:04:55but then you'd have to bring in the local police.

1:04:55 > 1:04:58But once they know, then everyone would know.

1:04:58 > 1:04:59Well, word would get about.

1:05:01 > 1:05:03The other option was to...

1:05:03 > 1:05:09well, it hardly bears mentioning, but, you know, get rid of him.

1:05:13 > 1:05:16In the end, the intruder was released but followed -

1:05:16 > 1:05:20he worked on a local building site. They left it at that.

1:05:23 > 1:05:27And in that strange situation, Rushdie was writing again.

1:05:31 > 1:05:35'Slowly, slowly, his old power returned.

1:05:36 > 1:05:37'The world went away.

1:05:39 > 1:05:40'Time stood still.

1:05:41 > 1:05:44'He fell happily towards that deep place

1:05:44 > 1:05:47'where unwritten books wait to be found,

1:05:47 > 1:05:50'like lovers demanding proof of utter devotion

1:05:50 > 1:05:52'before they appear.'

1:05:52 > 1:05:55God knows what it's like to live under that kind of scrutiny

1:05:55 > 1:05:57and continue to be an artist.

1:05:59 > 1:06:01What you really want to be if you're a writer is anonymous

1:06:01 > 1:06:04and to watch other people and write your books.

1:06:04 > 1:06:07The nightmare is that you become the subject.

1:06:16 > 1:06:19As the fatwa was drawing near to its ten year toll,

1:06:19 > 1:06:23Salman and Elizabeth had a child - Milan.

1:06:23 > 1:06:27'How could they think about bringing a child into this nightmare,

1:06:27 > 1:06:29'into their soft prison?'

1:06:31 > 1:06:34He knew how much I wanted a baby.

1:06:34 > 1:06:37And so he, he...

1:06:37 > 1:06:39Yeah, we eventually got him!

1:06:39 > 1:06:41SHE LAUGHS

1:06:41 > 1:06:45It took a while. And... and the police were fantastic.

1:06:45 > 1:06:47They were terribly thrilled. And I remember,

1:06:47 > 1:06:52they took me to the hospital, when I went into labour.

1:06:52 > 1:06:55So, you know, there's me, Salman in the back,

1:06:55 > 1:06:59- police driving, with me saying, "Ouch." - SHE LAUGHS

1:06:59 > 1:07:00That was quite a tricky protection.

1:07:00 > 1:07:04He was born at... in the Lindo Wing at Paddington,

1:07:04 > 1:07:10and yeah, we had to not only ensure that, you know,

1:07:10 > 1:07:12Elizabeth could get in at the right time,

1:07:12 > 1:07:14there was a plan for that,

1:07:14 > 1:07:18but also to facilitate his visits to see Milan.

1:07:18 > 1:07:21That's when you become most aware

1:07:21 > 1:07:23of the intrusion in someone's private life.

1:07:24 > 1:07:26They all had families and they said,

1:07:26 > 1:07:29"This is our first Special Branch baby."

1:07:29 > 1:07:35And after that, Tony and Cherie had Leo.

1:07:35 > 1:07:37But they said, "You are our first..."

1:07:39 > 1:07:41It was a fun time.

1:07:41 > 1:07:43It was kind of awful, it was an awful time as well,

1:07:43 > 1:07:45because of what was happening to him.

1:07:45 > 1:07:48But during that time,

1:07:48 > 1:07:51I think we had a lot of fun.

1:07:51 > 1:07:54There was a lot of laughter.

1:07:55 > 1:07:56The flowerbed!

1:07:58 > 1:07:59"Magic lands lie all around,

1:07:59 > 1:08:02"Inside, outside, underground.

1:08:02 > 1:08:04"Looking-glass worlds still abound.

1:08:04 > 1:08:06"All their tales this truth reveal:

1:08:06 > 1:08:08"Naught but love makes magic real."

1:08:11 > 1:08:13Salman's first wife Clarissa,

1:08:13 > 1:08:16mother of Zafar, was dying of breast cancer.

1:08:18 > 1:08:21'The wings, the beating wings.

1:08:21 > 1:08:25'It was the hardest thing he ever had to tell his son.

1:08:25 > 1:08:27'Zafar was horribly shocked.

1:08:28 > 1:08:32'She wasn't the parent Zafar was supposed to lose.'

1:08:44 > 1:08:46Even before Milan was born,

1:08:46 > 1:08:50Salman was thinking of buying a bolthole in New York.

1:08:53 > 1:08:56He'd been wanting to live in New York for many years.

1:08:58 > 1:09:02I always felt that...the, um...

1:09:02 > 1:09:04the mistress was New York.

1:09:04 > 1:09:06- SHE LAUGHS - And not another woman.

1:09:08 > 1:09:09Um...yeah.

1:09:15 > 1:09:17Their relationship was coming to an end.

1:09:19 > 1:09:21But so, at last, was the fatwa.

1:09:23 > 1:09:26The Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention,

1:09:26 > 1:09:30nor is it going to take any action whatsoever,

1:09:30 > 1:09:33to threaten the life of the author of The Satanic Verses.

1:09:33 > 1:09:35REPORTERS TALK

1:09:37 > 1:09:38Mr Rushdie.

1:09:38 > 1:09:40Over here, yes.

1:09:40 > 1:09:43What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?

1:09:43 > 1:09:45When I woke up this morning,

1:09:45 > 1:09:48I thought, "It's only half past five."

1:09:48 > 1:09:50LAUGHTER

1:09:50 > 1:09:52That was my first thought.

1:09:52 > 1:09:55It's...it's...

1:09:55 > 1:09:56It was very exciting.

1:09:56 > 1:10:01There was a residual fear that I would switch on the television

1:10:01 > 1:10:03and discover it wasn't true.

1:10:03 > 1:10:06So of course, I switched on the television,

1:10:06 > 1:10:09and fortunately, there seems to be a consensus

1:10:09 > 1:10:12in the Iranian political circles about this.

1:10:12 > 1:10:14It does seem that the deal is solid and...

1:10:17 > 1:10:19..and that gives me great happiness.

1:10:19 > 1:10:21Mr Rushdie, there are those hardliners

1:10:21 > 1:10:23who are still calling for you to make an apology

1:10:23 > 1:10:26over The Satanic Verses. What do you say to them today?

1:10:26 > 1:10:27Well, I think, you know...

1:10:27 > 1:10:31I'm saying that this is a moment for a fresh start.

1:10:31 > 1:10:33We just need to turn the page.

1:10:33 > 1:10:35We can just say we differ, maybe.

1:10:35 > 1:10:37We differ about this.

1:10:38 > 1:10:41It was never lifted and they said they wouldn't lift it,

1:10:41 > 1:10:43but they would no longer pursue it.

1:10:43 > 1:10:46They would no longer pursue the death sentence.

1:10:46 > 1:10:50I think he decided to make that statement as a way of ending it.

1:10:52 > 1:10:55He wanted to draw a line, just to reclaim his life.

1:11:01 > 1:11:07What the fatwa was about was state-sponsored terror,

1:11:07 > 1:11:12operatives sent from Iran to find him and kill him.

1:11:18 > 1:11:21When the fatwa was withdrawn,

1:11:21 > 1:11:23what it was a matter of was,

1:11:23 > 1:11:27there will be no more state sponsorship.

1:11:27 > 1:11:35We can't say that you won't get killed by some passionate person,

1:11:35 > 1:11:39but we can say that the Iranian government will not send them out.

1:11:42 > 1:11:47The last obstacle for me was other people's fear.

1:11:47 > 1:11:49"Should I stand next to you?" fear.

1:11:49 > 1:11:52"If you are sitting next to me in the restaurant,

1:11:52 > 1:11:54"am I in danger?" kind of thing.

1:11:54 > 1:11:59I decided the only way for me to overcome that

1:11:59 > 1:12:03was to deliberately lead a very open life,

1:12:03 > 1:12:08and I thought if people could see that I wasn't scared,

1:12:08 > 1:12:12they might feel a little embarrassed to be scared themselves.

1:12:12 > 1:12:16And that was a deliberate strategy, you know,

1:12:16 > 1:12:18to go, to be public and be seen.

1:12:29 > 1:12:32But three years after the fatwa ended,

1:12:32 > 1:12:34the world changed.

1:12:38 > 1:12:40'..How unconfident of Itself this Deity was,

1:12:40 > 1:12:43'Who reigned by terror,

1:12:43 > 1:12:47'packing off all dissidents to Its blazing Siberia,

1:12:47 > 1:12:50'the gulag-infernos of Hell...

1:12:50 > 1:12:53'burn the books and trust the Book;

1:12:53 > 1:12:56'shred the papers and hear the Word...

1:12:56 > 1:13:01'He checked himself. These were satanic thoughts...'

1:13:05 > 1:13:09One of the things that we all remember is the smell.

1:13:12 > 1:13:14That smell hung over downtown Manhattan

1:13:14 > 1:13:16for a long time,

1:13:16 > 1:13:19the smell of dead people and burned people.

1:13:22 > 1:13:25People would call up people living in New York,

1:13:25 > 1:13:27saying, "Get out of the city."

1:13:27 > 1:13:30You know? Nobody wanted to get out of the city.

1:13:31 > 1:13:33It's where you wanted to be, in the city.

1:13:36 > 1:13:39Sorry, it's a difficult memory.

1:13:40 > 1:13:42I always felt, and I still feel it,

1:13:42 > 1:13:46that what happened in the case of The Satanic Verses

1:13:46 > 1:13:49was one of the early notes of the music. You know?

1:13:49 > 1:13:50And...

1:13:51 > 1:13:54I mean, what happened here was the main event.

1:13:54 > 1:13:58This was the full crash of the music.

1:14:01 > 1:14:05At the time it was easy to see what had happened

1:14:05 > 1:14:08in the case of The Satanic Verses as exceptional.

1:14:08 > 1:14:12People living in the west didn't see a context for it.

1:14:12 > 1:14:14This is not isolated.

1:14:14 > 1:14:16Attacks like this are happening elsewhere.

1:14:16 > 1:14:21A great Turkish journalist was assassinated by Islamic extremists,

1:14:21 > 1:14:24a great Egyptian secularist was murdered,

1:14:24 > 1:14:28a great Algerian writer was murdered.

1:14:28 > 1:14:31You could see it if you looked. All you had to do was look.

1:14:38 > 1:14:45In January 2012, Salman was invited to the literary festival in Jaipur.

1:14:45 > 1:14:47Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was told

1:14:47 > 1:14:52that a couple of hitmen were on their way to Jaipur to take me out.

1:14:52 > 1:14:56I was being told that if I go, I'm going to be endangering the lives

1:14:56 > 1:14:58of the people of the festival, and the other writers, etc.,

1:14:58 > 1:15:00so in the end, I said I wouldn't go.

1:15:00 > 1:15:03For, like, five minutes, it felt like a time warp, you know?

1:15:03 > 1:15:06It felt like somehow back to 1989.

1:15:12 > 1:15:15It felt inadequate just to make a statement of support or sympathy.

1:15:15 > 1:15:17We had to do something that would be

1:15:17 > 1:15:19a concrete exercise of free speech.

1:15:19 > 1:15:23We decided to read from the book The Satanic Verses.

1:15:23 > 1:15:25APPLAUSE

1:15:25 > 1:15:29Question: What is the opposite of faith?

1:15:29 > 1:15:31Not disbelief.

1:15:31 > 1:15:35Too final, certain, closed.

1:15:35 > 1:15:38Itself a kind of belief.

1:15:38 > 1:15:39Doubt.

1:15:39 > 1:15:40The human condition.

1:15:42 > 1:15:45But what of the angelic?

1:15:45 > 1:15:48Halfway between Allahgod and homosap,

1:15:48 > 1:15:50did they ever doubt?

1:15:50 > 1:15:52They did: challenging God's will one day,

1:15:52 > 1:15:56they hid muttering beneath the Throne,

1:15:56 > 1:15:58daring to ask forbidden things:

1:15:58 > 1:16:00antiquestions.

1:16:00 > 1:16:02Is it right that.

1:16:02 > 1:16:03Could it not be argued.

1:16:03 > 1:16:07Freedom, the old antiquest.

1:16:11 > 1:16:14The book is effectively banned in India.

1:16:14 > 1:16:18Hari Kunzru downloaded the passages he read from the internet.

1:16:19 > 1:16:22What then happened... all hell broke loose.

1:16:22 > 1:16:24We had the cops turning up.

1:16:24 > 1:16:27We had mullahs and the political establishment

1:16:27 > 1:16:29on the phone to the organisers.

1:16:31 > 1:16:34Recently I was in Pakistan,

1:16:34 > 1:16:36and I made a speech where I mentioned Rushdie,

1:16:36 > 1:16:39and people applauded me for my bravery in mentioning his name,

1:16:39 > 1:16:42cos they said, "We never mention his name in this country."

1:16:42 > 1:16:44"It's impossible to buy any of his books."

1:16:44 > 1:16:47Rushdie speaks in the book for Muslims.

1:16:47 > 1:16:50This is an extremely important book.

1:16:52 > 1:16:54He speaks for their doubt.

1:16:55 > 1:16:57He speaks the bits of them

1:16:57 > 1:17:00that they actually think and feel sometimes,

1:17:00 > 1:17:03"Do I really believe in all this stuff?"

1:17:03 > 1:17:04But they can't say.

1:17:05 > 1:17:09So he, at considerable personal cost,

1:17:09 > 1:17:14has spoken a truth, that millions of other people want to speak,

1:17:14 > 1:17:15and for which he's been punished.

1:17:17 > 1:17:20If writers are devils, it's because they do speak

1:17:20 > 1:17:22in the face of the religious right.

1:17:24 > 1:17:25Nice to meet you.

1:17:25 > 1:17:27- Where are you from?- I'm from Belgium.

1:17:27 > 1:17:30- Belgium.- Yeah. We know him... everywhere in the world.

1:17:30 > 1:17:31So have a nice visit.

1:17:31 > 1:17:33- Bye.- Thank you. Bye.

1:17:33 > 1:17:36I mean, one of the questions I used to get asked was

1:17:36 > 1:17:38whether people backed away from me

1:17:38 > 1:17:41because of the nature of the threat,

1:17:41 > 1:17:44and I said, actually, what happened was the exact opposite of that.

1:17:44 > 1:17:46People came and stood closer to me.

1:17:46 > 1:17:48- Keep up all of your wonderful work. - Thank you, sir.

1:17:48 > 1:17:50- It's nice to meet you.- Likewise.

1:17:50 > 1:17:52- All right. Thanks.- All the best.

1:17:52 > 1:17:53- Cheers.- You're on TV.

1:17:53 > 1:17:57'It was a courageous demonstration of the value of friendship.

1:17:57 > 1:17:59'It certainly was a thing that...

1:17:59 > 1:18:01'without which I couldn't have done it.'

1:18:07 > 1:18:11As with anyone who's been locked up for the wrong reasons,

1:18:11 > 1:18:14when you're set free you think...

1:18:15 > 1:18:17HE LAUGHS

1:18:17 > 1:18:20"Good. Let's go to a party."

1:18:23 > 1:18:26Of course he's a writer, but he's also a guy who has a life.

1:18:26 > 1:18:28Now, some people won't allow for that.

1:18:28 > 1:18:32Everything is heightened after being locked up.

1:18:32 > 1:18:35If I'd been through what he'd been through,

1:18:35 > 1:18:37I'd be going to parties every night too.

1:18:37 > 1:18:38- Emily Rubin.- Yes, yes.

1:18:38 > 1:18:41- And this is my friend Eleanor Hutchins.- Hi.- Hi.

1:18:41 > 1:18:44I was at another roof party that your friend June threw.

1:18:44 > 1:18:48'I think moving to New York for him was symbolic as well as physical.

1:18:48 > 1:18:52'It was a way of removing himself from what he felt as being

1:18:52 > 1:18:54'handcuffs and restraints of being in London.'

1:18:55 > 1:18:58He always had a very hard time with the media here,

1:18:58 > 1:19:01and I don't think that would have changed.

1:19:01 > 1:19:03You get a...he got a hard time for leaving as well.

1:19:03 > 1:19:05I think being in New York,

1:19:05 > 1:19:08he felt like he could kind of start with a clean slate.

1:19:08 > 1:19:10- Can you hear me OK?- Yes.

1:19:10 > 1:19:13'It's been over ten years now without police protection,

1:19:13 > 1:19:15'and there haven't been any incidents.

1:19:15 > 1:19:17'Touch wood, there won't be.

1:19:17 > 1:19:21'There's always the threat of the random psycho.'

1:19:21 > 1:19:23"I love you so.

1:19:23 > 1:19:26"I said, "Madam, let me be true -

1:19:26 > 1:19:28"But I'll be dogged if I love you."

1:19:28 > 1:19:30LAUGHTER

1:19:30 > 1:19:33There is no 100% absolute security.

1:19:33 > 1:19:35You can only create the best situation,

1:19:35 > 1:19:38and I think that's, for him, what he's done.

1:19:38 > 1:19:39APPLAUSE

1:19:54 > 1:19:56I've always wanted to write about this matter,

1:19:56 > 1:19:59and I always felt that the time to write about it

1:19:59 > 1:20:02was when I knew what the last chapter was.

1:20:09 > 1:20:12The memoir Joseph Anton is published this week.

1:20:36 > 1:20:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd