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Godrej hosts Salman Rushdie angers Muslims

MUMBAI:

An Islamic group in India is asking Muslims to boycott products of a top Indian

business group if its owner does not apologise for hosting author Salman Rushdie

on a brief holiday this week.

Rushdie stayed at the bungalow

of the Godrej family while visiting Mumbai, where he was born and spent many of

his early years. The author is a personal friend of the Godrejs, who are one of

the big business families in India.

The fact that Rushdie was

invited by the Godrejs has angered the All-India Ulema Council - a national

grouping of Muslim organisations - which says the family had not cared for the

sentiments of Muslims whom Rushdie had offended with his writings.

“We really hope Mr Godrej

realises the hurt he has caused us and says sorry for it,” Maulana Mehmood

Daryabadi, a council official, said. “Otherwise, we are asking Muslims all over

to boycott his company’s products.”

The Godrejs were not available

for comment.

The late

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme religious leader, pronounced a fatwa

on the author of Satanic Verses among others, in 1989 that called on Muslims to

kill Rushdie because of perceived blasphemy in that novel. Rushdie was forced to

live in hiding for nine years. In June, he was selected for a knighthood by

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, again angering some Muslims in Iran and Pakistan.

Recently, the presence of

another controversial writer, exiled Bangladeshi Taslima Nasreen, has sparked

riots by Muslims offended by her books. Threats against her have forced

authorities to house her in a secret security facility in New Delhi since

November, and she has appealed for more freedom.