Salman Rushdie testifies he thought he was dying after stabbing

Sir Salman Rushdie has told a court that he thought he was dying after being stabbed repeatedly on stage two years ago, leaving him blind in one eye.

The renowned British-Indian author gave evidence at the trial of his alleged attacker, 27-year-old Hadi Matar, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and attempted murder.

Proceedings are taking place at a New York state court a few miles from where Sir Salman was attacked on 12 August 2022 as he was about to give a talk on how the US was a haven for exiled writers.

The attack occurred after Sir Salman spent years in hiding because of threats to his life after his novel The Satanic Verses was published in 1988.

He has been worried about his safety since the publication of The Satanic Verses, his surrealist, postmodern novel that was inspired by the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

While it met acclaim and awards in the Western world, many Muslims considered it blasphemous and some countries banned it. Iran's religious leader issued a fatwa calling for the author's death due to the book.

That fatwa - a religious decree - caused Sir Salman to face countless death threats. He was forced into hiding for nine years and only began travelling again when Iran said it would not enforce the law.

He should be given federal protection. I’m one prejudiced son of a gun when it comes to muslims. Plain and simple, I don’t like them. Sorry, just being honest.

I hope you don't think you are the only one.

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia
in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly
systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of
property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded
sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its
dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must
belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or
a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam
has ceased to be a great power among men."
"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the
brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence
of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread
throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were
it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science
against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might
fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."
-- Winston Churchill

The incident involved and the trial occurred in Chatauqua County, as for west as you can get in the Southern Tier of counties on the border with Pennsylvania, away from New York City. Any further west, your feet ill be awash in Lake Erie's wathes.

The stabbing took place on the stage of Chatauqua Institute's auditorium, where through the decades of cultural symposia featuring widely-recognized authors and artists who have brought their talents to bridge the gap between the theater stages, college classrooms, artist's galleries and symphonic orchestras to the folk who at the time had little or no contact with arenas more cosmopolitan.

The Chatauqua Institute, founded by the Methodist college-trained churchmen in 1874, served the rustic population who had only horses and trains for transport, and the telegraph, newspapers, and magazines to bring them news of the rest of the world. Its grounds were located on the shores of the lake of, and in the middle of, the county of that same name.

You can find the area on this map of the state's counties, the one farthest to the left:

What is interesting is noting that, while erstwhile engaged in discussing the wisdom of Omar Khayyamor of hearing the outlook of a nevelist like Salman Rushdie, but believng practinioners of non-Christian cults would not, in the past, be tolerated as residents of the community.

Furthermore, the Institute cas its own restrictive rules concerning behavior and articles not consideredsafe, particularly intoxicating beverages, drugs, and firearms or cutting/puncturing/battering devices. These rules are emplaced and enforces by their owm prefessional security personnel, and listed here (click to see).

So, it must be assumed that in this and in the surounding area culture, a Mohammedan woul at least, not finding it a favorable culture in which to seek permanenct residence. And therefore, one must conclude that opportunity for carrying out this attack must have been anticipated for a long time, and instigated when Rushdie, long under secure isolated protection, thought it might be OK to expose himself at an institution greatly appreciative of his literacy maturity, and having high barriers to personal attacks of/by residents or guests, where he ought to feel himself safe. I wonder what the corporate and state security officers have done about finding how thi attacker, a long way from "diverse" terrorist support, gained access.

And the "why" also comes into view: why would a person bor seven years after the publication of the offending novel, grow up and throughout be modeled as a terror-inspiring murderer, to assassinate a seventy-five-year-old writer in such as an environment? Will we, the public, ever know the diligence level of investigation in Chatauqua County, New York State? (I suppose that if it had happened in the far-away Big Apple, Manhatten, D. A. Alvin Bragg might have just let him off?)

Doggone, in this BBC article, no imputed motive is mentioned so far in the trial process. Couldn't have been applied Islam at work? (The quality of having the milk of kindness being implanted in one's breast does not seem to be a characteristic of Mohammedanism, does it?)

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