![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Azhar recalls Rushdie as a sort of spectre of his childhood and, with smiling disbelief, recalls a game they invented in the playground of his school: how would they kill Salman Rushdie? Upon reading The Satanic Verses as an adult, and as a self-proclaimed liberal Muslim, it is clear that he has some understanding of why it caused such offence and outrage. ![]() He begins by reading it for the first time, in order to understand why it became such a focal point for accusations of blasphemy – the laws against which protected only Christians and not Muslims in Britain (they were abolished in 2008). Three decades later, he wants to know why this novel had such a powerful effect on his community and how long-lasting and far-ranging the fallout has been. The broadcaster and journalist Mobeen Azhar, a radio presenter on the BBC Asian Network, who also won a Bafta for Muslims Like Us in 2017, was a child growing up in Huddersfield when The Satanic Verses was published in 1988. W hat an extraordinary story The Satanic Verses: 30 Years On tells – and what a way to do that. ![]()
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