a letter

To the editor:

As writers and scholars from the Islamic world, we are deeply concerned about the slander and personal threats of the brilliant writer Salman Rushdie, author of Midnight's Children, Shame and Satanic Verses, whose work has been banned. shocked. This act is in the name of Islam, but has nothing to do with Islam. Muslims and others who feel that the Satanic Verses hurt their religious and cultural feelings are certainly entitled to protest. But pushing protests and debates into paranoia and violence is in fact contrary to Islam's tradition of knowledge and tolerance. We strongly reject and deeply regret this act, and hereby reaffirm our belief in the universal principles of rational discussion and freedom of expression.

Aga Shahid Ali

Ibrahim Abu-Lughod

Akeel Bilgrami

Eqbal Ahmad

Edward W. Said

(Translated by Wang Liqiu)

This letter originally appeared in the March 16, 1989 issue of The New York Review of Books.