Lessons We Should Learn from the Attack on Salman Rushdie

This article first appeared in New English Review.

Though officially, investigators are still searching for a motive in yesterday's attack on Salman Rushdie, it is all but obvious that Hadi Matar, who is reportedly a Shiite Muslim, was acting out of religious reasons (or perhaps just wanted to collect the $3 million bounty placed on Rushdie's head over 30 years ago by the despicable Ayatollah Khomeini for his book, "The Satanic Verses", which criticized Islam). This attack should serve as a reminder (apparently, some people still need reminders) about the nature of Political Islam. Apostasy and blasphemy of Islam are punishable by death.

That should tell you all you need to know.

Keep in mind we are still dealing with the fallout in the arrest this week of a Sunni Muslim man in New Mexico named Muhammad Syed, charged in the shooting deaths of two Shiite Muslims. He is also the principal suspect in the deaths of two other Shitte Muslim men. Prior to his arrest, everybody from President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the media were wringing their hands over what they thought was a case of Islamophobic hate crimes. Now that it appears to be Sunni vs Shiite hate, they don't really know what to say. Hate? Sunni and Shiites have hated each other ever since the death of the Prophet Mohammad.

 The Rushdie case should also serve as a reminder about the nature of the Iranian government given the reactions coming out of Iran. The American media has up to now only reported that the governmental statements out of Teheran only condemn Rushdie without commenting on the attempt on his life. International media outlets seem to have more reactions coming out of Iran, however. Reports that tell of jubilation in Iranian media.

That should tell you all you need to know about Iran.

It should also remind President Biden that it isn't such a great idea to try and re-start nuclear negotiations with that outlaw country. Whether or not the coming days implicate the Iranian government and the mad mullahs in the attack on Rushdie remains to be seen. The point is that this is not a country to be trusted. Instead of releasing funds to them and turning a blind eye to their nuclear development, we and our allies should be turning the screws on this outlaw regime, the largest state sponsors of terrorism in the world. They are reportedly close to having a nuclear weapon and have repeatedly promised to wipe Israel off the map. These are religious fanatics we are dealing with here. Unlike the former Soviet Union, the mad mullahs don't care if they themselves are destroyed by nuclear weapons. It is all based on religion for them.

Unfortunately, our current leaders are not focused on curbing the Iranians. They are more focused on chasing down and destroying Donald Trump in the very name of national security. But that is a subject for a different essay.