We are thrilled to have Satanic Verses at Walking BookFairs 💥 Salman Rushdie’s 1988 novel The Satanic Verses – which led to a fatwa threatening his life, forcing him into hiding for a decade – has finally returned to bookshops in India, the land of his birth. The novel, inspired by the life of the prophet Muhammad, became the focus of a fierce global debate about freedom of speech when Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, placed a bounty on Rushdie’s head due to its supposed blasphemy. The book was banned in India after riots erupted over its contents in 1988. The reappearance of The Satanic Verses in Indian bookshops has nothing to do with freedom of speech, however, but missing paperwork!