An anti-Islam quote, which states, Muslims "won't rest till every other society, culture, and religion is either annihilated or converted", has been falsely attributed on social media to author Salman Rushdie.
The Midnight's Children author and Booker Prize recipient recently released his latest book, Victory City. Rushdie's books are known for their controversial themes around religion, and he has often been the target of hate online and offline. He faced years of death threats including a religious fatwa after his 1988 novel 'The Satanic Verses' was released. On August 12, 2022, the author was stabbed repeatedly at Chautauqua Institution in New York, where he was going to deliver a lecture. The 75-year-old underwent emergency surgery and lost sight in one eye and severed nerves in his arm following the attack. His attacker - 24 year old Hadi Matar pleaded 'not guilty' to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges.
Referring to this stabbing and the Muslim perpetrator, the false quote begins with, "The large majority of peaceful Muslims don't matter because I was attacked by just one Muslim who followed Quran." It continues, "All religions are not same because they have not codified death to whoever doesn't belong in their religion. On my life I want to warn the world that Islam will not rest till every society, culture, and religion is either annihilated or converted."
The quote was shared as a reply to a tweet that spoke about how Allah was punishing his own people. It was shared without any caption by user @Lokakas.
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
The fake quote is also circulating on Facebook
Click here to view.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the quote is falsely attributed to Rushdie, and he has never said anything of this sort in any interview or statement.
Salman Rushdie took to Twitter to clarify this himself. He quoted the false attribution and wrote, "Fake quote. Not said by me,"
Moreover, a keyword search of the quote produced no results online, confirming that Rushdie made no such public statements.