Indian politician Syed
Shahabuddin, an influential political figure for minority Indian Muslims, has
died aged 82. The former diplomat was known for opposing the controversial
demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque.
He served as an MP for three
terms between 1979 and 1996, and also successfully campaigned to ban Salman
Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. He died in hospital following a prolonged
illness, local media said. Syed Shahabuddin previously worked as an Indian
Foreign Service officer and also led the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat –
the country’s top-level forum for Muslim organisations.
Mr Shahabuddin was also the head
of the Babri Action Committee, an organisation dedicated to the preservation of
a 16th Century mosque in Ayodhya. The contested ownership of the site and its
eventual demolition created national tension between Hindus and Muslims, resulting
in the 1992 riots in which 2,000 people died. The site remains a flashpoint
today.
He also came to international
attention for his efforts to ban The Satanic Verses, whose publication in 1988
outraged Muslims around the world, with many arguing it was blasphemous. Mr
Shahabuddin was widely seen as responsible for preventing the book from being
imported into India – the first country to introduce such a ban. The book is
comprised of three stories woven together. One of them – the most controversial
– features a prophet named Mahound, who founds a religion in the desert.
That story is inspired by an
apocryphal incident in the life of the Prophet Muhammad, called the Satanic
Verses. India was the first to ban the novel, but protests spread through
Pakistan, Iran, and the UK – seen here It references verses of the Koran which
the Prophet Muhammad later retracted as incorrect – and blamed on the prompting
of Satan. The issue is a controversial one for scholars and religious teachers.
Following the controversy over Rushdie’s novel, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran
issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the author. The book is still banned in
India.
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