Opposing the Muslim organizations calling for reban of Salman Rushdie’s "The Satanic Verses", the Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) on Monday urged the Muslims to remember iconic social reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's teachings and to "fight words with words" instead of resorting to book bans or burnings.

The renewed sale of Rushdie's book, which has returned to Indian bookshelves 36 years after it was banned by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1988, has been strongly condemned by some Muslim organisations.

"The Satanic Verses", priced at Rs 1,999, is available at Bahrisons Booksellers in Delhi-NCR.

"IMSD calls upon Muslims to recall the views expressed by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan well over a century ago. In his time, he staunchly opposed Muslims who made a bonfire of books they did not like, or demanded its ban by the authorities," the IMSD said in a statement.

"His advice was simple. Fight words with words if the book in question is worthy of a reasoned critique. Burning or banning such books implies that Muslims are incapable of an intellectual and moral defense of their faith. If the book (cartoon, play, film) is nothing but a gratuitous, salacious or malicious attack on Islam or its Prophet, his suggestion was: ignore it," the statement added.

The IMSD's statement is endorsed by 42 eminent citizens, including civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad, oral historian Sohail Hashmi, poet-scientist Gauhar Raza, acclaimed theatre director Feroz Abbas Khan and documentary film-maker Shama Zaidi, among others.

Earlier in November, the Delhi High Court closed proceedings on a plea challenging the Rajiv Gandhi government's ban on the book's import.

The High Court stated the failure of officials to present the relevant notification from October 5, 1988 led to the assumption that the notification did not exist.

To buttress their point, the Muslim forum gave the example of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's approach to counter English writer William Muir's controversial book in 1861 where he allegedly made disparaging remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

"In response, Sir Syed travelled to London to study the books and journals that Muir had relied on and eight years later published a reasoned critique debunking Muir’s work," the statement said.

The IMSD said Sir Syed's advice to his fellow Muslims long ago is all the more relevant in today’s ‘new India’ where "minorities are daily targets of Hindutva’s hate politics".

"Any ill-advised or hotheaded response to the publication of Satanic Verses – a book not many Muslims are likely to have read earlier or will read now -- will only provide more fodder to the Muslim-baiters. Besides, it will only give free publicity to the very book they want banished," it added.

Underlining the Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of speech along with penal action against hate speech, the statement said that Muslims, or anyone else, have the right to be offended by a book, cartoon, play or film and are within their right to invoke existing provisions of criminal law to seek redressal of their grievance. However, no one has the right to "silence the offender".

"A fatwa, firman or call to kill Salman Rushdie, as also the demand for a ban on Satanic Verses amounts to just that: silencing the offender," it explained.

"The Satanic Verses" faced intense backlash upon its release, including a fatwa issued by Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini, which called for Rushdie’s death and led to his years in hiding.

The controversy escalated further with the murder of his Japanese translator in 1991 and the stabbing of Rushdie in 2022 during a lecture.

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