The Satanic Verses controversy fact that the sentence was not passed by an Islamic court, or that it did not limit its "jurisdiction only [to] countries under Islamic law". Muhammad Hussan ad-Din, a theologian at Al-Azhar University, argued "Blood must not be shed except after a trial [when the accused has been] given a chance to defend himself and repent". Abdallah al-Mushidd, head of Azhar's Fatwā Council stated "We must try the author in a legal fashion as Islam does not accept killing as a legal instrument". The Islamic Jurisprudence Academy in Mecca urged that Rushdie be tried and, if found guilty, be given
The Blasphemers' Banquet fair and balanced and wrote that the Archbishop "should have held his peace". The Blasphemers' Banquet The Blasphemers' Banquet is a film-poem created in 1989 by English poet and playwright Tony Harrison which examines censorship arising from religious issues. It was created in part as a response to the Salman Rushdie controversy surrounding his publication of "The Satanic Verses". It was aired by the BBC 1 programme "Byline" on 31 July 1989. The verse-film is set at the Omar Khayyám restaurant in Bradford where Harrison is holding a banquet with invited guests such as Omar Khayyám, Salman Rushdie, Voltaire, Molière