The Satanic Verses controversy undermine the people's genuine Islamic morals. and claimed an unnamed British foreign secretary once told the British parliament, "So long as the Qur'an is revered by Muslims, we will not be able to consolidate a foothold among the Muslims". Despite the passionate intensity of Muslim feeling on the issue no Western government banned "The Satanic Verses." This is primarily because most Western governments explicitly or implicitly allow for freedom of expression, which includes forbidding censorship in the vast majority of cases. Western attitudes regarding freedom of expression differ from those in the Arab world because: The last point also explains
The Satanic Verses target in the events that led to the Sivas massacre on 2 July 1993 in Sivas, Turkey, which resulted in 37 deaths. In September 2012, Rushdie expressed doubt that "The Satanic Verses" would be published today because of a climate of "fear and nervousness". In March 2016, PEN America reported that the bounty for the Rushdie fatwa was raised by $600,000 (£430,000). Top Iranian media contributed this sum, adding to the existing $2.8m already offered. In response, the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel prize for literature, denounced the death sentence and called it "a serious violation of free speech."