Ruhollah Khomeini religious duty and that the result is a marginal issue?" In an interview with Gareth Porter, Mohsen Rafighdoost, the eight-year war time minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, disclosed how Khomeini had opposed his proposal for beginning working on both nuclear and chemical weapons by a fatwa which had never been made public in details of when and how it was issued. In early 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwā calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie, an India-born British author. Rushdie's book, "The Satanic Verses", published in 1988, was alleged to commit blasphemy against Islam and Khomeini's juristic ruling
Knighthood of Salman Rushdie the hero of Muslims." Canadian author and Muslim Irshad Manji pointed out that Pakistan's Parliament has been silent on Islamist "assaults on fellow believers" in Iraq and Afghanistan, writing "I am offended that amid the internecine carnage, a professed atheist named Salman Rushdie tops the to-do list." In reaction to the announcement of the knighthood, the Pakistan Ulema Council bestowed Osama bin Laden with the title "Saifullah", or sword of Allah. Their chairman, Tahir Ashrafi, said "We have awarded this title in reply to Britain's decision to knight blasphemer Rushdie. If a blasphemer can be given the title 'Sir' by