Naguib Mahfouz Prize. Like many Egyptian writers and intellectuals, Mahfouz was on an Islamic fundamentalist "death list". He defended Salman Rushdie after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned Rushdie to death in 1989, but also criticized his "The Satanic Verses" as "insulting" to Islam. Mahfouz believed in freedom of expression, and, although he did not personally agree with Rushdie's work, he did not believe that there should be a "fatwa" condemning him to death for it. In 1989, after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's "fatwa" calling for Salman Rushdie and his publishers to be killed, Mahfouz called Khomeini a terrorist. Shortly after Mahfouz joined 80 other
Ayatollah Haj Muhammmad-Hassan Jazayeri was a classmate of Ayatollah Khomeini when at quran school. At the age of 40, he was invited to Ahvaz to be the Supreme Religious leader of all the Imams of Khuzestan. He set the times of prayers (Aathaan) for Khuzestan. He had 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls. He was very respected by the Shah of Iran Mohammmad Reza Pahlavi and his wife Farah Pahlavi. He led a very spiritual life and he was a very important Ayatollah in his time. He died in 1343 (1965) at the age of 73. He was buried in a tomb in