The fury of Muslims around the world at the announcement of the knighting in Britain of author Salman Rushdie caught the nominating committee that submitted him for the honor completely by surprise, despite the fact that Rushdie spent more than a decade under a death edict issued by Iranian clerics. “The writers’ organisation that led the lobbying for the author of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses to be knighted had originally hoped that the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia.”