Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

TAKFIR WAL HIGRAH • 657novel deemed to libel the character of the Prophet Muhammad andto insult Islam. Khomeini’s takfir was later expanded in scope to includethe foreign publishers and distributors of The Satanic Verses aswell as any who gave Rushdie comfort and aid. Reading or possessingthe offensive work was also proscribed, and the Iranian governmentoffered a bounty to anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, who wouldenforce the decree against Rushdie. This was unusual because ordinarilydecrees of takfir are not issued against people or institutionsthat were never previously Muslim, while obeying such a decree wasalso neither expected nor demanded of non-Muslims.On 29 March 1989 ‘Abdallah Ahdal, the rector of a mosque inBrussels, was murdered for refusing to endorse Khomeini’s takfir.On 3 July 1991 Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of Rushdie’sbook, was stabbed in Milan. On 12 July 1991 Hitoshi Igarashi, theJapanese translator of the book, was stabbed to death in Tokyo. On11 October 1993 William Nygaard, the Norwegian publisher of thebook, was shot three times in the back outside his home in Oslo butsurvived. Several incidents of arson against bookstores carrying theanathematized book occurred in the United States and Great Britain.Also, whereas ordinarily the decree of takfir would be automaticallynullified by the open and sincere repentance of the excommunicatedperson, Khomeini specified that the takfir against Rushdie was irrevocablesince his offense was deemed unpardonable.TAKFIR WAL HIGRAH. The Jama’at al Muslimin (Muslim Society)was a Sunni Muslim Salafi, or purist, offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhoodthat advocated total rejection of the contemporary Egyptiansocial and political system in favor of an Islamic fundamentaliststate. The more familiar name of Takfir wal Higrah, or Atonementand Flight (more literally, Excommunication and Exodus), was givento it by Egyptian security organs as more descriptive of its beliefsand practices. Its leader, Shukri Ahmad Mustafa, demanded thatmembers renounce what he regarded as deviations from pure Islamand that they try to remove themselves physically from the midst ofan apostate society by living in the desert or in more traditional townsnot “corrupted” by the westernization occurring under the free tradeand investment policies of Anwar Sadat.Members of this group took advantage of antigovernment foodriots on 18–19 January 1977 to ransack and burn the nightclubs