Dr. Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D

Most educated readers are familiar with the name Salman Rushdie. The man who wrote "The Satanic Verses" exploded out of a media cannon when Islamic scholars issued a fatwa against him in 1989 demanding his execution for blasphemy. My guess is the majority who recognize the name Salman Rushdie, draw a complete blank when the name of Dr. Rashad Khalifa is mentioned. Unfortunately, he is "the other guy" tapped in the fatwa when a group of 38 scholars met in Saudi Arabia on February 19, 1989 to discuss the apostate condition of these two Muslim men. An Egyptian biochemist, he had developed a following from a teaching on "The Miracle of the Qur'an," using the number "19" and its multiples, as the basis of a mathematical guide to prove the veracity of Qur'anic text. There was a side issue with an accusation of sexual assault when he had worked for the U.N. and most likely other things of which we are not aware which dropped the scholars anvil squarely on his head. Less than a year after the issuance of this decree, Dr. Khalifa was dead. He was stabbed to death at a mosque in Tucson, Arizona.

Now this was not a fatwa issued by a poorly educated cleric running a small Islamic school that teaches rote Qur'anic memorization. (3.4 million children in Bangladesh attend such schools) It was a legal indictment issued by a recognized Islamic legal council. When Salman Rushdie went into hiding, he knew that the document had some teeth. Dr. Rashad Khalifa continued to maintain a visible profile.

This big news splashed across the pages of news organizations in the Middle East. Take for example the Istanbul weekly magazine "Nokta". They made Dr. Khalifa the cover story in one of the April issues after the fatwa was released. While most of the attention was actually focused on Salman Rushdie because of his controversial book, the plans were undoubtedly already in motion for the assassination of Dr. Khalifa.

After his death, circumstantial evidence pointed to Wadih El Hage as one who may have orchestrated the murder. This man, a follower of Osama bin Ladin. But we must remember that it was not just a small group of scholars who supported this decision. Take for instance Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam). His now infamous statement to a group of Muslim students in Surrey, England still "dogs" him. He supported the killing of Salman Rushdie for blasphemy. I assume he also had the same regard for Dr. Rashad Khalifa.

So where is Salman Rushdie today? He is alive and well. In 2007 he will join the academic community at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tammy Swofford
tammyswofford@yahoo.com