Sunday 14 August 2022 11:19 PM Oberlin professor faces fire for 1989 comments DEFENDING Iran's fatwa order ... trends now

An Oberlin College professor is facing criticism after it was revealed he endorsed the bounty Iran placed on Salman Rusdie's life in 1989 which led to the author's brutal stabbing last week.

Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, currently a professor of religion at Oberlin College in Ohio, was serving as the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in 1989 when Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued an order calling for the death of Rushdie - an order known as a fatwa.

When asked about the fatwa in a 1989 Reuters story, Mahallati reportedly supported Iran's 'right to put a bounty on someone's head.'

'I think all Islamic countries agree with Iran. All Islamic nations and countries agree with Iran that any blasphemous statement against sacred figures should be condemned.' 

Iran ordered the fatwa against Rushdie, 75, for his 1989 novel The Satanic Verses, which many in the Muslim world accused of being blasphemous against Islam. The state-sponsored bounty forced the author to live largely in hiding since its issue, and had recently climbed as high as $3million.

Last Friday Rushdie was stabbed 15 times while speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York on Friday. Though the motivations of the attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, remain unclear it is suspected his attack was in response to the fatwa.

Rushdie remained and critical condition over the weekend, though his family said on Sunday he had been removed from a ventilator and was in high spirits. 

Mahallati, who has taught a number of courses about 'peace studies,' in his academic career, has not commented on the murder. Oberlin College has not commented on the professor's 1989 stance on the Fatwa.

Mahallati's comments were revealed by Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in a tweet on Friday after the attack on Rushdie.

'Guess who defends

read more from dailymail.....