South African author Zainub Priya Dala was driving through the city of Durban last Wednesday, when three men tried to push her off the road.
When they finally managed to get her to stop on a busy interchange, the men drew a knife to her neck, and threw a series of obscenities at her, before smashing her face with a brick. They took nothing, left her bleeding at the side of the road, and drove off in their vehicle.
Dala says the three men were not wearing masks. They were South African Indian males in their thirties. She can’t be sure, but they were almost certainly Muslim. She says they attacked her for praising Salman Rushdie at a writing workshop the day before.
“They called me ‘Rushdie’s bitch’,” Dala said.
As a guest at the recently concluded Time of the Writer literature festival in the city, Dala had travelled to Chatsworth, 30km outside Durban, as part of the festival’s outreach programme between authors and local communities. It was at a community centre where she casually mentioned admiring Rushdie’s work.
“I was at a workshop with learners when I was asked which writers I admired,” Dala told The Daily Vox. “When I said Arundhati Roy and then Salman Rushdie, some learners and teachers got up and walked out the venue.”
Later that afternoon and evening, Dala received SMSes from strangers asking her, as a Muslim woman, to repent for praising the author of The Satanic Verses. Rushdie’s 1988 novel drew the ire of many Muslims across the globe when it was published, owing to his depiction of the Prophet Mohammed. In 1989 Iran’s Ayotullah Khomeni issuing a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death .
Dala’s first book “About Meera” was supposed to launch on South Africa’s Human Rights Day on Saturday, but the launch had to be postponed after the incident, which left her with a broken cheekbone and soft-tissue damage.
While the attack has been condemned by all segments of South African society, it has also set off some soul-searching among South African’s Muslim community, which has been left perplexed by the nature of the crime.
Dala spoke to The Daily Vox about the attack and her reaction to it. Listen to the Q&A here
“I was smashed with a brick for mentioning Salman Rushdie”
South African author Zainub Priya Dala was driving through the city of Durban last Wednesday, when three men tried to push her off the road.
When they finally managed to get her to stop on a busy interchange, the men drew a knife to her neck, and threw a series of obscenities at her, before smashing her face with a brick. They took nothing, left her bleeding at the side of the road, and drove off in their vehicle.
Dala says the three men were not wearing masks. They were South African Indian males in their thirties. She can’t be sure, but they were almost certainly Muslim. She says they attacked her for praising Salman Rushdie at a writing workshop the day before.
“They called me ‘Rushdie’s bitch’,” Dala said.
As a guest at the recently concluded Time of the Writer literature festival in the city, Dala had travelled to Chatsworth, 30km outside Durban, as part of the festival’s outreach programme between authors and local communities. It was at a community centre where she casually mentioned admiring Rushdie’s work.
“I was at a workshop with learners when I was asked which writers I admired,” Dala told The Daily Vox. “When I said Arundhati Roy and then Salman Rushdie, some learners and teachers got up and walked out the venue.”
Later that afternoon and evening, Dala received SMSes from strangers asking her, as a Muslim woman, to repent for praising the author of The Satanic Verses. Rushdie’s 1988 novel drew the ire of many Muslims across the globe when it was published, owing to his depiction of the Prophet Mohammed. In 1989 Iran’s Ayotullah Khomeni issuing a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death .
Dala’s first book “About Meera” was supposed to launch on South Africa’s Human Rights Day on Saturday, but the launch had to be postponed after the incident, which left her with a broken cheekbone and soft-tissue damage.
While the attack has been condemned by all segments of South African society, it has also set off some soul-searching among South African’s Muslim community, which has been left perplexed by the nature of the crime.
Dala spoke to The Daily Vox about the attack and her reaction to it. Listen to the Q&A here
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