Salman Rushdie as graduation speaker upsets Muslim students at Claremont Colleges

Muslim advocacy groups are calling on Claremont McKenna College to address concerns about author Salman Rushdie serving as its graduation speaker because of what they call his anti-Muslim comments.

Rushdie, an Indian-born British and American novelist known for his works about religion and politics, has drawn criticism before, including when he received death threats in the 1980s for his book, “The Satanic Verses.”

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday, May 7, said in a news release that Rushdie has “made troubling statements about Islam and Palestine.”

Also, the Claremont Colleges Muslim Students Association, in a Friday, May 2, statement criticized the college’s choice, calling it “disrespectful” and out of step with Claremont McKenna College’s commitment to inclusion.

“Protecting free speech is vital on campus, but platforming a speaker at a ceremonial event is an endorsement, not an act of open dialogue,” states the letter, which asks all to call upon the college to withdraw the invitation.

Rushdie is scheduled to speak at Claremont McKenna College’s graduation ceremony Saturday, May 17, the release states.

Rushdie’s writing, “especially ‘The Satanic Verses,’ and his statements conflating Islam with terrorism and extremism in interviews have fueled Islamophobic narratives and emboldened those who portray Islam as inherently violent,” Enjy El-Kadi, digital communications manager for CAIR-LA wrote in an email.

CAIR-LA also cites an article on the news website Middle East Eye that points to a 2024 Rushdie interview with German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.

In the interview, analyzed by the website, Rushdie said pro-Palestine student protests often “slide into antisemitic discourse” and called Hamas “a terrorist organization.” Rushdie said in that interview that a Palestinian state would be “run by Hamas” and be “a Taliban-like state, a satellite state of Iran,” the website reported.

Claremont McKenna College’s website does not name a commencement speaker. A spokesperson for the college, one of the seven Claremont Colleges, could not be reached Wednesday.

A representative for Rushdie also could not be reached.

In the release, CAIR-LA’s Legal Director Amr Shabaik urged the college’s leaders to “address the sincere concerns raised” by the student group.

“CMC cannot claim to value diversity and inclusion while dismissing the voices of its students, Shabaik said in the release.

Rushdie, 77, is best known for “The Satanic Verses,” which sparked death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s. In 2022, he was stabbed before giving a lecture in western New York and testified this year at the trial of his attacker, Hadi Matar, who was convicted of assault and attempted murder.

Rushdie’s “The Eleventh Hour,” is set for publication in November and is a collection of novellas and short stories. It will be his first published fiction since the attack in western New York.

Rushdie’s memoir about the attack, “Knife,” was published last year and was a finalist for a National Book Award. He has spoken of fiction as a sign of further healing and restored imaginative powers, whether after being forced into hiding in 1989 because of the alleged blasphemy of the “The Satanic Verses” or recovering from the attack three years ago that blinded him in one eye and caused lasting nerve damage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.