Salman Rushdie’s son Zafar Stated, on spending 11 years living in the shadow of the fatwa: “It made me who I am”
He claimed that while having the cops always around him at first seemed amusing, the menacing menace that was constantly present soon overpowered it.
Salman Rushdie’s eldest son, Zafar Rushdie, is a 40-year-old British-American author of novels who was born in India. He was nine years old when the fatwa against his father was issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini. Rushdie and his first wife Clarissa Luard had given birth to him in 1979. He had to live in fear of the frightening order for 11 long years. He responded, “I had no wish that it hadn’t happened, when questioned about it. It has shaped who I am now.
Zafar has frequently talked about his time with his father. He once remarked that while having cops always around him at first seemed amusing, the menacing menace that was always present soon overpowered it. “At first, I enjoyed the fatwa. When I returned home one day when I was nine, there were cops present. Being around these big guys with guns was really cool. Zafar told the Evening Standard, “But I soon learned enough to realise there was a big deal going on, and it wasn’t good.
To his sons Zafar and Milan Rushdie as well as to their mothers, Clarissa Luard and Elizabeth West, is dedicated Rushdie’s autobiography, “Joseph Anton.” The author’s kindness and concern for his kids come over strongly in the text. He describes Zafar as a “wonderful youngster” at one point. Zafar, who now owns his own PR company, had somewhat of a difficult upbringing: he was nine when the fatwa started, fifteen when his mother was given the breast cancer diagnosis, and nineteen when she passed away.
I don’t remember ever being terrified, Zafar once said. You were unsure of what to be afraid of. When I first started calling, there was a time when the person on the other end of the telephone would say they knew where I lived and would be coming to kill me. They would still find the number even when we were removed from the directory. He told the Evening Standard, “That was worrying. “I contacted my mother when I got home and said, ‘What is this?’” Then it took another 10 years to figure out what was happening and how to best tackle it, he continued.
On July 20, 2022, in Barnes, England, Natalie Rushdie and Zafar Rushdie attend Dame Deborah James’ funeral at St. Mary’s Church. Following her 2016 colon cancer diagnosis, former head teacher Dame Deborah James adopted the online monicker “Bowelbabe.” She later rose to fame as the host of a well-known podcast and an Instagram account where she updated fans on her medical progress and helped raise £7.42 million for cancer research. Deborah passed away on June 28, 2022.
Zafar was escorted by 12 police cars when he arrived at The Hall, his prep school. Even though he never had police protection at home, he was never allowed to meet his father in public, according to the Evening Standard. The saddest aspect, in my opinion, is that you have to develop the habit of lying. Where are you this weekend, my friends would inquire? When I was hanging out with dad, I would say, “Oh, I’m hanging out with my Mom.” They weren’t outright lies; rather, they were deceptive lies, he claimed.
Rushdie once stated that being a good parent to his boys, especially Zafar, was very important to him in an interview with Big Issue in 2016. “He was nine years old when [the fatwa] started, and it moulded and marked his entire childhood. I made an effort to explain what was going on because I feared that if he only heard about it, he would become afraid. Naturally, I was concerned for his safety. Although his mother and I made every effort to ensure that he had a somewhat normal childhood, it was a very trying time for him, the author stated.
In 2020, Zafar and Natalie, a jazz vocalist with training, welcomed their first child, a girl. According to Hello Magazine, Zafar and Natalie “both hope to bring Salman in to help with homework when the time comes.”