While Khomeini over the years cited many alien doctrines as
enemies of Islam, he was not above appealing to their followers.
An example was the Christmas message he addressed to the
American people in December 1979, during the hostage crisis.
The Iranian Embassy in Washington wanted to have the
ayatollah’s letter published in The Washington Post(which
refused). For years, Khomeini had denounced the United States
and considered Christianity and Zionism to be wayward, anti-
Islamic beliefs. Yet, in his Christmas message to Americans, he
paid remarkable tribute to Jesus. Khomeini called on America to
return the exiled shah to Iran to face judgment. His text was
directed specifically to Christian readers. Khomeini quoted from
Jesus’s Beatitudes (“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
justice....”).He acknowledged Jesus as “the spirit of God” and
“a great messenger whose mission was to establish justice and
mercy, and who with his heavenly words and deeds condemned
the tyrants and supported the oppressed.”^60
Although he was quoting from the Bible, to the end of his life,
Khomeini demanded total respect for the Qur’an. His insistence
reached an alarming extreme only months before his death. A
British author named Salman Rushdie—himself a Muslim born
in India—wrote a novel titled The Satanic Verses, published in
September 1988. It won scant acclaim as a work of literature, but
it became one of the best-known books of the decade. This was
because many Muslims, including the ayatollah, considered part
of it to be an obscene mockery of the prophet Muhammad. In
February 1979, Khomeini proclaimed that “the author ofThe
Satanic Verses, which is against Islam, the Prophet, and the
Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware
of its content, are sentenced to death.”^61
The Muslim world heeded the call. A frenzy of public protests
were organized to condemn Rushdie and, in the process, to con-
demn Great Britain and the United States. Islamic organizations
offered rewards totaling $6 million for the killing of Rushdie,
forcing the author to go into hiding. The Iranian government
severed diplomatic relations with Great Britain.78 AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
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