Rushdie in Berlin

Salman Rushdie was in Berlin to promote his new novel, Shalimar the Clown. The Daily Star has excerpts of an interview he gave to the German magazine Stern.

When asked if the book drew a link between “Islamic terror and damaged male honor,” Rushdie said he saw it as a crucial, and often overlooked, point. “The Western-Christian world view deals with the issues of guilt and salvation, a concept that is completely unimportant in the East because there is no original sin and no savior,” the author said, in comments printed in German.

“Instead, great importance is given to ‘honor.’ I consider that to be problematic. But of course it is underestimated how many Islamists consciously or unconsciously attempt to restore lost honor.”

This is a theme he’s explored at length in Shalimar. You can read my take on it here.