Salman Rushdie - Writing on Islam

Is Salman Rushdie the right person to call for a Reformation in Islam?

In a Hardtalk Extra interview broadcast on Friday 2nd September, Gavin Esler talks to the controversial novelist Salman Rushdie.

Salman Rushdie is one of the world's most acclaimed novelists - and also, for a time, one of the most despised people on earth.

His book The Satanic Verses offended Muslims worldwide and attracted a death sentence from the Ayatollah Khomeini.

He was forced into hiding for close to a decade. His new book Shalimar the Clown attempts to put the reader into the mind of a terrorist.

He tells Gavin Esler why he now sees the Satanic Verses controversy as a "prologue" to the attacks on September 11th 2001.

HARDtalk Extra can be seen on Fridays on BBC World at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 18:30 GMT and 23:30 GMT.

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 04:30 and 23:30