Salman Rushdie says he had a dream about being attacked days before stabbing

Sir Salman Rushdie recounted a dream he had where an individual attempted to stab him, only a few days prior to the assault on him in 2022.

During the assault, the writer was pierced multiple times and underwent severe damage that changed his life, which involved the permanent removal of his right eye. This occurred just before he was about to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution located in New York.

The 76-year-old had his first big TV interview after the incident and talked to Anderson Cooper on the CBS show 60 Minutes. He said that he didn't feel comfortable going to the talk because he had a dream a few days before where he saw someone approaching him with a spear in an "amphitheatre."

"I got out of bed feeling very unsettled," he explained.

I told my spouse, Eliza, "I have no desire to attend" due to the dream. However, I soon realized the absurdity of my thoughts and reconsidered, "It was just a dream."

Back in 1989, the leader of Iran at the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declared a fatwa on author Salman Rushdie due to his book The Satanic Verses. This book was viewed as disrespectful by many Muslims and caused great offense.

The British writer who was born in India had stated that he had faced nearly "six attempts of being assassinated" in the past. He had planned on discussing the topic of freedom of speech during his speech, but he was attacked instead.

He expressed that it seemed like a force from long ago was attempting to pull him back into the past and ultimately harm him.

In my opinion, he was merely cutting. In that short moment, I felt a strong connection between my existence and the possibility of leaving this world. As I saw my blood flowing, I contemplated the likelihood of my demise. Strangely enough, I accepted the situation as it was.

"I haven't experienced an epiphany, but it seems like there's no epiphany to discover."

'What's the fortunate aspect?'

He went on to say, "A surgeon who had rescued me from my predicament uttered the following words: 'In the beginning, it seemed as though fate was not in your favor, but then things took a turn for the better.'"

I asked, "What's fortunate about it?" and he responded, "The fortunate thing is that the individual who assaulted you wasn't adept at using a knife to take someone's life."

Sir Salman has penned a commentary about the assault in his latest publication, Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Assassination, set to be released this month.

He expressed that at first, he was hesitant to compose the memoir: "It was the final endeavor I desired."

Everyone only had knowledge of the death threat directed towards me. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to disclose this information and bring attention to the obvious but unaddressed situation.

"The book became a project close to my heart. Words have the power to unveil the world and I rely solely on them without any other means."

Check out further details on Sky News: Israel gets warned by Iran of another attack. Learn about the disturbing figures from a cruel battle.

Sir Salman doesn't mention the name of the person who allegedly attacked him in his book. However, it has been reported that the accused individual is a 24-year-old man named Hadi Matar from New Jersey. Matar has stated that he is not guilty and is presently waiting for his trial.

He stated that he doesn't wish to include the attacker's name in his book, nor does he want to be associated with them. He highlighted that the duration of their encounter was only 27 seconds, and he refuses to grant the attacker any more of his attention or energy.

As he perused the pages of the tome, he recounted how he observed a "deadly figure hurtling in his direction" akin to a "short, stocky projectile".

Sir Salman is scheduled to talk about his book and the attack at an upcoming event for the Southbank Centre's Spring Literature and Spoken Word Season, which will take place on April 21st.

During the early 1970s, Sir Salman commenced his career as a writer and was honored with the Booker Prize in 1981 for his book titled Midnight's Children, which revolves around the emergence of contemporary India.