Salman Rushdie has lived under constant surveillance since his book "The Satanic Verses" was published in 1988. It touched in part on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, which caused an outcry in the Muslim world.
On Friday, Rushdie was stabbed, and the New York police announced that the suspect had been identified as Hadi Matar.
According to the AP, whose reporter was in the room, the man either punched or stabbed Rushdie between 10 and 20 times.
The attack has sparked anger and disgust, and on social media many people are now urging people to buy and read Rushdie's book in protest against the stabbing.
Photo: Facsimile
And the attention and the calls have paid off.
During Saturday, the Satanic verses climbed the top lists, among others at the Swedish online bookstore Adlibris and Amazon.
Photo: Facsimile
Amazon has a list of the site's biggest book sales increases in the last 24 hours, and there three different versions of The Satanic Verses occupy the first, second and third places.
The most popular version has seen a sales increase of over 700 percent.
"The best answer to all the jihadists would be to buy a copy of The Satanic Verses," writes one user on Twitter.
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Salman Rushdie has lived under death threats since the late 80s.
Photo: TT