Saleem Sinai nations. Rushdie's character has been much discussed in literary circles. "Midnight's Children" is considered by many to be the author's masterwork and it has inspired a generation of writers on the subcontinent. Many authors have their work compared to it and their characters compared to Saleem Sinai. and focus on aspects of his complex character. The character has been discussed as being in many ways an autobiographical representation of Rushdie himself. Saleem Sinai is an Anglo-Indian born at the moment of India's independence and is a self-conscious narrator who questions the readers' assumptions about what constitutes a life story or
Salman Rushdie controversy, provoking protests from Muslims in several countries. Death threats were made against him, including a "fatwā" calling for his assassination issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on 14 February 1989. The British government put Rushdie under police protection. In 1983 Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the UK's senior literary organisation. He was appointed Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in January 1999. In June 2007, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his services to literature. In 2008, "The Times" ranked him thirteenth on its list