- Old Coast, New Coast: Victoria, British Columbia (hakaimagazine.com)
Ever since the Hudson’s Bay Company selected this sheltered bay for its fur-trading fort in 1842, Victoria Harbour, in what is now Victoria, British Columbia, has been a gathering point. Crowds once assembled to eagerly check out the single women arriving from the United Kingdom on “bride ships” in the 1860s; to greet the Victoria-based fleet of North Pacific sealing schooners, the workhorses of the fur-seal industry that peaked in the 1890s; or to say farewell to troops departing for the two world wars.
We are from Allah and to Allah we shall return. I am informing all brave Muslims of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Qur’an, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to death. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill them without delay, so that no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth. And whoever is killed in this cause will be a martyr, Allah willing. Meanwhile, if someone has access to the author of the book but is incapable of carrying out the execution, he should inform the people so that [Rushdie] is punished for his actions.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini