Terry Gross

So, you know, he helped you through that crisis after Aisha died.

And it sounds like you were and are really deeply in love.

But as you said, 11 months after your wedding, he was stabbed multiple times by a man fulfilling the fatwa, a religious decree issued by Iran's Ayatollah, calling for Salman's death because of his novel, Satanic Verses, which the Ayatollah considered blasphemous.

It's a miracle your husband survived.

And he believed that the threat of the fatwa was over.

And I don't think he had constant protection anymore.

Did you think that too, that this was no longer anything that the two of you needed to worry about?

Can you describe how you found out about the knifing?

Did you feel, like, less competent and less able to hold things together?

I mean, falling down the stairs was pretty horrible.

But to do that as you really have to rise to the occasion and know what to do, you had to, like, charter a private plane so you could get there as soon as possible.

It's like an eight-hour drive.

And you had to show up strong.

You had to be capable.

Did it shake your confidence when you fell?

Yeah.

He describes you during this period when he was really badly injured, and it's a miracle he survived.

And then as he slowly started to heal, he describes you as his rock, overseeing his care.

Everything was filtered through you.

You were the one in contact with his medical team, the police, the FBI, security.