The life of Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses", in pictures

(CNN) --

Author Salman Rushdie, the victim of an attack in New York on Friday, became known worldwide in the 1980s after the publication of his novel

.

The text sparked protests throughout the Muslim world and Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran issued a religious edict against it.

Here, a review of his life in pictures.

Here Rusdhie and his then-wife, Marianne Wiggins, speak after going into hiding in February 1989. Three years earlier, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran called for the death of writer Salman Rushdie for his novel

.

(Credit: Terry Smith/Time Life Pictures/Getty Image)

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Thousands of people demonstrate in Tehran after the religious decree, or fatwa, issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, which described Rushdie as blasphemous and his book

 as an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, for which he was sentenced to death .

(Credit: Kaveh Kazemi/Gettyimages)

Reporters stand outside Rushdie's London home on February 16, 1989, as a police officer watches from across the street.

(Credit: Peter Kemp/AP)

An employee places a copy of

 on a shelf in a London bookstore on February 16, 1989. The store received 20 copies in the morning and they sold out within hours.

The high sales of the book helped keep Rushdie hidden.

(Credit: Tony White/AP)

American authors Susan Sontag, Gay Talese, EL Doctorow and Norman Mailer sit at Writers In Support of Salman Rushdie in New York on February 22, 1989. Sontag was the president of the PEN American Center and rallied American writers to support Rushdie.

(Credit: Sara Krulwich/New York Times Co./Getty Images)

The Riverdale Press office was bombed on February 28, 1989, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York.

The bombing took place shortly after the newspaper published an editorial supporting the public's right to read

.

(Credit: Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images)

A demonstration against Rushdie and his novel in Paris in November 1989. (Credit: Mohamed Lounes/Gamma/Getty Images)

Rushdie poses in the lobby of the Arc de la Defense in La Defense, a suburb of Paris, on March 18, 1993. It was his first visit to France since the request for his death.

(Credit: AFP/AP)

Rushdie appears on stage with Bono of the band U2 on August 11, 1993 at Wembley Stadium, London.

At times when he was in hiding, the band invited him to appear as an act of solidarity.

(Credit: Andrew Murray/Sygma/Corbis)

Rushdie answers questions on November 24, 1993, during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

That same day, Rushdie met with President Bill Clinton.

(Credit: Joe Marquette/AP)

Rushdie arrives at Central Hall in London on Thursday September 7, 1995 to take part in a public forum entitled "Writers Against the State".

Under his arm Rushdie holds a copy of

, his first major novel since

.

(Credit: Rebecca Naden/AP)

Rushdie, here with Martin Amis, won the 1995 Author of the Year award on February 9, 1996. (Credit: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)

Rushdie and then-Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen speak to the press at Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen on November 13, 1996. Rushdie traveled to Copenhagen to receive a literary prize after the Danish government earlier canceled plans for a threat against the life of the writer.

(Credit: Bjarke Oersted/AP)

Then-British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook listens to Salman Rushdie during a news conference in February 1998, on the ninth anniversary of Iran's fatwa.

(Credit: Johnny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images)

Rushdie takes a morning walk with several security guards in London on September 25, 1998, his first day in nine years without a state threat on his life.

Iran distanced itself from the religious edict against Rushdie to resume diplomatic relations with the UK.

(Credit: Johnny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images)

Rushdie and his then-partner Padma Lakshmi walk down Madison Avenue in New York on March 30, 2000. (Credit: Arnaldo Magnani/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)