Britain’s decision to honor the writer Salman Rushdie with a knighthood has sparked controversy in Pakistan and Iran. On Monday Pakistan’s National Parliament passed a resolution demanding Britain retract the award. The Pakistani resolution stated that Rushdie is still hated in the Muslim world because of his book The Satanic Verses. In 1989 Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced Rushdie to death because of Rushdie’s depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Britain has defended the decision to make Rushdie a knight. A government spokesperson said the knighthood is not intended to be an insult to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad.