Salman Rushdie says he dreamt about attack that claimed eye, before it happened

“I thought, you know, it's a dream. And plus, they're paying me quite well… I should go," the author revealed to BBC.

Writer Salman Rushdie has revealed that he dreamt about the attack that led the loss of his eye, two days before it happened.

The author, in an interview with BBC, says he disregarded the dream since he was being paid “quite well.”

He added that losing his eye “upsets him every day,” “I remember thinking I was dying. Fortunately, I was wrong.”

The attack occurred at a New York state educational institution in August 2022, just as Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture. He recounted the assailant swiftly stabbing him 12 times, including in the neck and abdomen, in a 27-second-long assault.

Hadi Matar, a 26-year-old resident of New Jersey, has been charged with the assault. Mr. Matar pleaded not guilty and remains detained without bail, with the trial set to take place this autumn, after several delays.

The 76-year-old is mostly known for fuelling a controversy with his book, “The Satanic Verses.”

Upon its release in 1989, many people found the book as Islamophobic and “blasphemous,” leading to Rushdie receiving several death threats.

Salman Rushdie’s memoir, “Knife,” releases today, on Tuesday April 16th.