Rushdie speaks out against Islamic extremism

Novelist Salman Rushdie, in an interview that will be broadcast this coming weekend on British television, urged the "silent majority" of Muslims to speak up to prevent their culture being hijacked by extremists.

"If it goes on being silent, then its culture and religion will be hijacked by the extremists and it will be very difficult to go on saying 'that's not us.' ... You've got to speak up,"' Rushdie said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. World Service. Excerpts from the interview were released Tuesday.

Rushdie said he believed the majority would speak out.

"Maybe it takes something as horrifying as the bombings in London to make people break ranks," Rushdie said, referring to the July 7 attacks in which four suicide bombers killed 52 subway and bus passengers in London.

"There's something seductive - especially for young men - to get involved in a world where you can just be angry for a living and your anger is its own justification," he said.