Tariq Ali has been recognized as an important polical and social commentator, establishing a reputaon as a leſt-wing acvist and journalist during the 1960s and 1970s. His work as an acvist, journalist, editor, historian, playwright, and novelist has made him a familiar figure in Brish polical and literary circles. In recent years, his wrings have focused on the turbulent relaonship between the countries of India and Pakistan and on Brish policies in the Middle East. Iranian nights opened on 19 th of April at Royal Court Theatre for two week it run it was wrien in response to cultural crisis caused by the Rushdie affair. It was widely acclaimed by the crics as an arsc success Michael Billington wrote in The Guardian “it was quite like the old days the theatre was packed the pavement outside was thronged and the stage itself was being used to comment on a burning topical issue but the good thing about Iranian nights by Tariq Ali and Howard Brenton is that it transcends the immediate issue of satanic verses to explore the nature of tyranny Britain’s own responsibility for creang religious intolerance and the schisms with in the Muslims community”. Tariq Ali's play Iranian Nights (1989) was intended to act as a metaphorical response to the Islamic furor surrounding the release of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. The plot ulizes several characters from Arabic folklore, including The Caliph and Scheherezade, in a tale about religious blasphemy and the nature of storytelling