As anger mounts across the Muslim world over the naming of author Salman Rushdie in the Queen's latest birthday honors list, the British cabinet finds itself divided on the issue.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper points out that just hours after Home Secretary John Reid said the government would not apologise over the award, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said sorry for any offence caused.

The newspaper reports that Beckett, during a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, defended the award, but later told Sky News: 'Obviously, we are sorry if there are people who have taken very much to heart this honour, which is after all for a lifelong body of literary work.'

The British government may have cited Rushdie's extensive -- and much-awarded -- body of work, but for much of the Muslim world, the name appears synonymous with just one book: The Satanic Verses, which when it was first published had sparked a firestorm of protest, and a fatwa by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989 calling on the faithful to kill the author.

Those calls are now being renewed.

Angry Muslim protesters in Pakistan burnt effigies of the author this week, and one hardline cleric in that country said Rushdie should be killed.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who runs a mosque in Islamabad, is quoted as saying, 'Salman Rushdie deserves to be killed, and anyone who has the power must kill him.'

In Malaysia, anger spilt over from the author, to the whole of Britain with protestors taking to the streets to the chant of 'Go to hell, Britain.'

Iraqi minister Zebari, in London [Images] on an official visit, pointed to the escalating protests and suggested that the award was ill-timed.

With the Muslim world in increasing foment over the US and Britain-led invasion of Iraq, and with both governments attempting to engage in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim populace worldwide, the naming of Rushdie in the honours list was the proverbial red rag, he suggested.

Zebari, The Daily Telegraph reports, has warned that extremists would likely exploit the situation, to drum up further violence.

In Britain, while the government tries to speak with one voice on the subject, The Daily Telegraph reports that a senior Labour peer belonging to the Muslim community has appealed to the government to put the award on hold.

He told the government that Muslim businesses in Britain were planning a nationwide shutdown in protest.

The Daily Telegraph quotes Lord Ahmed of Rotherham as pointing out that honoring Rushdie would put the Queen, who is also head of the Church of England [Images], in an embarrassing position as 'The Satanic Verses had offended Christianity as well as Islam'.

The newspaper further reports that the award has created fissures across the political spectrum. One Labour MP is understood to have pointed out that as Gordon Brown prepares to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair [Images] as head of the party and the government, the naming of Rushdie in the honours list and subsequent events have created the impression of a clueless, headless party.

The controversy has also picked up momentum across the blogosphere and on discussion boards and chat sites across the world.

The Times, London, yesterday ran a petition asking support for the knighting of Rushdie, and received mixed response.

A majority of responders wrote in favor of the award, with several -- notably, most of these were from the US -- arguing that the award should stand, if only to fight the perceived tendency among the Muslim community to use violence as a tool for extra-constitutional censorship.

Others, however -- and not all of them Muslims -- questioned the merit of the award, arguing that no author had the right to hurt the sentiments of any particular religion.

On an tangentially related note, the year's honours list generated controversy on another front, when Joseph Corre, co-founder of the premium lingerie line Agent Provocateur, turned down the honour.

In a scathing denunciation, Corre said the reason for his refusal could be summed up in two words: Tony Blair.

He cited the British prime minister's 'dishonesty' in joining the US to take Britain into a war in Iraq in which 'hundreds of thousands of people have now suffered intolerably. They have suffered death and torture, and they now live in hopeless situations as a direct result of Tony Blair's invasion.'

Suggesting that Iraq is a modern day tragedy and 'the greatest scandal of our time', Corre in a statement said, 'Someone has to be held responsible for that.'

'The UK has become a more dangerous place, and a bigger target for terrorists. Whole communities have been alienated and still nobody from Tony Blair's government has said sorry,' Corre said, while refusing the honour conferred on him.