The jury also found Matar guilty of assault for wounding the interviewer, Henry Reese, who was on stage with the author. Mr Reese suffered a minor head injury during the attack.

Matar’s sentencing date has been scheduled for 23 April.

Sir Salman, 77, testified that he was on stage at the historic Chautauqua Institution when he saw a man rushing towards him.

Recalling the incident, he said he was struck by the assailant’s eyes, “which were dark and seemed very ferocious”.

He initially thought he had been punched, before realising he had been stabbed – 15 times in total – with wounds to his eye, cheek, neck, chest, torso and thigh.

The attack took place more than 35 years after Sir Salman’s novel, The Satanic Verses, was first published.

The novel, inspired by the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, sparked outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous. The book was banned in some countries after it was published in 1988.

Sir Salman faced countless death threats and was forced into hiding for nine years after Iran’s religious leader issued a fatwa – or decree – calling for the author’s death due to the book.

But in recent years, the author said he believed the threats against him had diminished.