Controversial book set for release tomorrow
By Marjorie Kehe | 10.05.08
Ironically, it was Sherry Jones’s hope that her book would contribute to global peace. So far, it has turned out quite to the contrary.
Jones, who lives in Spokane, Wash., and was once a newspaper reporter in Montana, is the author of “The Jewel of Medina,” a debut novel based on the life of Aisha, the prophet Muhammad’s youngest and favorite wife.
Jones has said in interviews that she began writing “The Jewel of Medina” in 2002 as her own “personal response” to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “As I read – books by western scholars, Islamic scholars, religious clerics, ancient Arabic poetry – what I gained from my reading was an impression of Islam being a religion of, primarily, peace,” she told London’s TimesOnline. Jone also said that “she came to respect Muhammad as a leader who introduced women’s rights centuries before women’s lib.”
It looked for a while as if Jones’s project were moving exactly in the direction that she had hoped. Jones sold her book to Random House and seemed to be cruising smoothly toward a big release in August.
Then Jones sent a copy of the manuscript to academic Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas, hoping that Spellberg would like the book and write a laudatory blurb for use on the jacket. Instead, Spellberg, offended by sexuality in the book (which includes a portrayal of the wedding night of Muhammad and Aisha), labeled it “soft-core pornography” and said it was “more dangerous than The Satanic Verses or the Danish cartoons.”
Spellberg reportedly informed Random House that publication would expose the company and its employees to Islamic terrorism.
Random House grew nervous and dropped the project. In the UK, Martin Rynja, the Dutch-born owner of Gibson Square, a small, independent publishing house in London, took it up – only to have his house north London firebombed last weekend. It’s not yet clear whether or not Gibson Square will go forward with the book.
In New York, however, small publisher Beaufort Books has picked the book up and advanced its release date to tomorrow, Monday, Oct. 6, when 50,000 copies of the book will be made available to the public.
Jones says in a YouTube video that she is very eager for readers to have a chance to experience “The Jewel of Medina” for themselves.
“We’re getting the book out there as quickly as possible before more tempers flare over a book that nobody has read,” Jones told The Wall Street Journal.
Jones says “The Jewel of Medina” has been sold to publishers in about a dozen countries. In Serbia, where the book has already been released, there were initially objections but according to Jones, these have quieted as readers have been able to read the book for themselves.
“Anyone who reads my book will see it’s not offensive in any way,” she told the Wall Street Journal.
Comments
2. Kayla | 10.05.08
This sounds very interesting to me. I can’t wait to buy her book and read it for myself. I’m into studying religions and history; this book may be a good source for that.
3. Cindy B. | 10.06.08
I’m sure Ms. Jones is enjoying the acts of terrorism already wrought upon all the houses who thought to publish her book. After all, she couldn’t buy such (and so much) publicity.
But, has she learned anything yet? Has she learned that there’s no such thing as free speech, in Islam? Has she learned that fiction has no place in Islam? Has she learned that any text of any kind that portrays Muhammed (whether flattering or not) is an “insult to Islam”. Does she realize that she’s an “infidel”, and a woman–two of the most damning things to be, according to Islam? Is she aware that, not only would she not be published in countries dominated by Islam, but that, if she didn’t recant, renounce her book, and convert to Islam, she would be tortured to death?
I doubt she’s aware of any of these things, or, if she is, she doesn’t believe them. Evidently, when Ms. Jones did the historical “research” for her book, she skipped the Qur’an and the Ahadith, and the Sira of Muhammed, as source material.
Oh, but the novel is about Aisha, she might say, not Muhammed. Ms. Jones, anything that even hints at Muhammed, or uses his name, becomes about him, whether it’s about him, or not.
Sherry Jones, the model of cupidity and stupidity, in equal measure. Having observed the activities of Muhammedans, since the WTC mass murder, I predict that the expressions of Muslim outrage will soon make their way to her own door, once the book has been published. She might begin to think, then. Unfortunately, it will be too late.
4. Jannah | 10.06.08
I’m a Muslimah who thinks it’s time my fellow Muslims grow up and join the real world, quit behaving like such spoiled brats. It’s beyond embarrassing. This book looks interesting and I’m looking forward to reading it. There has been far too little published on creative explorations of Muslim women’s lives.
Muslims for democracy and intellectual freedom need to grow a backbone and stand up to bullies who use threats and violence to intimidate the world into obeying them. We need to take back Islam from those hoodlums.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Jillian Stoller | 10.05.08
As a Muslim, I’m interested to read Jones’ book, but a bit confused by the controversy. Jones insists that the book is not anti-Islamic and is a celebration of Aisha’s life; however, I would encourage her to take better control of how the book is marketed. For example, potential buyers intending to purchase the book from Amazon.com will find “The Jewel of Medina” currently bundled with Robert Spencer’s decidedly anti-Islamic “The Truth About Muhammad” (i.e., buy both books together for a reduced price). Unfortunately, “messages” such as this one only fuel the fire for those who will protest against it or terrorize book publishers, such as the awful attack in London.
I wish Sherry Jones every success with her novel and I look forward to reading it for myself.