The Jewel of Medina
Encyclopedia
The Jewel of Medina is a historical novel
by Sherry Jones. It was scheduled for publication by Random House
in 2008, but subsequently canceled; it was subsequently announced that it would be published by Beaufort Books in the United States and by Gibson Square in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth
. Eventually it was published in the U.S. by Beaufort Books. The novel tells a fictionalized version of the life of Aisha
, one of the wives of the Islam
ic Prophet, Muhammad
, and the person who reportedly accompanied him as he received most of his revelations. The novel tells Aisha's story from the age of six, when she was betrothed to Muhammad, to his death.
In 2007, Random House bought the publication rights to The Jewel of Medina in a $100,000, two-book contract. The novel was scheduled to be published on August 12, 2008. The Book of the Month Club
had agreed to feature the novel in its August 2008 issue, and Quality Paperback Book Club was due to follow suit in January 2009. The novel's original marketing blurb read, "Married at nine to the much-older Muhammad, Aisha uses her wits, her courage, and her sword to defend her first-wife status even as Muhammad marries again and again, taking 12 wives and concubines in all."
According to an opinion article by Asra Nomani in The Wall Street Journal
, the original publication plans began to unravel when Random House received an email from University of Texas Professor of history and Middle Eastern Studies Denise Spellberg
, which was critical of the book and suggested its publication may inspire violent reactions from some Muslims. Random House's publicity department had sent Spellberg galleys of the novel, hoping for publishable comments from her. Instead, she found the book a "very ugly, stupid piece of work", and suggested that it may elicit violence akin to past controversies over The Satanic Verses
and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons
. According to Nomani, Shahed Amanullah, a guest lecturer in Spellberg's classes, also sent emails to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate students claiming that Spellberg had called him asking him to "warn Muslims" about the book. Shortly thereafter, Random House canceled publication. In the end, however, no actual threats were received by Random House.
Spellberg disputed Nomani's account of her role in Random House's decision not to publish The Jewel of Medina. In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, Spellberg wrote, "I never had this power [to cancel publication], nor did I single-handedly stop the book's publication. Random House made its final decision based on the advice of other scholars, conveniently not named in the article, and based ultimately on its determination of corporate interests."
Random House released a public statement about the decision not to publish the book:
Jones told Reuters
: "I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed… I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder." She wrote in a blog for The Washington Post
that she was "chagrined to realize the far-reaching ramifications of this historic decision to quash a work of art before it could even reach the public eye."
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, criticized Random House for the decision, saying, "This is censorship by fear and it sets a very bad precedent indeed." Andrew Franklin, who worked for Penguin Books
when they published The Satanic Verses and is now the publisher of Profile Books
, described the decision as "absolutely shocking" and called the Random House editors "such cowards". Geoffrey Robertson
, who received terrorist threats for representing Rushdie, said that Random House should pay Jones "substantial compensation" and recommended that the book be placed on a website "so everyone can read it".
Writing in his blog for The New York Times
, Stanley Fish
disagreed with the characterization of the controversy as "censorship", arguing that "Random House is free to publish or decline to publish whatever it likes, and its decision to do either has nothing whatsoever to do with the Western tradition of free speech or any other high-sounding abstraction. …[The cancellation] doesn’t rise to the level of constitutional or philosophical concern. And it is certainly not an episode in some 'showdown between Islam and the Western tradition of free speech.' Formulations like that at once inflate a minor business decision and trivialize something too important and complex to be reduced to a high-school civics lesson about the glories of the First Amendment." Fish argued that the term "censorship" should be restricted to cases in which a governmental body interferes with the expression of ideas. However, linguist Bill Poser, writing on the Language Log
blog, disagreed with Fish's interpretation, arguing that "[t]he Enlightenment value of freedom of expression does not lead only to restrictions on the powers of government: it requires that all of us tolerate expression that we may find offensive. A free society cannot permit anyone, government, corporation, church, or individual, to decide what may and what may not be published. That a publisher should cancel publication of a novel out of fear of violence by religious fanatics has everything to do with the Western tradition of free speech. It is a disturbing reminder that this tradition is not universal and that it is at present subject to very real threats."
, a Latin American author, wrote in a widely published article for The New Republic
: "The book's content — which has been described, promisingly, as being full of sex and violence — is irrelevant to the discussion. It may well be, as one scholar who read it contends, that The Jewel of Medina is pure trash." He closes his essay with: "I am not interested in the reasons why Gibson Square has decided to publish the book — whether opportunism, greed, love of scandal, a dislike of the prophet, or a belief in the merits of the novel. But the fact that someone, somewhere, is willing to run the risk of not letting the threat of violence inhibit free expression is tremendously comforting."
On September 27, 2008 Martin Rynja's house in London was firebombed, apparently by individuals opposed to the publication. Three men were arrested on suspicion of commissioning, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism; radical Islamic clerics such as Anjem Choudhary warned of further attacks. The three men were caught because officers had been watching them in an intelligence-led surveillance operation; they were later found guilty of conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life.
After the arson attempt, the publisher issued a statement saying that Jones had decided to indefinitely postpone publication of the book. Jones denies doing so, and says that the decision was entirely the publisher's.
On September 5, 2008, it was announced that American publisher Beaufort Books (previously best known as the publishers of If I Did It
by O. J. Simpson
) would publish The Jewel of Medina in America. According to Jones' agent, Natasha Kern, "about a dozen" other publishers had expressed interest in the novel, but some had backed off due to "possible threats". Kern said that Beaufort was giving Jones a smaller advance than Random House had, but a higher rate of royalties. Beaufort's president, Eric Kampmann, said in a press release, “We are building a great team to bring The Jewel of Medina to the audience it deserves to have. Everyone at Beaufort is proud to be associated with this ground breaking novel.”
The book was first officially published in Serbia
, in August 2008. After strong reactions from the Serbian Muslim community
, Serbian publisher Beobook withdrew it from stores, but after a few weeks, the publisher decided to return it to the stores, because of a large number of pirate copies of the book. In Serbia, the book was the number-one bestseller for at least two months.
As of December 2008, the book had been published in five countries—the US, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, and Italy—with no repercussions. It will debut in Spain Feb. 4. Plans for publication are underway in other countries, including Hungary
, Brazil
, Russia
, Republic of Macedonia
, Finland
, and Poland
; there have also been negotiations with publishers in Sweden
and The Netherlands
.
, where the novel was reviewed on August 18, 2008 by writer and poet Marwa Elnaggar. Elnaggar criticizes the book for its inaccurate portrayal of pre-Islamic Arab culture (including non-Arabic customs such as bowing and purdah
), and suggests that Jones was influenced by "the idea of the exotic and mystical Orient." Elnaggar describes The Jewel of Medina as "an attempt by a Western writer with little knowledge of Arabic, Arabia, Islam, and Muslims using her own Western, 21st century values, ideals and emotions to portray an unrecognizable version of the well-known and well-documented story of `A’ishah." However, Elnaggar argues that despite the novel's "inaccuracies, its faults, and its biases," its publication should not be stopped. On September 2, 2008 Elnaggar published Jones' response to her review to "present as many sides of an issue as possible" and "for the sake of objectivity" approached the writer and invited her to an interview where she can express her own point of view and clarify many questions that were raised. Unfortunately, Jones said that her publishers have asked her not to speak before the book is published. Instead, Jones sent Elnaggar a column where she speaks about The Jewel of Medina and the motives behind writing it. However, Jones has promised Elnaggar an interview after the novel is published. On October 11, 2008 Elnagger wrote "A Second Look at Jewel of Medina".
Indian Muslim writer Farzana Versey
criticized Jones' prose and perspective, based on the published excerpts: "It would be unfair to tar the whole book based on the Prologue, but it gives a credible peek into the language and lack of nuance the author employs. ... Apparently, Ms. Jones for all her two years of research has managed a version of chick lit, where Aisha gets in confessional mode and in a Mills and Boon fashion 'leans on her husband', 'falls into his arms', and in a rather treacly account relates that 'the pain of consummation soon melted away. Muhammad was so gentle. I hardly felt the scorpion's sting. To be in his arms, skin to skin, was the bliss I had longed for all my life.' At age nine or eleven, the 'all my life' seems rather a stretch." Versey also criticizes Asra Nomani's perspective that fictional accounts can "humanize" Islamic history: "If people do believe in a certain faith, then let them decide on how to define their belief. That too constitutes freedom of speech. Fictional accounts of this nature only serve as trashy one-upmanship. They do not humanize or, alas, even demonize religion."
Egyptian writer Ethar El-Katatney
reviewed the novel on October 6, 2008 in an article for Egypt Today
entitled "Flawed Jewel" and interviewed both Sherry Jones and Denise Spellberg. She critiqued the book and offered both Jones and Spellberg the opportunity to answer her critiques.". El-Katatney also made a telephone interview with Jones publicly accessible. The transcript of the interview is available online. On October 7, 2008 El-Katatney wrote an op-ed
entitled 'The “Flawed” Jewel of Medina' to which Jones responded to directly.
On October 6, 2008 a Muslim organisation run by British Islamist Anjem Choudary
and Omar Bakri Muhammad
wrote an article on the novel, referring to it as a "blasphemous book" and to Jones as "an enemy of Islam and author of this heinous book" and her "illicit portrayal of the marriage" of Muhammad and ‘Aisha. The organisation states that "The Jewel of Medina is a book that accurately reflects the current temperament of the disbelievers" and that it "is yet another chapter in the continuing war against Islam and Muslims that reveals the burning hatred harboured in the hearts of the disbelievers." Jones responded to this article directly, stating that, "I extend the hand of peace with a book that is respectful. Please do not judge my book by the slander being spread about it! I urge you to read The Jewel of Medina and see for yourselves that I am respectful toward Islam and your Prophet. Just as I have publicly refused to judge all Muslims by the actions of a violent few, I ask you to judge me and my book by the actual contents of The Jewel of Medina. Already I have been criticized by non-Muslims as "pandering" to Muslims with my book because it portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a gentle, compassionate, wise leader and man respectful toward women and his wives. Several reviews have been posted already, including a review in Egypt Today, in which the author, a Muslim, says that I have written very favorably about the Prophet. You may not like my book or agree with it, but it does not insult Islam or Muhammad!"
The New York Times Book Review
gave the novel a rather scathing review. They lean more towards the novel being historical fiction
. Reviewer Lorraine Adams notes that "an inexperienced, untalented author has naively stepped into an intense and deeply sensitive intellectual argument" and that "Jones' prose is lamentable".
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
by Sherry Jones. It was scheduled for publication by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
in 2008, but subsequently canceled; it was subsequently announced that it would be published by Beaufort Books in the United States and by Gibson Square in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
. Eventually it was published in the U.S. by Beaufort Books. The novel tells a fictionalized version of the life of Aisha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
, one of the wives of the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic Prophet, Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, and the person who reportedly accompanied him as he received most of his revelations. The novel tells Aisha's story from the age of six, when she was betrothed to Muhammad, to his death.
Cancelled publication
Book of the Month Club
The Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
had agreed to feature the novel in its August 2008 issue, and Quality Paperback Book Club was due to follow suit in January 2009. The novel's original marketing blurb read, "Married at nine to the much-older Muhammad, Aisha uses her wits, her courage, and her sword to defend her first-wife status even as Muhammad marries again and again, taking 12 wives and concubines in all."
According to an opinion article by Asra Nomani in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, the original publication plans began to unravel when Random House received an email from University of Texas Professor of history and Middle Eastern Studies Denise Spellberg
Denise Spellberg
Denise A. Spellberg is an American scholar of Islamic history. She is an associate professor of history and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Spellberg holds a BA from Smith College and a PhD from Columbia University....
, which was critical of the book and suggested its publication may inspire violent reactions from some Muslims. Random House's publicity department had sent Spellberg galleys of the novel, hoping for publishable comments from her. Instead, she found the book a "very ugly, stupid piece of work", and suggested that it may elicit violence akin to past controversies over The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters...
and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
. According to Nomani, Shahed Amanullah, a guest lecturer in Spellberg's classes, also sent emails to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate students claiming that Spellberg had called him asking him to "warn Muslims" about the book. Shortly thereafter, Random House canceled publication. In the end, however, no actual threats were received by Random House.
Spellberg disputed Nomani's account of her role in Random House's decision not to publish The Jewel of Medina. In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, Spellberg wrote, "I never had this power [to cancel publication], nor did I single-handedly stop the book's publication. Random House made its final decision based on the advice of other scholars, conveniently not named in the article, and based ultimately on its determination of corporate interests."
Random House released a public statement about the decision not to publish the book:
Jones told Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
: "I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed… I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder." She wrote in a blog for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
that she was "chagrined to realize the far-reaching ramifications of this historic decision to quash a work of art before it could even reach the public eye."
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, criticized Random House for the decision, saying, "This is censorship by fear and it sets a very bad precedent indeed." Andrew Franklin, who worked for Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
when they published The Satanic Verses and is now the publisher of Profile Books
Profile Books
Profile Books is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1996 to publish stimulating non-fiction. It publishes across a wide range of subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. It also publishes all The Economist Books.In 2003 it...
, described the decision as "absolutely shocking" and called the Random House editors "such cowards". Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC is an Australian-born human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship....
, who received terrorist threats for representing Rushdie, said that Random House should pay Jones "substantial compensation" and recommended that the book be placed on a website "so everyone can read it".
Writing in his blog for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Stanley Fish
Stanley Fish
Stanley Eugene Fish is an American literary theorist and legal scholar. He was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island...
disagreed with the characterization of the controversy as "censorship", arguing that "Random House is free to publish or decline to publish whatever it likes, and its decision to do either has nothing whatsoever to do with the Western tradition of free speech or any other high-sounding abstraction. …[The cancellation] doesn’t rise to the level of constitutional or philosophical concern. And it is certainly not an episode in some 'showdown between Islam and the Western tradition of free speech.' Formulations like that at once inflate a minor business decision and trivialize something too important and complex to be reduced to a high-school civics lesson about the glories of the First Amendment." Fish argued that the term "censorship" should be restricted to cases in which a governmental body interferes with the expression of ideas. However, linguist Bill Poser, writing on the Language Log
Language Log
Language Log is a collaborative language blog maintained by University of Pennsylvania phonetician Mark Liberman.The site is updated daily at the whims of the contributors, and most of the posts are on language use in the media and popular culture. Google search results are frequently used as a...
blog, disagreed with Fish's interpretation, arguing that "[t]he Enlightenment value of freedom of expression does not lead only to restrictions on the powers of government: it requires that all of us tolerate expression that we may find offensive. A free society cannot permit anyone, government, corporation, church, or individual, to decide what may and what may not be published. That a publisher should cancel publication of a novel out of fear of violence by religious fanatics has everything to do with the Western tradition of free speech. It is a disturbing reminder that this tradition is not universal and that it is at present subject to very real threats."
Subsequent planned publication
On September 4, 2008, it was announced that British publisher Gibson Square would publish The Jewel of Medina in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Gibson Square publisher Martin Rynja called for "open access to literary works, regardless of fear" and said, "If a novel of quality and skill that casts light on a beautiful subject we know too little of in the West, but have a genuine interest in, cannot be published here, it would truly mean that the clock has been turned back to the dark ages." In a press release, Rynja added, "I was bowled over by the novel and the moving love story and interesting but unknown history it portrays. I was struck by the research of Sherry Jones, who is a journalist with almost 30 years of experience, her literary imagination and passion for the novel’s characters." Commenting on the decision by Gibson Square, Alvaro Vargas LlosaÁlvaro Vargas Llosa
Álvaro Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer and political commentator on international affairs with emphasis on Latin America. He is also the writer and presenter of a documentary series for National Geographic on contemporary Latin American history that is being shown around the world.Vargas Llosa...
, a Latin American author, wrote in a widely published article for The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
: "The book's content — which has been described, promisingly, as being full of sex and violence — is irrelevant to the discussion. It may well be, as one scholar who read it contends, that The Jewel of Medina is pure trash." He closes his essay with: "I am not interested in the reasons why Gibson Square has decided to publish the book — whether opportunism, greed, love of scandal, a dislike of the prophet, or a belief in the merits of the novel. But the fact that someone, somewhere, is willing to run the risk of not letting the threat of violence inhibit free expression is tremendously comforting."
On September 27, 2008 Martin Rynja's house in London was firebombed, apparently by individuals opposed to the publication. Three men were arrested on suspicion of commissioning, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism; radical Islamic clerics such as Anjem Choudhary warned of further attacks. The three men were caught because officers had been watching them in an intelligence-led surveillance operation; they were later found guilty of conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life.
After the arson attempt, the publisher issued a statement saying that Jones had decided to indefinitely postpone publication of the book. Jones denies doing so, and says that the decision was entirely the publisher's.
On September 5, 2008, it was announced that American publisher Beaufort Books (previously best known as the publishers of If I Did It
If I Did It
If I Did It is a book by O. J. Simpson, in which he puts forth a hypothetical description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Simpson was tried and acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial but later found financially liable in a civil trial...
by O. J. Simpson
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
) would publish The Jewel of Medina in America. According to Jones' agent, Natasha Kern, "about a dozen" other publishers had expressed interest in the novel, but some had backed off due to "possible threats". Kern said that Beaufort was giving Jones a smaller advance than Random House had, but a higher rate of royalties. Beaufort's president, Eric Kampmann, said in a press release, “We are building a great team to bring The Jewel of Medina to the audience it deserves to have. Everyone at Beaufort is proud to be associated with this ground breaking novel.”
International publication
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, in August 2008. After strong reactions from the Serbian Muslim community
Islam in Serbia
The Muslims in Serbia are mostly ethnic Bosniaks and Albanians, but also members of the smaller ethnic groups like Muslims by nationality, Ashkali, Egyptians, Gorani, Roma, and Turks.-Number of believers and distribution:...
, Serbian publisher Beobook withdrew it from stores, but after a few weeks, the publisher decided to return it to the stores, because of a large number of pirate copies of the book. In Serbia, the book was the number-one bestseller for at least two months.
As of December 2008, the book had been published in five countries—the US, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, and Italy—with no repercussions. It will debut in Spain Feb. 4. Plans for publication are underway in other countries, including Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
; there have also been negotiations with publishers in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Reviews and critical responses
Jones provided the manuscript of The Jewel of Medina to Islamic website IslamOnline.netIslamOnline
Islamonline is a global Islamic website on the Internet providing services to Muslims and non-Muslims in several languages. Its motto is "credibility and distinction." Sunni Muslim scholar....
, where the novel was reviewed on August 18, 2008 by writer and poet Marwa Elnaggar. Elnaggar criticizes the book for its inaccurate portrayal of pre-Islamic Arab culture (including non-Arabic customs such as bowing and purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
), and suggests that Jones was influenced by "the idea of the exotic and mystical Orient." Elnaggar describes The Jewel of Medina as "an attempt by a Western writer with little knowledge of Arabic, Arabia, Islam, and Muslims using her own Western, 21st century values, ideals and emotions to portray an unrecognizable version of the well-known and well-documented story of `A’ishah." However, Elnaggar argues that despite the novel's "inaccuracies, its faults, and its biases," its publication should not be stopped. On September 2, 2008 Elnaggar published Jones' response to her review to "present as many sides of an issue as possible" and "for the sake of objectivity" approached the writer and invited her to an interview where she can express her own point of view and clarify many questions that were raised. Unfortunately, Jones said that her publishers have asked her not to speak before the book is published. Instead, Jones sent Elnaggar a column where she speaks about The Jewel of Medina and the motives behind writing it. However, Jones has promised Elnaggar an interview after the novel is published. On October 11, 2008 Elnagger wrote "A Second Look at Jewel of Medina".
Indian Muslim writer Farzana Versey
Farzana Versey
Farzana Versey is an Indian writer based in Mumbai. She is currently a regular op-ed contributor to the newspapers The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle. Her columns have, in the past, appeared in various newspapers and magazines including Rediff.com and Mid-day...
criticized Jones' prose and perspective, based on the published excerpts: "It would be unfair to tar the whole book based on the Prologue, but it gives a credible peek into the language and lack of nuance the author employs. ... Apparently, Ms. Jones for all her two years of research has managed a version of chick lit, where Aisha gets in confessional mode and in a Mills and Boon fashion 'leans on her husband', 'falls into his arms', and in a rather treacly account relates that 'the pain of consummation soon melted away. Muhammad was so gentle. I hardly felt the scorpion's sting. To be in his arms, skin to skin, was the bliss I had longed for all my life.' At age nine or eleven, the 'all my life' seems rather a stretch." Versey also criticizes Asra Nomani's perspective that fictional accounts can "humanize" Islamic history: "If people do believe in a certain faith, then let them decide on how to define their belief. That too constitutes freedom of speech. Fictional accounts of this nature only serve as trashy one-upmanship. They do not humanize or, alas, even demonize religion."
Egyptian writer Ethar El-Katatney
Ethar El-Katatney
Ethar El-Katatney is an award-winning journalist, a blogger, and an author. She has worked as a staff writer at Egypt Today, the leading current affairs magazine in the Middle East, and at its sister magazine Business Today Egypt...
reviewed the novel on October 6, 2008 in an article for Egypt Today
Egypt Today
Egypt Today is an Egyptian English-language monthly magazine first published in 1979. It covers Egyptian current affairs and some international news....
entitled "Flawed Jewel" and interviewed both Sherry Jones and Denise Spellberg. She critiqued the book and offered both Jones and Spellberg the opportunity to answer her critiques.". El-Katatney also made a telephone interview with Jones publicly accessible. The transcript of the interview is available online. On October 7, 2008 El-Katatney wrote an op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
entitled 'The “Flawed” Jewel of Medina' to which Jones responded to directly.
On October 6, 2008 a Muslim organisation run by British Islamist Anjem Choudary
Anjem Choudary
Anjem Choudary is a British former solicitor, and, before it was proscribed, spokesman for the Islamist group Islam4UK. He is married, has four children, and lives in Ilford, London....
and Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad is an Islamist militant leader who was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir into a major organization in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading another Islamist organisation, Al-Muhajiroun, until its disbandment in 2004.For several years Bakri was one of...
wrote an article on the novel, referring to it as a "blasphemous book" and to Jones as "an enemy of Islam and author of this heinous book" and her "illicit portrayal of the marriage" of Muhammad and ‘Aisha. The organisation states that "The Jewel of Medina is a book that accurately reflects the current temperament of the disbelievers" and that it "is yet another chapter in the continuing war against Islam and Muslims that reveals the burning hatred harboured in the hearts of the disbelievers." Jones responded to this article directly, stating that, "I extend the hand of peace with a book that is respectful. Please do not judge my book by the slander being spread about it! I urge you to read The Jewel of Medina and see for yourselves that I am respectful toward Islam and your Prophet. Just as I have publicly refused to judge all Muslims by the actions of a violent few, I ask you to judge me and my book by the actual contents of The Jewel of Medina. Already I have been criticized by non-Muslims as "pandering" to Muslims with my book because it portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a gentle, compassionate, wise leader and man respectful toward women and his wives. Several reviews have been posted already, including a review in Egypt Today, in which the author, a Muslim, says that I have written very favorably about the Prophet. You may not like my book or agree with it, but it does not insult Islam or Muhammad!"
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
gave the novel a rather scathing review. They lean more towards the novel being historical fiction
Historical fiction
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
. Reviewer Lorraine Adams notes that "an inexperienced, untalented author has naively stepped into an intense and deeply sensitive intellectual argument" and that "Jones' prose is lamentable".
Sequel
According to the author, several sequels to the book are in the works. A German publisher will publish a sequel to the novel entitled A’isha: The Legacy of the Prophet and Beaufort Books is moving ahead with the sequel’s U.S. publication, titled The Sword of Medina.See also
- Pre-Islamic ArabiaPre-Islamic ArabiaPre-Islamic Arabia refers to the Arabic civilization which existed in the Arabian Plate before the rise of Islam in the 630s. The study of Pre-Islamic Arabia is important to Islamic studies as it provides the context for the development of Islam.-Studies:...
for the historical context of the novel - The Cartoons that Shook the WorldThe Cartoons that Shook the WorldThe Cartoons that Shook the World is a 2009 book by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen about the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Klausen contends that the controversy was deliberately stoked up by people with vested interests on all sides, and argues against the view that it...
for a similar case of pre-publication censorship
External links
- The Jewel of Medina, official website set up by Beaufort Books
- Beaufort Books Secures Deal to Publish Once Feared Historical Novel The Jewel of Medina Press release by Beaufort Books (US publishers), September 5, 2008
- Once Feared Historical Novel Finds Home in Britain Press release by Gibson Square (UK publishers), September 8, 2008
- The Jewel of Medina: The Prologue at "Smart Bitches, Trashy Books" blog, August 7, 2008
- Interview with Sherry Jones by Shahed Amanullah, altmuslim.com, September 5, 2008
- Prologue From the Novel 'The Jewel of Medina' at Fox NewsFox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
, August 19, 2008 - Interview with Sherry Jones
- "My Novel Represents a Bold Aisha" Interview with Sherry Jones