The Jewel of Medina

Infobox Book
name = The Jewel of Medina


image_caption = Cover for the planned Ballantine release of "The Jewel of Medina"
author = Sherry Jones
cover_artist =
country = United States of America
language = English
series =
subject =
genre =
publisher = Gibson Square (UK) Beaufort Books (USA)
pub_date = October 2008
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (hardcover)
pages = 432 pages
isbn = 978-0345503169
oclc =

"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.cite news |title=Publisher of O.J. book to handle Muhammad novel |url=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Books-Muslim-Novel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |work=The New York Times |publisher=Associated Press |date=Date|2008-09-05|accessdate=2008-09-08 ] cite news |title=Muhammad novel set for UK release |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7597437.stm |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=Date|2008-09-04 |accessdate=2008-09-08 ] The novel tells a fictionalized version of the life of Aisha, one of the wives of the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, and the person who reportedly accompanied him as he received most of his revelations.Goodwin, Jan. Price of Honour: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World. UK: Little, Brown Book Group, 1994] The novel tells Aisha's story from the age of six, when she was betrothed to Muhammad, to his death.

Cancelled publication

In 2007, Random House bought the publication rights to "The Jewel of Medina" in a $100,000, two-book contract.cite news |first=Asra Q. |last=Nomani |authorlink=Asra Nomani |title=You Still Can't Write About Mohammad |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797979078815073.html |work=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Dow Jones & Company |date=Date|2008-08-06|accessdate=2008-08-09 ] The novel was scheduled to be published on August 12, 2008.cite news |first=Sherry |last=Jones |title=Censoring "The Jewel Of Medina" |url=http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/08/censoring_islam.html |work=The Washington Post |publisher="Islam's Advance: PostGlobal" blog |Date|date=2008-08-11|accessdate=2008-09-08 ] 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."cite news |first=Suzanne |last=Goldenberg |title=Novel on prophet's wife pulled for fear of backlash |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/09/fiction.terrorism |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian Media Group |date=Date|2008-08-09|accessdate=2008-09-09 ]

According to an opinion article by Asra Nomani in "The Wall Street Journal", the original publication plans began to unravel when University of Texas Professor of history and Middle Eastern Studies, Denise Spellberg saw a copy of the galleys and decided to "warn Muslims" of the pending publication of a novel that, in Spellberg's opinion, "made fun of Muslims and their history." Shortly thereafter, Random House canceled publication. [cite news |title=Book on Prophet Muhammad's wife dropped |url=http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080060474&ch=8/7/2008%2012:26:00%20PM |work=Press Trust of India |publisher=NDTV |date=Date|2008-08-07|accessdate=2008-08-09 ] Spellberg also called the novel a "very ugly, stupid piece of work" and added that "I don't have a problem with historical fiction. I do have a problem with the deliberate misinterpretation of history. You can't play with a sacred history and turn it into soft core pornography." Spellberg later stated that the book "only works by taking advantage of people's ignorance" and amounts to "a mere burlesque."cite news |first=Edward |last=Nawotka |title=UT professor's complaints lead to cancellation of book about Muhammad's wife |url=http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/13/0813spellberg.html |work=Austin American-Statesman |publisher=Cox Enterprises |date=Date|2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-18 ]

According to Nomani, Spellberg informed Random House that publication would expose Random House employees to Islamic terrorism and that Muslims would react with the kind of violence seen in past controversies over the "The Satanic Verses" and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. No actual threats were received by Random House. [cite web |url=http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/publishing/apparently_the_terrorists_planned_to_spam_random_houses_servers_91058.asp |title=Apparently, The Terrorists Planned to Spam Random House's Servers |accessdate=2008-08-10 |last=Hogan |first=Ron |date=Date|2008-08-07|work=GalleyCat |publisher=Mediabistro.com]

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."cite news |first=Denise A. |last=Spellberg |authorlink=Denise Spellberg |title=I Didn't Kill 'The Jewel of Medina' |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121824366910026293.html |work=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Dow Jones & Company |date=Date|2008-08-09|accessdate=2008-09-08 ] Spellberg wrote that she had been invited to "comment" on the book by its Random House editor, at the request of Jones. She also wrote that she objected strenuously to the claim that "The Jewel of Medina" was "extensively researched," as stated on the book jacket. Spellberg asserted that "As an expert on Aisha's life, I felt it was my professional responsibility to counter this novel's fallacious representation of a very real woman's life. The author and the press brought me into a process, and I used my scholarly expertise to assess the novel. It was in that same professional capacity that I felt it my duty to warn the press of the novel's potential to provoke anger among some Muslims." She also stated that "The combination of sex and violence sells novels. When combined with falsification of the Islamic past, it exploits Americans who know nothing about Aisha or her seventh-century world and counts on stirring up controversy to increase sales."

Random House released a public statement about the decision not to publish the book:quote|After sending out advance editions of the novel THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, we received in response, from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment. We felt an obligation to take these concerns very seriously. We consulted with security experts as well as with scholars of Islam, whom we asked to review the book and offer their assessments of potential reactions. We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors and the free discussion of ideas, even those that may be construed as offensive by some. However, a publisher must weigh that responsibility against others that it also bears, and in this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel. The author and Ballantine subsequently agreed to terminate the agreement, with the understanding that the author would be free to publish elsewhere, if she so chose. [cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/medinaletter.html |title=The Jewel of Medina Statement |accessdate=2008-08-18 |publisher=The Random House Publishing Group |date= ]

Jones told Reuters: "I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed… I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder."cite news |first=Edith |last=Honan |title=Random House pulls novel on Islam, fears violence |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0736008820080807 |publisher=Reuters |date=Date|2008-08-07|accessdate=2008-08-10 ] 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." [cite news |first=James |last=Bone |title=Salman Rushdie attacks 'censorship by fear' over The Jewel of Medina |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4543243.ece |work=The Times |publisher=News Corp. |location=London |date=Date|2008-08-16|accessdate=2008-08-18 ] 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".cite news |first=Alison |last=Flood |title=Call for compensation after shelving of Islam novel |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/12/islam |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian Media Group |date=Date|2008-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-18 ] 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."cite web |url=http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/crying-censorship/index.html |title=Crying Censorship |accessdate=2008-08-27 |last=Fish |first=Stanley |authorlink=Stanley Fish |date=Date|2008-08-24|work=The New York Times |publisher=Think Again blog] 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."cite web |url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=525 |title=Rushdie 1, Fish 0 |accessdate=2008-08-27 |last=Poser |first=Bill |date=Date|2008-08-25|publisher=Language Log]

ubsequent 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."cite web |url=http://www.gibsonsquare.com/ |title=Once Feared Historical Novel Finds Home in Britain |accessdate=2008-09-08 |publisher=Gibson House website |date=Date|2008-09-08 ] Commenting on the decision by Gibson Square, Alvaro Vargas Llosa wrote in a widely published article for the "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." [cite web|url=http://tnr.com/story_print.html?id=6c96c81a-63d0-4bcd-8d06-fcfb9b84fccd|title=The Freedom To Publish|accessdate=2008-09-21|author=Alvaro Vargas Llosa|authorlink=Alvaro Vargas Llosa|date=Date|2008-09-10|publisher="The New Republic"]

On September 27, 2008 Martin Rynja's house in London was firebombed, apparently by individuals opposed to the publication. [cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/28/muhammad.book.attack|title=Firebomb attack on book publisher|accessdate=2008-09-28|author=Jamie Doward and Mark Townsend|date=Date|2008-09-28|publisher="The Guardian"] . 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. [cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3097350/Radical-Islamic-clerics-warn-of-further-attacks-after-publisher-is-firebombed.html|title=Radical Islamic clerics warn of further attacks after publisher is firebombed|accessdate=2008-09-28|author=John Bingham|date=Date|2008-09-28|publisher="The Daily Telegraph"]

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.”cite press release |title=Beaufort Books Secures Deal to Publish Once Feared Historical Novel "The Jewel of Medina" |publisher=Beaufort Books |date=Date|2008-09-08|url=http://www.jewelofmedinabook.com/Jewel%20release%20web%20version.htm |accessdate=2008-09-08]

International publication

So far, the book has officially been published only in Serbia, in August 2008. After strong reactions from the Serbian Muslim community, Serbian publisher "Beobook" has withdrawn it from storescite news |title=Book "offending Muslims" withdrawn|url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=08&dd=17&nav_id=52760|publisher=B92|date=Date|2008-08-17|accessdate=2008-08-18 ] , 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.cite news |title="Islam offending" book back on shelves|url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=09&dd=15&nav_id=53485|publisher=B92|date=Date|2008-09-15 |accessdate=2008-09-15 ]

As of|2008|September, plans for publication are underway in fifteen countries, including Italy, Spain, Hungary, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Republic of Macedonia, Denmark, Finland and Poland; as of mid-September, negotiations were ongoing with publishers in Sweden and the Netherlands.cite news |first=Sarah |last=Lyall |authorlink=Sarah Lyall |title=Attack May Be Tied to Book About Muhammad |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/world/europe/29jewel.htm?_r=1&oref=slogin |work=The New York Times |date=2008-09-28 |accessdate=2008-09-29 ]

Reviews and critical responses

Jones provided the manuscript of "The Jewel of Medina" to Islamic website IslamOnline.net, where the novel was reviewed 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. [cite web |url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1218650312355&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout |title=When Sherry Jones Writes About `A’ishah |accessdate=2008-08-18 |last=Elnaggar |first=Marwa |date= |publisher=IslamOnline]

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."cite web |url=http://www.stateofnature.org/whoSaysYouCantWrite.html |title=Who Says You Can't Write about Muhammad? How Liberal Fiction Dictators Play with History |accessdate=2008-09-09 |last=Versey |first=Farzana |authorlink=Farzana Versey |date=Summer 2008 |work=State of Nature] 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 and interviewed both Sherry Jones and Denise Spellberg. She critiqued the book and offered both Jones and Spellberg the opportunity to answer her critiques."cite web |url=http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8171 |title=Flawed Jewel |accessdate=2008-10-07 |last=El-Katatney|first=Ethar|authorlink=Ethar El-Katatney |date=October 2008 |work=Egypt Today] . El-Katatney also made a telephone interview with Jones publicly accessible. [cite interview |last=Jones |first=Sherry |subjectlink=Sherry Jones |interviewer=Ethar El-Katatney |title=Sherry Jones (by Ethar El-Katatney) |type=Telephone interview |url=http://boomp3.com/listen/c1mtb74b8_g/sherry-jones-by-ethar-el-katatney |format=MP3 |accessdate=2008-10-07 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.jewelofmedinabook.com/ The Jewel of Medina] , official website set up by Beaufort Books Beaufort Books
** [http://www.beaufortbooks.com/ Beaufort Books Secures Deal to Publish Once Feared Historical Novel "The Jewel of Medina"] Press release by Beaufort Books (US publishers), September 5, 2008
** [http://www.gibsonsquare.com/ Once Feared Historical Novel Finds Home in Britain] Press release by Gibson Square (UK publishers), September 8, 2008
* [http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the-jewel-of-medina-the-prologue/ The Jewel of Medina: The Prologue] at "Smart Bitches, Trashy Books" blog, August 7, 2008
* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,406481,00.html Prologue From the Novel 'The Jewel of Medina'] at Fox News, August 19, 2008
* [http://www.zshare.net/audio/2009806866256226 Interview with Sherry Jones]