The Jewel of Medina Censored
Romance Novel About the Prophet Muhammad Spiked for Feat of Violence
The Jewel of Medina, written by Sherry Jones, was supposed to be published on August 12th. Sherry Jones was to go on a book tour to promote her historical romance about the relationship between the Prophet of Islam and one of his wives, Aisha. Instead fear of terrorism and a reticence about any kind of open discourse about Islam and its founder has caused the publisher Random House to postpone the publication of The Jewel of Medina indefinitely. Sherry Jones and her literary agent are shopping the book to other publishers.
The Jewel of Medina is not the first instance in which as Islamic themed artistic work has stirred controversy and threats of violence. Thirty years ago, Syrian film maker Moustapha Akkad made a movie about the life of the Prophet Muhammad entitled The Message. Even though, acceding the Muslim sensibilities, Muhammad never actually appears in the film, a rumor that Charlton Heston would star as the Prophet caused riots in Pakistan.
More recently, the publication of The Satanic Verses, a novel by Salman Rushdie, resulted in a bounty placed on the life of the author by the Ayatollah Khomeini in the form of a religious fatwa. The fatwa resulted in at least one attempt on the life of Rushdie by the Hezbollah and huge sales for The Satanic Verses.
In November 2004, the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim man for a documentary he made entitled Submission, criticizing the treatment of women in Islamic countries. In September, 2005 the publication of some satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jylands-Posten caused wide spread protest and violence. An attempt to depict the Prophet Muhammad in an episode of South Park was censored by the Comedy Channel. Canadian essayist Mark Steyn had been harassed by a so called "Human Rights Commission" because of statements he made critical of Islam in a book entitled America Alone.
The somewhat craven reaction of Random House concerning The Jewel of Medina contrasts to what happens when artistic works some Christians find offensive. The Da Vinci Code, a novel that suggested that Jesus Christ married and had children with Mary Magdalene was not taken off the shelves, but was defended and, as a result, sold tens of millions of copies and was made into a hit movie starring Tom Hanks.
The Last Temptation of Christ, which was made into a movie starring William Defoe, actually depicted Jesus Christ having sex with Mary Magdalene during a fantasy sequence in which Christ imagines what life might be like should he refuse martyrdom and decide instead of marry and have an ordinary life.
Why the difference in reaction between works that offend Christians like The Da Vinci Code and works that might offend Muslims like The Jewel of Medina? Possibly it is because Christians, while they may protest and complain, generally do not react violently to what they consider affronts to their faith.
The reaction of Muslims to a story like The Jewel of Medina is curious, considering that the Prophet Muhammad was not God, but simply a man who according to Islamic belief received that message of God. Cannot a man, even the Prophet of Islam, experience lust, doubt, anger, and all the other feelings that a man is capable of? And can't this be depicted in literature and art? Apparently not, without the risk of mayhem and death. How fragile someone's faith must be for that to happen?
You Still Can't Write About Muhammad, Asra K. Nomani, The Wall Street Journal, August 6th, 2008
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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66 Comments
Post a CommentInteresting article, I remember reading about this :) Sheri
So with this book there will be many muslims saying it is not true, or out of context.
Bad luck realy!
Many books get written and we don't take them all as factual even if the claim to be.
Look how many books about religion there are in the world!
Many thousands!
Why should this book deserve special censorship?
Put a X-rated sticker on and only sell to adults, thaqts the only censorship that should be allowed.
And we are not burning you up , we are hurt as the Prophet has been used as an object of fiction. These are not facts in this book that is why we are argumenting on this.
well marriage in Islam is when the women reaches the age of puberty, i have a Christain friend , who is mother too a 1 year old and she is 13 :) what do u have to say to that buddy.
And Jesus or Jesus Christ we still mean Jesus the Prophet and a messenger of God.
If you believe in there is only One GOd than why do you say God of muslims or God of christains, while Muslims say God of All.
I studied 16 religions before taking in as a Muslim.
Sarwar continued.
I could go on and on but my point is what is immoral to one may not be to another.
#3. "freedom of speech must not contradict public policy" ???? That's one of the main reason we have freedom of speech. SO WE CAN CONTRADICT PUBLIC POLICY. That is how things get changes. If a public policy is wrong, unjust or flawed and you cannot speak out against it, you have no freedom. There have been several countries in history where it was illegal to speak out against the government and or public policy. The one that comes to mind for me is Germany in the 1930's and early 40s'. I pray and hope I never live in a country where you don't have the freedom to speak out if your speech contradicts public policy.
Sarwar You are kidding, I hope. Think of what you are saying.
"freedom of speech is conditional right, it should be enjoyed subject to 1. it must not hinder religious feeling; 2. it must not be immoral; 3. it must not contradict with public policy............"
#1. Just imagine if you will a book that proclaims that Satan is the true God who needs to be worshiped. There are books like that in bookstores across America. Should they be banned? Should all Christian books be banned in a country that has a Muslim population over 20%.? How about all books that claim there is no god, in a country that has "in god we trust" on its currency. Is your faith that weak that you fear anything that may hinder religious feeling?
#2. Immoral; Is it immoral to take a child bride? Is it immoral to take a unborn baby moments before it's birth and kill it? (Late term abortion) Is it immoral to hit your wife even if she disobeys you and dishonors you? I could go on and on but my point is
I feel very sad that these authors are allowed to hert the feelings of Muslams under the umbrala of so called freedom of speech these are the people who are trouble causers they write the books intentionaly knowing full well that this would get instant reaction from Muslams and then they blame Muslams for protesting and inciting violance. In truth by writing the books about the prophet they want to make money by selling more books they dont care what happens to rest of socity. I agree with Muslim would they dare write about Holcaust and get away with it?
a muslim response :
I have been inundated with emails about the recent release of the polemical, not to say highly distasteful, Jewel of Medina. My main concern relating to this issue is that someone out there is going to do something crazy. We know that four people have already been arrested in London over an alleged attack on the publisher - I am praying there will be not further incidents.
Why do Muslims fall for it every time? Why do we always get duped by "let's see what we can do to wind up Muslims and get a story from a random hot-head?"
see the rest on :
http://adamdeen.blogspot.com/2008/10/jewel-of-madina-here-we-go-again.html
I understand that there is some understanding on "freedom of Speach". There is two type to human rights, conditional and uncondition. freedom life is uncoditional right. no one including state can not impose any condition on freedom of life but state is bound to take intiatives to facilitate freedom of life. in the other hand freedom of speech is conditional right, it should be enjoyed subject to 1. it must not hinder religious feeling; 2. it must not be immoral; 3. it must not contradict with public policy...............
I think if a person with these universal principle of law he must agree with me that shery proceeded wrong way. She should realise what she done.
Here's a link for Jesus of Nazareth in the talmud http://www.revisionisthistory.org/talmudtruth.html