Alert! Some 20 years after the publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, a UK publisher who picked up American author Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina – a romance novel involving the Prophet Muhammed and his “child bride” Aisha – has seen his house firebombed.
Martin Rynja, Director of Gibson Square Books, was not at his Islington, London home when the bomb exploded, having received a tip-off from police. Four men were arrested. None of them were in possession of Brock Clarke’s An Arsonist’s Guide to Publishers’ Homes in England. (OK, bad joke.)
Jones’ book was originally meant to be published by Random House – and she had a $100 000 advance to prove it – but the giant backed off after an academic in Texas said The Jewel of Medina turned “sacred history” into “softcore pornography”. She also called it a “very ugly, stupid piece of work”, which isn’t particularly relevant, except to those who think the London attack was orchestrated by the infamous Stop Poor Taste Underground.
According to The Guardian, “Rynja, whose company has also published Londonistan by journalist Melanie Phillips and Blowing up Russia by murdered dissident Alexander Litvinenko, appears to have been determined to use Jones’s book to take a stand for free speech.”
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October 5th, 2008 @17:57 #
An Abdullah Saeed writes to BOOK SA with his thoughts on the matter. One thing he doesn't make clear is whether he's read The Jewel of Medina:
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Sir,
Violence is completely unacceptable and need to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
While in no way condoning intimidation or violence against the publisher's offices, I strongly believe; the novel: “Jewel of Medina”, by Sherry Jones is blasphemous. It is a historical fiction and will contain false information and biases about Islam and the noble personalities of Islam.
I am not against freedom of expression or for censorship, but there is definitely lack of judgement by the author. Sherry Jones, a western writer, with little or no knowledge of Islamic history, early Arabian traditions and the Quraan, had no reason to write a fictional account of Ayesha’s marriage to the Prophet (PBUH).
It is unfortunate that freedom of speech is interpreted by some authors and publishers as the right to ridicule and insult some of the most venerable and exalted personalities who graced this earth. As Muslims we believe that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his wives, family and companions are exalted personalities. Islam demands that Muslims respect all of God's creations, prophets and the scriptures of all religions.
Ayesha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, is revered, honoured and regarded as a role model by Muslims all over the World. Ayesha, who carried the title of Siddiqa, meaning the truthful is regarded as the mother of the Believers. She became one of the most important reporters of Hadith (the Prophet’s traditions). Both men and women came to learn about Islam from her. Her life shows how a Muslim woman can use her intelligence, knowledge and inspiration to make vast contributions to the cause of Islam.
Such blasphemous novels would definitely hurt the feelings of the Muslims. At a time when the entire world is gripped by events that aim to drive a wedge between East and West, one would have thought it prudent to say the least, not to exacerbate the existing tensions by writing and publishing such blasphemous novels.
Freedom must be used with respect and as with all freedoms; it must be curtailed at a certain point before it becomes unacceptable.
Anything, be it an article, film, book, caricature, or a statement, which hurts someone else’s religion or cultural belief and sentiments, should not be allowed. The hallmark of civilization is to have mutual tolerance, respect and courtesy for our diverse cultures and religions.
October 6th, 2008 @09:58 #
I haven’t read the book. Recently, at the castle there was a breathtaking exhibition of manuscripts from the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research in Timbuktu, Mali. About four hundred years ago Ahmed Baba was considered the greatest scholar in Timbuktu –he wrote many books/manuscripts and collected thousands. At the exhibition of the manuscripts, there was one translated quote from his work, which still shines in my memory. According to the exhibition notes, Ahmed Baba was quoting a prophetic saying and it went as follows: ‘The ink of the scholar is more precious than the blood of the Martyr.’ I know this quote doesn’t perfectly fit the situation of the bombing of the publisher, but I think the intention does. If somebody offends, shows disrespect, it is absolutely right to stand up and to speak out about the offence, to make the problem known, but I agree with the prophetic saying quoted by Ahmed Baba that the ink of the scholar is more precious, it is more precious, more wise than any bloody or violent response.
Now I am really wandering off the topic of the problematic novel, but having just read Owen Sheers’ excellent essay ‘Bomb Gone’ about the British nuclear testing at Christmas Island after WWII, I cannot get the scream of an island-full of blinded birds out of my head. And then after the blinding flash, the stunned silence and the following sudden scream in unison of hundreds, thousands of birds; the troops had to beat the birds to death to save them from continued agony. With the power we have now to destroy: there is no room for any habit of responding to transgressions with bombs (small, large or any other), if we cannot as a human society end that habit, the habit of bombs will end us.
Even after the invention of the printing press, even in this century, the Timbuktu scholars were handwriting manuscripts. It was something I couldn’t fathom and there was nothing at the exhibition to explain why they didn’t change over to printing, so that more manuscripts could be distributed, more widely, more cheaply. There was a man I asked about this and he said I should speak to Shamil Jeppe, but the man (whose name I have unfortunately forgotten), said perhaps the scholars insisted on handwriting their manuscripts out of love and respect for the words and ideas they were writing. Indeed it made each manuscript extremely precious.
Just this moment, that prophetic saying glimmered in my thoughts again, yes, the ink of the scholar, which has carried the wisdom of prophets across the ages is so precious. It is more precious than any metal, more precious than oil, more precious than any country, jewel, property, stock, bond, future, option, figure of money in a bank account – the ink of the scholar … it was beautiful to see in those old manuscripts how scholars dealt with disagreements: they did not deface the text so lovingly written by the scholar-author of a manuscript; instead they took to the margins and wrote. Some manuscripts have become sites of debates in ink.
(The margins in those old manuscripts are kind of like this ‘comments’ space.)