http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797979078815073.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
You Still Can't Write About Muhammad
By ASRA Q. NOMANI
August 6, 2008; Page A15
Starting in 2002, Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones toiled
weekends on a racy historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the
prophet Muhammad. Ms. Jones learned Arabic, studied scholarly works
about Aisha's life, and came to admire her protagonist as a woman of
courage. When Random House bought her novel last year in a $100,000,
two-book deal, she was ecstatic. This past spring, she began plans for
an eight-city book tour after the Aug. 12 publication date of "The Jewel
of Medina" -- a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet's harem.
It's not going to happen: In May, Random House abruptly called off
publication of the book. The series of events that torpedoed this novel
are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about
the Muslim world.
Random House feared the book would become a new "Satanic Verses," the
Salman Rushdie novel of 1988 that led to death threats, riots and the
murder of the book's Japanese translator, among other horrors. In an
interview about Ms. Jones's novel, Thomas Perry, deputy publisher at
Random House Publishing Group, said that it "disturbs us that we feel we
cannot publish it right now." He said that after sending out advance
copies of the novel, the company received "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."
After consulting security experts and Islam scholars, Mr. Perry said the
company decided "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."
This saga upsets me as a Muslim -- and as a writer who believes that
fiction can bring Islamic history to life in a uniquely captivating and
humanizing way. "I'm devastated," Ms. Jones told me after the book got
spiked, adding, "I wanted to honor Aisha and all the wives of Muhammad
by giving voice to them, remarkable women whose crucial roles in the
shaping of Islam have so often been ignored -- silenced -- by
historians." Last month, Ms. Jones signed a termination agreement with
Random House, so her literary agent could shop the book to other publishers.
This time, the instigator of the trouble wasn't a radical Muslim cleric,
but an American academic. In April, looking for endorsements, Random
House sent galleys to writers and scholars, including Denise Spellberg,
an associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas in
Austin. Ms. Jones put her on the list because she read Ms. Spellberg's
book, "Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of 'A'isha
Bint Abi Bakr."
But Ms. Spellberg wasn't a fan of Ms. Jones's book. On April 30, Shahed
Amanullah, a guest lecturer in Ms. Spellberg's classes and the editor of
a popular Muslim Web site, got a frantic call from her. "She was upset,"
Mr. Amanullah recalls. He says Ms. Spellberg told him the novel "made
fun of Muslims and their history," and asked him to warn Muslims.
In an interview, Ms. Spellberg told me the novel is a "very ugly, stupid
piece of work." The novel, for example, includes a scene on the night
when Muhammad consummated his marriage with Aisha: "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." Says Ms. Spellberg: "I walked through a metal
detector to see 'Last Temptation of Christ,'" the controversial 1980s
film adaptation of a novel that depicted a relationship between Jesus
and Mary Magdalene. "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."
After he got the call from Ms. Spellberg, Mr. Amanullah dashed off an
email to a listserv of Middle East and Islamic studies graduate
students, acknowledging he didn't "know anything about it [the book],"
but telling them, "Just got a frantic call from a professor who got an
advance copy of the forthcoming novel, 'Jewel of Medina' -- she said she
found it incredibly offensive." He added a write-up about the book from
the Publishers Marketplace, an industry publication.
The next day, a blogger known as Shahid Pradhan posted Mr. Amanullah's
email on a Web site for Shiite Muslims -- "Hussaini Youth" -- under a
headline, "upcoming book, 'Jewel of Medina': A new attempt to slander
the Prophet of Islam." Two hours and 28 minutes after that, another
person by the name of Ali Hemani proposed a seven-point strategy to
ensure "the writer withdraws this book from the stores and apologise all
the muslims across the world."
Meanwhile back in New York City, Jane Garrett, an editor at Random
House's Knopf imprint, dispatched an email on May 1 to Knopf executives,
telling them she got a phone call the evening before from Ms. Spellberg
(who happens to be under contract with Knopf to write "Thomas
Jefferson's Qur'an.")
"She thinks there is a very real possibility of major danger for the
building and staff and widespread violence," Ms. Garrett wrote. "Denise
says it is 'a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national
security issue.' Thinks it will be far more controversial than the
satanic verses and the Danish cartoons. Does not know if the author and
Ballantine folks are clueless or calculating, but thinks the book should
be withdrawn ASAP." ("The Jewel of Medina" was to be published by Random
House's Ballantine Books.) That day, the email spread like wildfire
through Random House, which also received a letter from Ms. Spellberg
and her attorney, saying she would sue the publisher if her name was
associated with the novel. On May 2, a Ballantine editor told Ms.
Jones's agent the company decided to possibly postpone publication of
the book.
On a May 21 conference call, Random House executive Elizabeth McGuire
told the author and her agent that the publishing house had decided to
indefinitely postpone publication of the novel for "fear of a possible
terrorist threat from extremist Muslims" and concern for "the safety and
security of the Random House building and employees."
All this saddens me. Literature moves civilizations forward, and Islam
is no exception. There is in fact a tradition of historical fiction in
Islam, including such works as "The Adventures of Amir Hamza," an epic
on the life of Muhammad's uncle. Last year a 948-page English
translation was published, ironically, by Random House. And, for all
those who believe the life of the prophet Muhammad can't include stories
of lust, anger and doubt, we need only read the Quran (18:110) where,
it's said, God instructed Muhammad to tell others: "I am only a mortal
like you."
Ms. Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is the author of
"Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam"
(HarperOne, 2006).
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