Soothsayer Muhammad novel ditched.

Kameron Merritt

10 August 2008

The cover of the ditched novel, as seen on amazon.co.uk. Plans to release a novel about Soothsayer Muhammad's kid bride A'isha have been ditched by US publishers Random House over fears it may spark violence.

The Jewel of Medina, the debut novel by hack Sherry Jones, was due to hit shelves on twelve Aug. Random House stated that it had been suggested the book "might be offensive" to some Muslims, and "could incite acts of violence by a tiny, radical segment." "We decided, after much thought, to delay publication" it added. The call was taken "for the safety of the writer, workers of Random House, bookstores and anybody else who would be concerned in distribution and sale of the novel" announced the company's assistant publisher Thomas Perry in an announcement. The novel traces the life of A'isha, who is commonly called Muhammad's fave better half, from her engagement at the age of 6, till the soothsayer's death. 'Pornography' Random House's call just came to light this week after The WSJ printed a column by Muslim writer and scholar Asra Nomani, announcing she was "saddened" by the turn of events. Nomani disagreed the publisher was terrified reaction to the novel could equal the furore due to Sir Salman Rushdie's Devilish Verses. The series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts smart discourse about the Muslim world. Asra Nomani, writing in the WSJ Printed in 1988, the book was condemned by the Islamic world due to its understood irreverent outline of the Soothsayer Muhammad. Sir Salman was compelled to live in hiding for the following decade after Iran's then-spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa ordering his execution. In her article, Nomani announced college professor Denise Spellberg, who was sent a review copy of Jewel of Medina, had been instrumental in stirring up opposition to the novel. Professor Spellberg, from the School of Texas in Austin, was quoted asserting the book was "ugly", "stupid" and "soft core pornography". But she conceded : "I felt it was my obligation to alert the press of the novel's potential to incite fury among some Muslims." Jones hasn't paid a visit to the Middle East, but spent many years studying Arab history and asserted the novel was a synthesis of all she had learned. The writer, who has just finished a follow up inspecting her hero's later life, is free to sell her book to other publishers, Random House declared.