Thursday, August 7, 2008
Asra Q. Nomani: You Still Can't Write About Muhammad
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...
The hysteria in this case apparently began with a non-Muslim American academic and Islam scholar named Denise Spellberg who was sent a galley for review. She got on the phone and called up a Muslim lecturer acquaintance and asked him "to warn Muslims."
"You can't play with a sacred history and turn it into soft core pornography," says she. Uh...yes, yes you can, actually (though personally I'd forgo the book and wait for the movie in that case. Ahem...)
Anyway, Amazon Canada still lists the book, and has it coming out August 25. Somehow I feel like that date may be pushed back a bit.
I actually had Dr. Spellberg for a class at UT. I thought she was a great professor, and an extremely intelligent woman. We didn't agree on everything, but she was extremely fair and open to different perspectives. The fact that she trashed this book probably indicates that it was just that - trashy. When you submit your book to someone and ask for criticism, you should expect criticism - especially when you ask a history professor, an expert in the field. I read historical romance ebooks all the time (guilty pleasure), but I would never, ever ask one of my history professors for a review of them. Random House pulling this book has, I believe, less to do with Professor Spellberg's critique and more to do with fear of a backlash. As a business, they are well within their rights to do so. And the fact that this book has generated so much buzz before even becoming available is great for Sherry Jones - someone will snap this book up immediately, and everyone will want a copy. It's a win-win.
The problem is not that she didn't like the book. The problem is, at least according to the Journal piece, that she immediately freaked and started making calls to get the Muslim community outraged over it. We know where that can lead.
It is sad that we, as a country that respects all religions, are not more honest in our support of our "freedoms".
We should offer to eliminate all trade with countries that support terrorism. This would require that we redevelop our manufacturing capacity to replace Chineses goods and to develop more energy capacity within our borders to replace much of our imports of oil and gas.
It's sad that the "Religion of Peace" expects respect, but gives none to non-Islamic religions.
Look at what the Taliban did to the Buddahs of Bamiyan Afghanistan, what islamists did to Josephs Tomb.
Stories with predictable endings
Sigh, in recent years we are all a little unsatisfied with the way things are. Seems that the word terrorism can a start a war, tap phones or in this case sell a crappy dime store novel. In the end, Sherry Jones will; make a small fortune because people will by this crappy book just because they have nothing better to do with their money like – donate it to a good cause, or help their neighbors who are losing their homes a mile a minute.
So I am starting a protest of my own and will not support anyone who publishes buys, sells or supports this garbage or any other garbage.
In order to be fair – I asked myself 4 questions replacing Mohammed with Jesus so I could attempt to understand.
1. If a book made an accusation with no basis of fact that Jesus had been a child molester would I be offended?
2. If this same book described sex scenes between two members in the bible written in such a way to resemble a harlequin novel or soft core porn movie would I become more upset?
3. If I were a publisher and your primary objective is producing works for the express purpose of making money would you publish something that would most likely not sell too many copies and be offense to many people?
4. If I was a publisher and I asked a respected colleague who was an expert on the field of history what they thought I they said to drop it, Would I?
I wonder how you answered. I do not wish this book to be banned and it is not banned. It is simply not being promoted or sold by Random House. If Sherry Jones wanted to bring people together then why on earth did she think insulting people was a way to do it?
What bothers me most though about this controversy is the increasingly larger trend that America is ok with being lied to - from our media to our novels. I think it’s time for us to stand up and say we will not support garbage writing and garbage news. No more lies or deliberate misinterpretations of the truth. It is time for Americans to wake up and take some control of our media in all forms. This means not funding this type of material.
DeadEndStreet, "mein kampf", in arabic, is a Best Seller in Egypt.
Are you upset that nazi screeds are hailed in Muslim countries?
twowaystreet confuses the issues something awful. There is the idea of banning a book, there is the literary badness of the book, there is the idea that if a book upsets people, it is a good enough reason to drop it.
The book was not banned, just deferred until better times, such as when Muslims lighten up.
There is nothing you can do about the literary merit of such a book except not buy it. It's one's right. It's called free choise. You should not be obliged to read a book, nor should you be obliged not to read it.
There is no law that says that you have a right not to be upset by having your religious icons trashed.
If the publishers felt the book would have put some of their workers at risk, then they are only acting responsibly. The anger should not be aimed at them, for having to deal with this threat but against those who inspire this threat, and those who support them by coddling and justifying their sense of grievance.
It is up to society at large to put up a fight about its freedom to read trashy novels without putting themselves at risk of being harmed.
#8 Noga:
Is it really necessary to remind Mike and TwoWayStreet about Salman Rushdie, Theo van Gogh and the murder and mayhem that ensued over a bunch of cartoons?The issue is not one of literary merit even though Rushdie is clearly in a different league than Sherry Jones. Nor, as Noga points out, is it a matter of censorship. It's simply a case of a business acting prudently in the face of unjustifiable retribution from uncivilized barbarians, and you can quote me on that.
When Islamic society advances into, oh say, the 18th Century, then maybe these unfortunately necessary precautions won't be needed. In the meantime, who can blame the publisher? Were it possible to do safely, I'm sure they'd rather make some money from this potboiler rather than put it on ice.
How about the ACLU protecting the right of a bookstore to display and sell a book that offends people - like muzlims.
The difference between a civilized and a partially civilized society. The Roman Catholic Church may be spitting blood over "Sex With the Virgin Mary" but do they bomb Amazon.com. No they try to surpress quietly with prayer and enforced silence. Like their initial response when priests were charged with pedophilia. This is how it is done in a civilized society. The West cannot let others enforce anything via terrorism or the threat of terrorism.
Hear hear! You nailed it. Having lived in that part of the world for the better part of 2 years, I learned first hand that there is no tolerance in Islam. None whatsoever. And when we star cowering on fear of reprisal when exercising our basic freedoms, then what have we become? What do our "freedoms" really amount to?
She (writer) is thinking of getting known cheaply.
Fanatic muslims give islam a really bad image.
But maybe that's what they want.
It is arrogant to think of our culture as superior to other cultures which are much older and wiser than ours. Before judging Islamic culture let’s look at our own culture for a change. We have biggest divorce rate in the world, we have the biggest porn industry in the world, every other day we hear our priest's and even parents molest children, multiple sexual partners before marriage is acceptable and fashionable, and we have the biggest teenage pregnancy rate in the world.
How can we call ourselves "Enlightened" people when our own President "Bush" believes that Armageddon is imminent and in preparation he has sent our military to send a few Muslim countries back to Stone Age?
How can we expect the Muslims countries to come out of the Stone Age, when we are the ones supporting their dictators and bombing mercilessly their civilian population? We start calling them barbarians because a couple of them fire bombed a publisher? Then what about over half a million civilian deaths that our forces have caused in IRAQ and Afghanistan in the past seven years of war? I am sure we will not call it "Barbarianism" since we are after all the "Enlightened" people, so we will call it "Collateral Damage".
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for free speech but we need to draw a line somewhere, especially when free speech has the potential to ignite violence which may harm our own. This is not much different than getting a speeding ticket, in a free country why aren’t we able to speed as much as we want? Because over speeding is dangerous not only to the person who does it but also to others that are not.
Also, It is hypocritical to defend writers (by shouting ‘free speech’) who disrespect Islam or its most sacred figure, but damning writers/public figures who deny “holocaust “or even talk ill about it. British writer David Irving was sentenced to three years in prison at an Austrian court for denying the Holocaust. So why are we sensitive towards the Jewish faith and not the Islamic faith? You are a professor of World Religion you should be better able to answer that.
We brag about being the biggest proponents of peace in the world. What peace will this book bring to the world? Haven’t we learned from the violence that engulfed the Muslim world after the publications of Sulman Rushdie’s book and the Danish Cartoons (disrespecting Muhammad)?
There are many other peaceful and decent ways to start a dialogue between us and the 1.61 Billion people of the Muslim world. It should be done with mutual respect and not with controversial, inaccurate and disrespectful text of this book “Jewel of Media”.
It is arrogant to think of our culture as superior to other cultures which are much older and wiser than ours. Before judging Islamic culture let’s look at our own culture for a change. We have biggest divorce rate in the world, we have the biggest porn industry in the world, every other day we hear our priest's and even parents molest children, multiple sexual partners before marriage is acceptable and fashionable, and we have the biggest teenage pregnancy rate in the world.
How can we call ourselves "Enlightened" people when our own President "Bush" believes that Armageddon is imminent and in preparation he has sent our military to send a few Muslim countries back to Stone Age?
How can we expect the Muslims countries to come out of the Stone Age, when we are the ones supporting their dictators and bombing mercilessly their civilian population? We start calling them barbarians because a couple of them fire bombed a publisher? Then what about over half a million civilian deaths that our forces have caused in IRAQ and Afghanistan in the past seven years of war? I am sure we will not call it "Barbarianism" since we are after all the "Enlightened" people, so we will call it "Collateral Damage".
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for free speech but we need to draw a line somewhere, especially when free speech has the potential to ignite violence which may harm our own. This is not much different than getting a speeding ticket, in a free country why aren’t we able to speed as much as we want? Because over speeding is dangerous not only to the person who does it but also to others that are not.
Also, It is hypocritical to defend writers (by shouting ‘free speech’) who disrespect Islam or its most sacred figure, but damning writers/public figures who deny “holocaust “or even talk ill about it. British writer David Irving was sentenced to three years in prison at an Austrian court for denying the Holocaust. So why are we sensitive towards the Jewish faith and not the Islamic faith? You are a professor of World Religion you should be better able to answer that.
We brag about being the biggest proponents of peace in the world. What peace will this book bring to the world? Haven’t we learned from the violence that engulfed the Muslim world after the publications of Sulman Rushdie’s book and the Danish Cartoons (disrespecting Muhammad)?
There are many other peaceful and decent ways to start a dialogue between us and the 1.61 Billion people of the Muslim world. It should be done with mutual respect and not with controversial, inaccurate and disrespectful text of this book “Jewel of Media”.
Diffrentiation is critical in these cases.
a writer that writes for political ends...... to cause prblems between muslims and other countries.
and a writer that writes because he lives in a country that allows writing on all topics.
so I feel personnaly, that this writer writes because of the second reason.
In all cases we as muslims wont accpet this sort of litriture... but seeing the diffrence is important.
whats sad is on both cases...... advocate media will use the piece of work to stir problems.
many books not only write fiction about islam history, but insult directly...... ind it doesnt get the media grabbed to stir problems.
so the main issue are the people that try to cause problems through this piece of work...and they are well knowm...especially countries that want to show muslims as terrosits go and stir thiese issues to cause problems.
I do not believe in the censorship of fictional works for any reason. What has happened to creativity and free speech in western society?
Where is the tolerance for another perspective
or opinion? Sad days. Sad days.
The Jewel of Medina Farce
All these people crying, “What about free speech!” and “Censorship!” because Random House belatedly decided that it was not in their best interest to publish a trashy novel that was sure offend a whole lot of people, gave me an excellent idea for a farce. Here is a synopsis:
A young man named Ali writes an excellent first novel based on his experiences growing up in Muslim the West. Unfortunately, no agent will even read his manuscript. At first he is disgusted over The Jewel of Medina. It, after all, is making Sherry Jones, a second rate hack, rich and famous while he, a true artist, languishes in obscurity.
He has a change of heart. Using the pen-name Allen, he concocts a western identity and writes a novel that is even trashier than Jones’s, filled with blasphemous depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. His plan succeeds brilliantly: publishers begin a bidding war, scholars of Islam attack the book, naïve westerners defend the author’s freedom of speech, and Muslim fundamentalists hunt down the nonexistent “Allen.”
Giddy with success, and hungry for credit, Ali decides to play both sides. Using his real identity, he writes a another novel about Mary, who gets pregnant by a rabbi, and tricks Joseph into marrying her with a story about an angel who tells her about her immaculate conception. In a press release Ali says he hopes his book will “humanize” Mary, Joseph and Jesus and “create a platform for discussion” between Christian and Muslims.
This book also creates a storm of publicity when it is condemned by the Vatican and Christian fundamentalists. An English grad student, however, notices stylistic similarities between the two books and outs Ali/Allen for the fraud he is. Muslim and Christian fundamentalists join forces to hunt him down.
Meanwhile, an unscrupulous agent realizes that Ali has thoroughly discredited himself, so he steals Ali’s original manuscript, publishes it under his own name and wins Pulitzer Prize for literature.
That’s my plot synopsis. If any agents or publishers out there are interested, I would be happy to consider writing it.
Jim Fabris
The Jewel of Medina Farce
All these people crying, “What about free speech!” and “Censorship!” because Random House belatedly decided that it was not in their best interest to publish a trashy novel that was sure offend a whole lot of people, gave me an excellent idea for a farce. Here is a synopsis:
A young man named Ali writes an excellent first novel based on his experiences growing up in Muslim the West. Unfortunately, no agent will even read his manuscript. At first he is disgusted over The Jewel of Medina. It, after all, is making Sherry Jones, a second rate hack, rich and famous while he, a true artist, languishes in obscurity.
He has a change of heart. Using the pen-name Allen, he concocts a western identity and writes a novel that is even trashier than Jones’s, filled with blasphemous depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. His plan succeeds brilliantly: publishers begin a bidding war, scholars of Islam attack the book, naïve westerners defend the author’s freedom of speech, and Muslim fundamentalists hunt down the nonexistent “Allen.”
Giddy with success, and hungry for credit, Ali decides to play both sides. Using his real identity, he writes a another novel about Mary, who gets pregnant by a rabbi, and tricks Joseph into marrying her with a story about an angel who tells her about her immaculate conception. In a press release Ali says he hopes his book will “humanize” Mary, Joseph and Jesus and “create a platform for discussion” between Christian and Muslims.
This book also creates a storm of publicity when it is condemned by the Vatican and Christian fundamentalists. An English grad student, however, notices stylistic similarities between the two books and outs Ali/Allen for the fraud he is. Muslim and Christian fundamentalists join forces to hunt him down.
Meanwhile, an unscrupulous agent realizes that Ali has thoroughly discredited himself, so he steals Ali’s original manuscript, publishes it under his own name and wins Pulitzer Prize for literature.
That’s my plot synopsis. If any agents or publishers out there are interested, I would be happy to consider writing it.
Jim Fabris