Another Novel About Islam, Another Firebomb

You may have heard about the controversy surrounding The Jewel of Medina, a novel about the life of A’isha, the child bride of the Prophet Muhammad. Ballantine acquired the manuscript by American author Sherry Jones in 2007, only to drop it in May after a handful of advance readers suggested, unsurprisingly, that it might be offensive to Islam. (Evidently Western sensibilities were of less concern to the publisher: A’isha was engaged to Muhammad at six, and the marriage consummated when she was nine years old. Jones depicts their sexual relationship in the book.)

Also unsurprising is the skittish clairvoyance of those early readers. Over the weekend, the home of the novel’s British publisher was firebombed, and, according to London police, three men have been arrested on suspicion of “the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.” Luckily, Gibson Square publisher Martin Rynja and his family were unhurt.

It’s national Banned Books Week, and so this latest hate crime against literature is especially poignant. What most bothers me right now, though, are the actions of one of the novel’s early readers, Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas, who after reading the manuscript pronounced it “a very ugly, stupid piece of work” and did everything in her power to incite trouble. According to the Wall Street Journal:

“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. . . . After receiving the call from Spellberg, Amanullah wrote an email to a listserv of Islamic and Middle East studies grad students, saying, “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.

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 to all the muslims across the world.’"

Meanwhile, professor Spellberg sent an email to Ballantine editor Jane Garrett warning that The Jewel of Medina is “a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national security issue.” Garret conveyed Spellberg’s fears in an email to colleagues: “It will be far more controversial than the satanic verses [sic] 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.”

To me, what’s most astonishing about all of this isn’t the familiar feeling that accompanies each fresh outrage against books and the free exchange of ideas. There’s been plenty in the past, and there will be more in the future. It isn’t even Spellberg’s reckless overreaction, or the complicity of Shahed Amanullah, who, without reading the book, passed along Spellberg’s molotov coctail of hypersensitivity, indignation, and fear, which landed explosively this weekend at Martin Rynja’s London doorstep. What’s most astonishing is Spellberg’s hypocrisy and comic lack of self-awareness: “I walked through a metal detector to see [The] Last Temptation of Christ," she told the Journal. “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.”

Those familiar with Scorsese’s film interpretation of Kazantzakis’ book will recall the sex scene between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, as well as Jesus’ subsequent gallivanting around Palestine -- the area’s most eligible bachelor. (“There is only one woman in the world,” Satan, disguised as an angel of God, explains to Jesus. “One woman with many faces.”) Perhaps during this critical moment in the film, Spellberg was in the lobby buying Milk Duds.

Martin Rynja, who is currently under police protection, will publish The Jewel of Medina this month in the UK. It will be published in America by Beaufort Books.

-Brandon

Photo by Vaguley via Flickr.