The Jewel of Medina Censored

Romance Novel About the Prophet Muhammad Spiked for Feat of Violence

First it was cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad that caused threats of violence, actual violence, and calls for censorship. Now it's a racy romance novel about Muhammad called The Jewel of Medina, which is stirring controversy, according to the Wall St. Journal.

The Jewel of Medina, written by Sherry Jones, was supposed to be published on August 12^th. Sherry Jones was to go on a book tour to promote her historical romance about the relationship between the Prophet of Islam and one of his wives, Aisha. Instead fear of terrorism and a reticence about any kind of open discourse about Islam and its founder has caused the publisher Random House to postpone the publication of The Jewel of Medina indefinitely. Sherry Jones and her literary agent are shopping the book to other publishers.

The Jewel of Medina is not the first instance in which as Islamic themed artistic work has stirred controversy and threats of violence. Thirty years ago, Syrian film maker Moustapha Akkad made a movie about the life of the Prophet Muhammad entitled The Message. Even though, acceding the Muslim sensibilities, Muhammad never actually appears in the film, a rumor that Charlton Heston would star as the Prophet caused riots in Pakistan.

More recently, the publication of The Satanic Verses, a novel by Salman Rushdie, resulted in a bounty placed on the life of the author by the Ayatollah Khomeini in the form of a religious fatwa. The fatwa resulted in at least one attempt on the life of Rushdie by the Hezbollah and huge sales for The Satanic Verses.