A tribute to the Prophet’s feminist leanings becomes the target of religious and academic outrage, Islam and the Media, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the Media

A tribute to the Prophet’s feminist leanings becomes the target of religious and academic outrage

The Jewel of Medina was written as a tribute to the Prophet’s feminist leanings but now it’s the target of religious and academic outrage

LA Times -Washington Post

Posted online: Monday, September 01, 2008

Jones and her novel, The Jewel of Medina, are subjects of debate from Egypt to Italy to Serbia, where 1,000 Serbian-language copies were printed before the publisher backed out, too. Ironically, Jones began with a pro-Islamic mind-set when she began writing in 2002. After the September 11 attacks, she began to research the status of women under Islam. And she came to a conclusion: the Prophet supported more rights for women than do many of his modern followers.

“I wanted to tell the story of the women around Muhammad, and to honour them and him as well,” Jones said who otherwise writes on environmental issues for the Bureau of National Affairs.

She started writing a fictionalized story of Aisha, a young and much-beloved wife of the prophet. In April 2007, Random House gave Jones a $100,000 contract for the book and a sequel. Jones gave Random House a list of people who might review the book or write blurbs for it. One suggested reviewer hit the alarm switch. Denise Spellberg, who teaches Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas and has written about Aisha, said the book was inflammatory and problematic. Spellberg then contacted several Muslim Web sites and told them to oppose the book’s publication. Spellberg also wrote in a letter to the Wall Street Journal that the book was “provocative”.

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