Book Review of The Jewel of Medina
November 18, 2008 – 4:42 pmMiddle Eastern Quarterly, Winter 2009 Volume XVI: Number 1
Book Reviewed: Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones
New York: Beaufort Books, 2008. 432 pp. $25
Review by Robert Spencer
Muhammad and Aisha, a Love Story
Jones, correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs news agency, never expected her novel about Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, and favorite wife of the prophet of Islam, to become a battleground in the war over free speech between the West and the Muslim world. Rather, as she explained, “I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed … I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder.”[1]
The Jewel of Medina became a cause célèbre when Random House dropped it in August 2008 just before publication, citing fear of threats from Muslims—threats, it bears noting, that had not yet materialized. Subsequently, three Muslims were arrested in London for firebombing the offices of the book’s new British publisher, Gibson Square, which also then dropped the book.[2] It has now been published in the United States by Beaufort Books, which, in a press release, said that it “knows how to look for trouble.”
But whoever reads The Jewel of Medina, after suffering through stilted Hollywood historical epic dialogue larded with Arabic tidbits for authenticity’s sake, will wonder what the fuss was all about. True to her word, Jones offers a portrait of Muhammad that is so flattering as to be worthy of British religion writer Karen Armstrong, who compared Muhammad to Gandhi.[3]
To be sure, abundant evidence in the Arabic literary sources backs up her portrayal of Muhammad. One of his companions described him as “neither rough nor harsh. He is neither noisy in the markets nor returns evil for evil, but he forgives and pardons.”[4] Another said that Muhammad was “more bashful than a maiden in her seclusion.”[5] He “was not a reviler or a curser nor obscene.”[6] One of Muhammad’s servants remembered that his master never scolded or rebuked him: “So I served the Prophet at home and on journeys; by Allah, he never said to me for anything which I did: Why have you done this like this or, for anything which I did not do: Why have you not done this like this?”[7]
In line with this, Jones’s Muhammad is a rock of gentle stability. When Aisha is accused of adultery and roughly treated by the crowd, Aisha rests in the arms of Muhammad, sighs with relief and declares: “Trying to forge my own destiny had nearly destroyed me, but his love held the power to heal.” Or, when Aisha lashes out jealously against his other wives, Muhammad’s rebuke is mild, and he quickly tries to cheer her up. Muhammad does fight battles in the book, but they appear always to be defensive. There is little to indicate that he would ever have uttered such words as those attributed to him in a famous hadith (sayings and actions of Muhammad): “I have been ordered to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”[8]
Entire review.
