Por Sara Rodrigues

A Jóia de Medina é o primeiro romance da jornalista Sherry Jones e conta a vida de A’isha bint Abi Bakr, uma das mulheres mais importantes do mundo Islâmico devido ao seu estatuto enquanto conselheira e esposa preferida de Maomé.

Filha de um mercador rico de Meca, A’isha casou com o Profeta com nove anos de idade, tendo sido a terceira de treze mulheres. Numa época associada ao início do Islão, a Arábia do século VII surge como um mundo adverso às mulheres, de tradições cruéis e de perseguições religiosas.

Contudo, segundo a autora, A’isha, possuidora de um espírito firme, combativo, mas também de alguma ingenuidade e impulsividade, tenta lutar pelo seu próprio destino nem que para isso tenha de desembainhar a sua espada, defendendo-se de acusações de adultério e de possíveis atentados contra a sua honra por parte de opositores políticos e religiosos de Maomé.

Podemos assim assistir em A Jóia de Medina ao desenrolar da vida romanceada de A’isha descrita na primeira pessoa, desde a sua batalha contínua de afirmação na comunidade e no harém composto por esposas-irmãs ciumentas, à forma como desenvolve o seu amor por Maomé.

Contudo, apesar de A Jóia de Medina ser, sobretudo, a história de A’isha, é, paralelamente, a de Maomé, sendo possível observar o Profeta como um homem de carácter ambicioso e corajoso, mas com um lado carinhoso, generoso e respeitador das mulheres.

A Jóia de Medina é um livro polémico pela sua interpretação livre daquilo que terá sido a vida de A’isha e, consequentemente, de Maomé, sendo uma história de amor e de guerra, com uma forte componente sexual e que explora a vida íntima do Profeta, não deixando de ser, de algum modo, criativa e, ao mesmo tempo, informativa, impelindo-nos a ler continuamente até ao final.

Uma edição da Casa das Letras, chancela da Oficina do Livro.

Ali Beheshti

A judge has told three Muslims who attacked a London publisher that if they want to live in the UK, then they have to live according to our rules. He then sentenced each of them to four and a half years in prison.

Ali Beheshti, Abrar Mirza and Abbas Taj had sneaked up to the home of the owner of Gibson Square Publishing, doused his front door in diesel and set it alight. Taj, a minicab driver, then drove the other two away from the scene of their crime.

Mirza is described as a mobile phone salesman, and Beheshti, unemployed, already has a criminal conviction for the attempted murder of his own father. During the Danish cartoon riots, Beheshti was seen waving a banner saying, “Massacre those who insult Islam.”

The book these three wasters objected to is now available, both in the UK and the USA.

Source: Daily Mail.

Ira islamista contra una novela, contra La Joya de Medina, editada por Ediciones B, en España, escrita por Sherry Jones. Vean su entrevista en ABC. Otra ira más contra la cultura occidental, y la manera de interpretar la historia y las religiones, otra ira más contra el pensamiento, la literatura, el arte, y la libertad. ¡Maldita gente!

Thierry Chervel hat zum Thema ein Essay unter dem Titel “Vorauseilende Unterwerfung” geschrieben. Auslöser war die Fatwa gegen Salman Rushdie

Die Fälle vorauseilender Unterwerfung lassen sich seit der Fatwa kaum mehr zählen. Zwei Beispiele aus Berlin: Die Intendantin der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Kirsten Harms, sagte eine Aufführung des „Idomeneo“ ab, weil der Regisseur Hans Neuenfels ein bisschen provokativ mit Symbolen einiger Religionen – keineswegs nur des Islams! – spielte. Zwar hatte sich kein Fünkchen des Protests geregt, aber man hatte Harms dazu geraten. Peter Klaus Schuster, Generaldirektor der Staatlichen Museen und Direktor der Nationalgalerie, verhinderte ohne Angabe von Gründen die Aufstellung des schwarzen, an die Kaaba erinnernden Kubus von Gregor Schneider vor dem Hamburger Bahnhof, nachdem schon die Biennale von Venedig gekniffen hatte. Die Öffentlichkeit hielt weitgehend still. Schneider konnte seinen Kubus dann in Hamburg aufstellen – und der Himmel ist nicht eingestürzt.

Es kann auch anders kommen, und zwar gerade, weil man es fürchtet, wie der britisch-indische Autor Kenan Malik in einem Essay zur Fatwa am Fall des Romans „Das Juwel von Medina“ von Sherry Jones beschreibt. Der amerikanische Randomhouse-Verlag zog diesen Roman über Aischa, die jüngste Frau Mohammeds, nach einem Gutachten der Islamwissenschaftlerin Denise Spellberg zurück. Martin Rynja, Chef des kleinen britischen Hauses Gibson brachte den Roman doch – und musste zusehen, wie seine Büros in Brand gesteckt wurden. Vor dem Kniefall des Randomhouse-Verlags war der Roman kein Thema. Der „Respekt“, schreibt Malik, schafft sich die Ungeheuer, die er befrieden will.

Drastisch versagten die westlichen Medien im Streit um die dänischen Mohammed-Karikaturen. CNN und BBC präsentierten die Zeichnungen nur hinter Verfremdungsrastern, wie Kinderpornografie oder ein islamistisches Snuff Video. Mit Ausnahme der „Welt“ mieden auch die deutschen Zeitungen einen deutlichen Abdruck der Zeichnungen. Im „Spiegel“ war die Seite aus Jyllands-Posten zur Dokumentation in Passbildgröße abgedruckt. Wer die Karikaturen sehen wollte, musste sich im Internet auf die Suche machen. Und das obwohl sie nicht im mindesten den Islam beleidigen. Mit gespitzten Lippen verteidigten Chefredakteure und Verlagsleute das Recht der Zeichner auf ihre Meinung – und setzten gleich hinzu, dass es schlechte Zeichnungen seien, die den Aufruhr nicht lohnten.

Den ganzen Essay lesen

“Mein Roman zeigt Aisha als starke Frau”

Kurz vor der Veröffentlichung von Sherry Jones‘ Roman über das Leben von Aisha, der Frau Mohammeds, stoppte der Verlag Random House das Buchprojekt aus Angst, es könnte die religiösen Gefühle von Muslimen verletzen. Im Interview mit Nimet Seker spricht Sherry Jones über den Vorfall und ihre Motivation, den “Juwel von Medina” zu schreiben.

Mehr…

The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones

A’isha is a 6 year old girl who, after her parents betrothed her to Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was required to remain in her family home until she had her first menstrual period.  For an adventurous girl such as herself, she is tortured by the limitations placed on her simply because she was betrothed.  She dreamed of escaping to freedom with the Bedouins with Safwan, her childhood friend during the entire length of her purdah.  When she witnesses a woman from her clan dragged away by a man who would disgrace her as well,  A’isha can barely contain herself from taking up a sword and defending her neighbor herself.  She may have been young and she may have been a girl, but she had the heart of a warrior.   It was this spirit which caught the eye of Muhammad and changed her destiny.

I first heard about this novel in August when it was reported that Random House was pulling its publication for fear of angering Muslims and perhaps inciting violence.  This reminded me of the events surrounding Salmon Rushdie and The Satanic Verses.  I found the decision disappointing.  Self-censorship out of fear of what might happen is in some ways worse than forcible censorship because it isn’t always as visible.  How many other books have never been published out of fear?  Thankfully, it was finally published by Beaufort Books in the United States.  When I snagged a copy of this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program, I was very curious to see just what it was that caused such a large publisher to back down.  This is a novelization of a portion of Muhammad’s life through the eyes of his most notorious wife.  Still, he was portrayed with warmth and empathy.  His charisma and love of Allah are obvious, but so is his humanity.  While I suppose any fictionalization of Muhammad may anger some Muslims, no offense was intended.  Canceling this publication was much ado about nothing.

As most established religions have struggled against the treatment of women and their roles in society, A’isha’s character is especially interesting as (to Western eyes) Muslim women seemed to be the most imprisoned by their faith, family, and spouse.  The only issue I had with this novel was the story line surrounding the way in which the rules surrounding facial covering became part of Muslim life.  Making a vision seem convenient to Muhammad felt like an “easy out” that was not at all in line with his character.  I do not know exactly how this came to be part of the Islam faith, but it seems to have sprang more from the existing culture than from Allah.

The Jewel of Medina is a fast paced and engrossing look at the beginnings of Islam through the eyes of a young girl who eventually becomes the third wife of the Prophet Muhammad.  At the beginning I was reminded of The 19th Wife because of the common themes of plural marriage and being married to a prophet.  The 19th Wife and The Jewel of Medina are both ambitious novels attempting to provide insight on the origins of world religions through the stories of the women involved.  Interesting that both novels would be published this year.  For me, Jones’ novel worked where Ebershoff’s did not.  From the moment that A’isha is married to the much older Muhammad, I could not put the book down. This novel’s insights into living among sister-wives were more compelling and, as there is only one voice telling the story, the reader is always fully aware of the opinions coloring the story.  While we can’t truly understand today without knowledge of the past, by leaving the modern out of The Jewel of Medina Sherry Jones brought early Arabic culture and the roots of Islam to life without much of the  cynicism of today.

I cannot recommend this novel enough.  It is a wonderful way to learn about the origins of Islam through the eyes of a complex and strong young girl and then woman.  A’isha does not conform to my ideas of a typical Muslim woman anymore than she did during her day and age.  She had to fight for her place in Muhammad’s harim and for the place of women in her society.  Being so much younger than her husband, A’isha’s story does not end upon Muhammad’s death and I am eagerly waiting for the sequel.  The Jewel of Medina, like all of the historical fiction I’ve enjoyed, has peaked my interest in Islam, Muhammad and his wives.  I absolutely enjoyed the adventure and I’m sure you will, too.

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To buy this novel, click here.

Hello everyone.  I haven’t been very prolific in my blogging or my commenting this month because ever since Thanksgiving one or more of us have been sick.  Danny has been sick since Thanksgiving.  Allison has had a cold/congestion last week that kept Danny and I up a couple of hours a night for a few nights until we discovered that nasal spray helped her.  Then, I was off on Friday with Emma.  She had a temperature of 104, keeping us up a good part of the night Friday/Saturday.  Needless to say, I’m a bit exhausted and haven’t had much energy.  What time I do have I need to put into finishing my Christmas cards.  I make them by hand and I’m really under the gun to get them out by Wednesday.  Normally I have them out the first week of December…

I am currently reading The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer.  I’m enjoying it, but it’s not as compelling as The Reluctant Widow (although, it’s becoming more compelling as of what I read during my lunch break).  I was also able to finish The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones (I absolutely loved) and My Husband’s Sweethearts (enjoyable).  I’m hoping to have those reviews between now and Wednesday if I can.

I am feeling a whole lot better about my near fatal ARC pile up now that I’ve finished over half of those that I promised.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and it feels good.  I’ve been peaking at what is ahead and I’m really excited.  The Triumph of Deborah is up next, followed by Tomato Girl.  Both of those novels read very well over the first few pages.

I recently found out about a fun Book Club application for Facebook.  I don’t know if any of you have Facebook accounts or not, but you might be interested in it, too.  I’ve been using it some over the weekend and enjoy it.  It allows users to create their own book clubs and I like how that is set up.  I think this might work a whole lot better than what we used for Immortal.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  I’m planning on starting a Historical Fiction book club.  I’ll post an update.  If anyone would like to add me as a friend on Facebook, my email address for that is speedhaven (at) gmail (dot) com.

As much as I love the holidays, I’m looking forward to the New Year and getting back into my blog and yours!

Lorrain Adams reviews The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones (Beaufort Books), a controversial novel of life with the Prophet Muhammad, as told by a wife. From the New York Times:

For some devout Muslims, perhaps the most objectionable chapter in Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” concerned a brothel where prostitutes used the names of Muhammad’s 11 wives. For certain pious Christians, the most offensive aspect of Martin Scorsese’s “Last Temptation of Christ” was the dream sequence of Christ’s marrying Mary Magdalene and then becoming involved with two other women. Both 1988 works ignited violence. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued the fatwa that forced Rushdie into hiding and led to deadly riots, bombings of British bookstores and the fatal stabbing of the book’s Japanese translator. The most dramatic incident associated with Scorsese’s film occurred when a Paris theater where it was playing was gutted, apparently by an arson attack, sending 13 people to the hospital.

Sherry Jones, a Montana and Idaho correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs, a specialty news service covering legislative and regulatory issues, has written a novel from the point of view of Muhammad’s third and youngest wife, A’isha. Most accounts agree that she was 6 at their engagement, 9 at their wedding and 14 when publicly accused of adultery. The novel’s story line coincides with a pivotal time in Islamic history – the 10 years beginning with Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622 and ending with his death at age 62.

More:

Lorraine Adams says in her review that Denise Spellberg , author of “the most authoritative contemporary English-language account of A’isha – “Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of A’isha Bint Abi Bakr” – played a role in Random House’s decision to abandon the book.” According to a Wall Street Journal essay last August, “Spellberg received an advance copy, usually sent to solicit a blurb, and responded instead with a warning that Jones’s novel could incite violence from Muslim extremists.” Read the essay below:

You still can’t write about Muhammad

This essay by Asra Q. Nomani was published in the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008:

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.

More:

Fear and Islam

A friend of mine alerted me to the recent banning of another book because it is allegedly offensive to Islam. The book is called The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones. Even though it is a work of fiction praising one of Muhammad’s wives and is supposedly written with high regard for the Islamic faith, and despite taking submissions from Islamic scholars before publication, the book has been banned from various countries, including my own, South Africa. Islamic fear tactics regularly twist the arms of policy makers, but I think the world has handled Islam badly. I’m not in favour of causing offence for the sake of it, but the Islamic approach to offence seems similar to my three-year-old’s approach to being denied her way. My daughter has recently attempted using the tactic:

a) give me what I want, or
b) I will do naughty thing x.

I explained to her that I cannot entertain that bargain, on the grounds that if I did, I would either be giving her what is bad or teaching her to be bad. I explained it in not much more simplified language than that, and she understood and accepted it.

Now it seems to me that whenever Islam says ‘dance to our tune, or we’ll blow little bits off of you’, we should gently tell them that that’s not going to happen. If they want to debate whether or not the ‘offending’ item is fit for human consumption, then, by all means, we can talk like grown-ups about it. But walking on eggs around international brattery is only encouraging it. My three-year-old can see the ethical problem in doing so, how about asking Islam to grow up a bit?

I’m also prompted to consider whether Christians do much better on this front. Do we picket and boycott the right things for the right reasons?

Excitement and abbreviated cricket games

20-20 cricket (a far shortened version of the already-shortened limited overs format) has injected some excitement into the public perception of cricket. Unfortunately, much like the American suggestion that soccer goals be enlarged and the field of play shrunk (in order to increase the number of goals scored), it fundamentally misunderstands what it is that generates excitement.

The thinking seems to be that the exciting things in cricket are sixes and fours (high scoring aggressive shots) and wickets (when the batsman gets dismissed). And the exciting periods in the game are usually the first 10 overs, when the ball is new, and the last 10, when the tension builds to its climax. So, surely a game is more exciting if you maximise the aggressive batting, and if you remove the middle overs in which all that banal stuff happens, jamming together the first 10 and the last 10 overs?

Unfortunately not. This pays attention to what the exciting events are, but not what makes them exciting. It ignores contrast, context and climax. A four or a six is exciting because it stands in contrast to the long, patient game of collecting single runs. If you set up a game in which fours and sixes are the norm, they cease to be exceptions, and therefore lose their power to genuinely excite. In fact, when the batsman doesn’t score, that is the more significant and ‘exciting’ event, albeit of a more frustrating variety. This is also the reason why netting a basketball is not exciting, even though the player has scored. It is expected that he should do so regularly.

Secondly, context is key in generating excitement. An aggressive stroke is exciting because of the degree of risk that it entails. In the context of a long game, that risk is pronounced, because if the batsman gets out, it puts more pressure on the less accomplished batsmen to follow, because they might be unable to survive the long time that remains in the innings. In a very short format, there is far less time to bat, and so far less risk to the team if a batsman plays too aggressively. So, again, his aggression is no longer exciting, it is necessary.

Finally, the climax of a long game is exciting because it combines the power of the first two elements. The end period of aggression stands in contrast to the early periods of patience and careful strategy. It is powerful and tense because it is the playing of a team’s final strategic cards, with everything at stake: one has to take risks commensurate with how well one did in the patient periods. And most importantly, with more time and greater gravitas, there is space made for excellence and heroism. Someone, through skill and determination, has to take the game by the proverbial scruff of the neck. If there’s room for greatness in a 20-over game, you’d need to pack it into about 5 minutes.

Terror and Tension at the Movies

As I’ve mentioned before, I think that horror movies are truly terrifying only in so far as they’re able to make us believe that the setting and characters are possible, or even normal. If we’re able to imagine ourselves inhabiting the movie world, then we’re able to feel the supernormal circumstances that much more deeply.

I happen to hate horror movies, and I’ve seen hardly any of them. However, the principle of believability is so important to all kinds of dramatic tension, and yet it is so often ignored by Hollywood. Stories almost always involve a character triumphing over the odds, and the bigger the obstacle, the more satisfying and uplifting is the victory. But how often the story falls apart when credulity is over-stretched.

Consider Schwarzenegger’s ‘Commando’. Admittedly, it is a doltish action movie, but in the climactic scene, Arnie besieges a heavily guarded fortress single-handedly. Now, this would be fine if the story had a remotely plausible way in which this was possible. But, no, Arnie runs for 100 metres across an open lawn while 50 mercenaries fire on him with automatic weapons. Every one of his haphazardly sprayed bullets seems to find its mark, and he is never hit. Writing in an unacknowledged miracle to save your character means no tension for the audience, only irritation. And the same applies to every hero who’s ever fallen three storeys and then caught a ledge with his fingertips; or any character who’s been miraculously thrown to safety by an explosion rather than being torn apart; or any movie in which Woody Allen gets the girl.

147. The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones (2008)

Length: 432 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Started: 19 November 2008
Finished: 21 November 2008

Sheesh, so much scandal!
Muhammad’s favorite wife in
Islam’s early days.

The LibraryThing Early Reviewer algorithm must really think I’ve got a thing for books written from the perspective of one of the wives of the founder of a polygynous religion… The last ER book I got was The 19th Wife, back in May, and then nothing until this one.

Summary: This book is essentially a love story set amidst the early days of Islam. It’s told from the point of view of A’isha bint Abi Bakr, the child bride of the Prophet Muhammad. Betrothed at six, married at nine, and widowed at nineteen, A’isha wanted nothing more than to be a warrior, fighting to protect her loved ones and her infant religion against the rival tribes that want to destroy it. However, in a time and society where women were treated as property, A’isha chafed against the restrictions put on her due to her gender, struggled to maintain her position as head wife as Muhammad’s harem increased in size, and ultimately used her independent spirit to become Muhammad’s favorite, as well as his political adviser and confidant.

Review: There has been a mighty kerfluffle surrounding publication of this book (if you haven’t heard about it, there’s a pretty good summary of things on Wikipedia), but after having read it, I kind of fail to see what the hubbub is all about. Granted, I am not Muslim, but from an outsider’s point of view, I think that Sherry Jones was actually very respectful towards early Islam, and towards Muhammad in particular. Muhammad is painted very clearly as a man, with a man’s weaknesses and vices, which means that while he’s certainly portrayed as being wise and holy, he’s also shown to be flawed and fallible – human, in other words. Secondly, A’isha is a relatively important and contentious figure in the Sunni/Shi’ite split, so this book’s sympathetic portrayal of her automatically alienates a large chunk of the potential readership. I can’t say whether either of these things are technically blasphemous under the tenets of Islam, but I certainly don’t think either of them are meant to be disrespectful – quite the contrary, in fact.

I also don’t think the book itself is worthy of so much kerfluffle as novels go. It was a pretty standard historical romance: seemingly mis-matched man and woman overcoming obstacles and temptations, with true love winning out in the end, etc., etc. There was an interesting story to be told here about women and women’s rights, love and duty and freedom, but I felt like it never quite reached its potential, getting lost instead in a seemingly never-ending stream of jealous bickering and brattishness. The language, too, worked against the story, with somewhat stilted dialogue, an over-reliance on internal monologuing, and an overabundance of florid metaphors.

Despite the less-than-stellar writing and plotting, I did enjoy the setting of the novel. I knew very little (almost nothing, in truth) about the foundation of Islam, and this book was a pretty palatable way to learn some religious history. While it certainly wasn’t a terrible read, neither was it a great one, and that unexceptional-ness was its downfall; it could have (and should have) been much more than it was. On the whole, though, I think this book is going to sell way more copies based on the controversy surrounding it than it ever would on the strength of its own merit. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Worth reading if you want to know what the controversy’s all about… but I’d get it from the library instead of the bookstore.

This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | This Book on Amazon

Links: Jewel of Medina website; A nice post from Kim summing up the controversy

Other Reviews: A Reader’s Respite
Did I miss your review? Leave a comment with the link and I’ll add it in.

First Line: Scandal blew in on the errant wind when I rode into Medina clutching Safwan’s waist.

Vocab:

• p. 97: “To lighten my complexion, I smoothed a lotion made with gypsum on my face, and I lined my eyelids with collyrium, using a lavender stem to spread the dark paste.” – A medicinal lotion applied to the eye; any preparation for the eye.
  .

Last week was a wonderful week for Literate Housewife’s mailbox (front porch, actually).  It was a bonanza of wonderful books and was by far the most exciting mail week I’ve had since I started my blog.  So, what was it that makes me so excited?  Take a look:

The Reluctant Widow and The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer ~ sent by Sourcebooks


The ENTIRE Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer ~ won as part of Maw Books’ month long awareness campaign for Darfur and sent to me by Hatchette Book Group.  I cannot tell you how left out I’ve felt about this from day one.  Now I can hardly wait to make it through my existing ARCs so I can dive on in.  With the movie, I’m having a hard time not scrapping everything and reading Twilight…

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and signed by the author (!) ~ won from Marcia’s contest (lucky, lucky me!!!).  Marcia’s review is wonderful and I cannot wait (again).

The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones ~ snagged as part October’s Early Reviewer from LibraryThing.  It’s been at least 5 months since I snagged my last book, but in October I hit the jackpot – and it was completely accidental.  Given the number of ARCs I have, I only picked a couple historical fiction looking books in October and almost didn’t.  When I requested The Jewel of Medina, I didn’t connect it at all to the controversy earlier this year when Random House decided to pull this book for fear of offending Muslims.  Now, published by Beaufort Books, I can see what the entire stir was about.  Yeah!

Censurato negli Usa, il libro sulla storia della sposa-bambina di Maometto, continua a far discutere. Ecco il punto di vista dell’autrice, Sherry Jones

Volevo far conoscere A’isha al pubblico occidentale. Perciò ho scritto A’isha, l’amata di Maometto, (Newton Compton). Mi offende che i libri di storia raccontino solo di battaglie, mentre il contributo delle donne alla storia è ignorato. Anche per questo mi sono appassionata alla vicenda di A’isha che, ragazzina, ha visto il suo destino scritto dal padre e poi da Maometto. Cresciuta per essere un leader politico forte, intelligente, esperta di teologia e di strategia militare, sapeva recitare più di mille poemi. Di lei mi è sempre piaciuta la franchezza, l’intelligenza con cui sfidava anche Maometto. Ho ammirato il suo coraggio, la determinazione nella lotta per ciò in cui credeva. Prima di scrivere ho letto una trentina di libri su Maometto e l’islam, sulle sue 12 mogli e concubine, sulla cultura araba medievale e molto altro. Mi ha fatto piacere che uno studioso come Stefan Weidner abbia trovato il mio libro estremamente accurato sotto il profilo storico, ma anche rispettoso della tradizione islamica. Secondo la studiosa marocchina Fatima Mernissi, Maometto è stato un campione dei diritti delle donne nei suoi primi giorni a Medina. Le donne dettero un contributo vitale alla vita della prima Umma, pregavano accanto agli uomini nella moschea e consigliavano Maometto. Lui fece riconoscere il loro diritto all’eredità; diritto che in America le donne non hanno avuto fino al XX secolo. Ma i suoi successori non apprezzarono questi cambiamenti. Preferivano un mondo dove gli uomini comandavano e le donne obbedivano. Maometto dovette scendere a compromessi. Dopo la sua morte i seguaci invasero l’impero bizantino e videro che le cristiane delle classi più alte vivevano recluse e con il volto velato, come nella Grecia antica. Molti aspetti della cultura bizantina e di quella persiana furono assimilati da quella islamica dopo queste invasioni e l’organizzazione più egualitaria inaugurata da Maometto fu obliata. L’abitudine al velo – le cui origini sono indagate nel romanzo – fu importata dai cristiani, come ha ricostruito anche la storica Karen Armstrong. La reclusione femminile o altre forme di oppressione, a mio avviso, non sono uno specifico islamico, ma un dato culturale più ampio. Il predominio maschile non è una novità. Resta il fatto che noi sappiamo di A’isha molto di più di quanto sappiamo, per esempio, di Maria, la madre di Gesù. A’isha ha una sua voce, è udibile nell’hadith. Maria non ha voce. Maria Maddalena è un’altra donna di cui sappiamo poco. Nell’antico testamento ci sono personalità femminili forti come la regina di Saba. Che le loro storie non vengano raccontate è un altro esempio di come la voce delle donne sia ostracizzata dal discorso maschile. Da parte mia non ho mai pensato di scrivere il libro “definitivo” su A’isha. Offro solo un’interpretazione della storia. Quelli che si sono infuriati scrivano la propria versione. Le leggerò tutte. Dalla controversia sul mio libro ho capito una cosa: le persone vedono quello che vogliono vedere e credono quello che vogliono credere… Mi fa male vedere che c’è chi usa il mio lavoro per giustificare le proprie posizioni fondate sull’odio. E questo vale per tutti, non solo per i musulmani. Alcuni di loro reagiscono con rabbia al mio libro prima di averlo letto. Li sconvolge che un’occidentale, non musulmana, abbia scritto questa storia. Ecco un’altra forma di razzismo. In questi giorni abbiamo letto la storia di un’altra A’isha barbaramente lapidata in Somalia. Quando gli uomini creano dio a loro immagine e somiglianza, le donne sono automaticamente declassate a esseri inferiori. Lo dico sempre a mia figlia che i prepotenti, i violenti stanno male dentro. La terribile storia di A’isha in Somalia ecco che cosa può accadere se gli uomini negano e distruggono dentro loro stessi tutto ciò che è femminile. (testo raccolto da Simona Maggiorelli)

Left 46/08

Non sono molti gli editori che hanno deciso di pubblicare il controverso “A’isha, l’amata di Maometto” di Sherry Jones, in Italia lo fa Newton Compton, che ne aveva già acquisito i diritti da tempo. Pensiamo sia giusto farlo, nel rispetto delle opinioni di tutti, e della libertà di pensiero. Ecco il comunicato di Newton Compton, e la scheda del libro:

A’isha, l’amata di Maometto di Sherry Jones (16-10-2008)

Finalmente in libreria!

Attraverso gli uffici dei suoi agenti londinesi e, a stretto giro, grazie agli articoli pubblicati dai maggiori quotidiani britannici, la direzione editoriale della Newton Compton apprende la notizia che un attentato potenzialmente mortale, ordito ai danni dell’editore Martin Rynja, è stato sventato grazie al tempestivo intervento di Scotland Yard. La “colpa” di Rynja, stando alle prime informative rilasciate dalla polizia, è stata quella di aver acquisito per conto della Gibson Square i diritti per la pubblicazione del romanzo Aisha, l’amata di Maometto, scritto dalla giornalista americana Sherry Jones.

Mentre Rynja è stato inserito nel programma di protezione di Scotland Yard, la Newton Compton si associa alle dichiarazioni rilasciate dallo scrittore Salman Rushdie ed esprime la sua solidarietà nei confronti dell’editore, auspicando che, assicurati alla giustizia i responsabili dell’attacco incendiario subito dalla sua abitazione, Rynja possa tornare presto alle sue ordinarie occupazioni ed essere restituito alla vita civile.

La Newton Compton Editori precisa inoltre di aver acquisito i diritti per la pubblicazione in lingua italiana dell’opera di Sherry Jones oltre un anno fa e che il volume, appena tradotto, sarà disponibile nelle librerie del nostro Paese a partire dal 16 ottobre 2008.

Come ha già dichiarato la stessa Jones ai media britannici e statunitensi, la Newton Compton ribadisce che, a ispirare il lavoro della scrittrice, è stato in primo luogo un sentimento di enorme rispetto e ammirazione per la cultura e la religione islamica, esempio, nel corso dei secoli, di amore per il sapere e tolleranza. Questi stessi sentimenti, il rispetto e la tolleranza, costituiscono i valori ai quali la Newton Compton cerca di uniformare il proprio lavoro tutti giorni, costruendo un catalogo che fa del dialogo tra le culture e le religioni della Terra il suo punto di forza.

Oggi, mentre un lavoratore dell’industria editoriale ha rischiato la vita nel nome della libertà d’espressione, la Newton Compton si stringe attorno ai suoi redattori e ai suoi editor e difende la scelta collettiva con cui sono stati acquistati i diritti italiani del libro della Jones. Con questo comunicato, la casa editrice invita i numerosi critici prevenuti a leggere Aisha. L’amata di Maometto prima di giungere a conclusioni affrettate: la giornalista americana ha costruito un romanzo storico dalla grande profondità psicologica e risultano completamente infondate tutte le accuse di blasfemia rivolte alla sua opera. La Newton Compton, inoltre, ribadisce la propria volontà di procedere alla già programmata pubblicazione del romanzo, convinta che qualunque tipo di censura sia nemica del dialogo e, molto spesso, frutto di un clima di intolleranza che anche la diffusione di un volume come Aisha. L’amata di Maometto – con il suo innegabile merito di presentare al pubblico occidentale una figura tanto grandiosa come quella della sposa del Profeta – può contribuire a spezzare.

La Newton Compton pubblica il romanzo “Aisha, l’amata di Maometto” di Sherry Jones. Il rispetto per tutte le culture e tutte le religioni non deve pregiudicare il diritto alla libertà d’espressione

Sherry Jones

A’isha, l’amata di Maometto

Newton Compton

Il libro evento dell’anno. Censurato negli Stati Uniti a due giorni dall’uscita. Pubblicato in esclusiva in Italia

A’isha ha solo sei anni quando viene promessa in sposa a Maometto. Essendo ancora troppo piccola, trascorrerà tre anni chiusa nella sua casa prima di celebrare il matrimonio con il Profeta. Durante questo lasso di tempo e dopo il matrimonio, in attesa della pubertà, A’isha vivrà da reclusa, impossibilitata a vedere qualunque uomo che non sia un suo familiare o lo stesso Maometto. Prigioniera dei propri sogni, A’isha immagina spesso di vivere una vita diversa. In questa esistenza parallela, A’isha sposa il suo amichetto Sawfran e, per opporsi allo strapotere degli uomini, non esita a impugnare la spada.

Sullo sfondo, si agitano gli intensi avvenimenti che caratterizzarono la diffusione dell’Islam, a partire dalla celebre fuga da La Mecca, quando A’isha è costretta a seguire il Profeta nelle sue battaglie per la diffusione della nuova fede. Ormai A’isha vive nella stessa casa di Maometto e, grazie alla fierezza del suo carattere, gode del rispetto di tutti e dell’amore del Profeta. Sarà nelle braccia di A’isha, infatti, che Maometto troverà rifugio dopo aver avuto le sue visioni e persino nel momento della morte. A’isha, ormai, non è più una bambina, ma una donna in grado di guidare la fazione che si oppone al cugino di Maometto nello stabilire le regole dell’Islam ortodosso: il culmine di un’avventura di amore e di fede capace di dare un volto e una storia alle figure più importanti del mondo musulmano.

«La Random House ha deciso di rinunciare alla pubblicazione “per la sicurezza dell’autrice, dei dipendenti della casa editrice, dei librai e di chiunque altro possa essere coinvolto nella distribuzione e nella vendita del romanzo”.»

Reuters

«È un’inaccettabile censura.»

Salman Rushdie, la Repubblica

«Bloccato il libro sulla moglie di Maometto.»

Corriere della Sera

«Ho deliberatamente e coscienziosamente scritto con il massimo rispetto dell’Islam e di Maometto. Immaginavo che i miei libri servissero a gettare dei ponti. [...] Ho scritto questi libri perché mi sono sentita chiamata a scriverli, dopo aver compiuto le mie ricerche su A’isha. La mia passione per la sua storia travalica qualsiasi paura. Mi sarei aspettata di suscitare discussioni ma mai di ricevere minacce di terrorismo.»

Sherry Jones

This post was written by Marwa El Naggar and previously published at alt.muslim and IslamOnline.

There’s something not quite right about seeing a citation for One Thousand and One Nights in a bibliography for a novel about the Lady Aishah, Prophet Muhammad’s famous wife.

What it says about an author who would, in writing about the early Muslim community, use the collection of stories that has given us Aladdin, Ali Baba (he of the forty thieves), Sinbad the sailor, and the wife-killing yet story-loving king, Shahrayar, is a lot that makes any discerning reader uncomfortable.

This anomaly in the bibliography is certainly much more indicative as a factor that “stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world” than “fear”, as Asra Nomani put it in a Wall Street Journal article about Random House’s last-minute decision to not publish the book.

But the citation does, however, fit in with the idea of the exotic and mystical Orient, an idea that is fed word after word, and page after page of the much-debated novel about the Prophet’s wife, which hits bookstores in the US and UK this week.

I started reading the unpublished manuscript of the novel, The Jewel of Medina provided so generously to me by author Sherry Jones, fully prepared to enjoy myself.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I didn’t know what to make of it. How could anyone claiming to write about the relationship between Lady Aishah and Prophet Muhammad fail to mention some of the most famous incidents in the story so well known to Muslims?

Jones’s portrayal of Aishah’s jealousy was so heavy-handed that she seems to have forgotten about the incident where Lady Aishah, in her jealousy, threw a plate carrying food that another wife had prepared for the Prophet, breaking it.

Prophet Muhammad, who in Jones’s novel always frowns at Aishah’s jealousy, is reported to have reacted by smiling and explaining Aishah’s behavior to his friends who were present, saying, “Your mother was jealous…”, reminding them that Aishah, despite her human and natural faults, was after all, a mother of the believers, thereby deserving the respect of all.

But perhaps this portrayal of an indulgent and patient Prophet didn’t fit in with Jones’s own portrayal of a condescending and perpetually disapproving Prophet.
Take a Bow?

In the novel, respect is portrayed in a manner that belies the Western cultural framework the writer imposes on the story.

We find two men greeting the Prophet as he walks home with Aishah, “Both of them bowed to Muhammad…” Elsewhere, “A man with a black face as shiny as his bald head bowed before us: Bilal.” And when he walks in on his wife Sawdah preparing the food, “Muhammad greeted her with a deep bow.” Aishah gives the Prophet “a respectful bow.”

In cringe-producing, true to Hollywood-style drama, towards the end of the book, Muhammad and his wives acknowledge Aishah as the leader of the “harem”:

Zaynab stepped forward, her plump arms outstretched, her gold eyes flashing. “We have heard how you pled for us to our husband,” she said. “Now—” a sob caught in her throat, snagging her words, “—we have come to thank you,to make you our hatun.” I opened my mouth, but, in my astonishment, no words would come. Then, in one motion, my sister wives joined Zaynab in stretching out their arms to me, then folding themselves in a deep bow. Muhammad stood in their center, his wild hair flying, his smile leaping like light from his face before he whisked off his turban and bowed nearly all the way to the ground. (341)

Never mind that the word hatun is not Arabic, and would never have been used by the Arabs at that time. Never mind that the idea of the Prophet’s wives competing for the position of the most important wife in the “harem” is a dubious one that has never been documented.

Anyone who knows anything about Islam knows that Muslims do not bow to each other to show respect. Bowing may have been a pre-Islamic custom in Arabia, and was certainly a Western custom, but Islam, with its egalitarian message, forbade anyone to bow to any human. Muslims are supposed to bow only to God, and therefore, Muslim ritual prayers include bowing.

Respect was much more nuanced, displayed in the way people talked and listened, the expression in their eyes and on their faces, and the position of their bodies. For example, it is known that Prophet Muhammad showed respect to whomever he was listening to by being attentive and by turning his whole body to face that person.
Cross-Cultural Confusion: On purdah & Hijab

Although historical fiction obviously differs from history texts in its very nature of being fiction, to be of any merit, it should remain true to its subject in terms of social conditions, manners, and culture.

The portrayal of the sub-continental custom of purdah (again, not an Arabic word) within the context of early Islamic society is definitely one leap too far, even if we take artistic license into consideration.

Even in pre-Islamic Arabia, when women were much less respected, the idea of locking girls up in their houses until marriage was unknown. In fact, Aishah’s older sister, Asma’ was a shepherdess, an occupation that could hardly have been possible if Jones’s purdah had been the custom.

The depiction of Aishah’s reaction to the Quranic commandment that the Prophet’s wives cover their faces also betrays the writer’s Western background. For any Western woman writing in a post-feminist 21st century, the only possible reaction of a woman who is supposed to be described as a brave heroine with a fiery spirit to this commandment is obviously to see it as “oppressive”.

To suggest otherwise, it seems, would mean being disloyal to Western culture and ideals.
Casting History Aside

Perhaps one of the most striking liberties that Jones took in the writing of The Jewel of Medina concerns what is referred to in Muslim history and in the Qur’an as “the incident of false accusation”, or, “hadithatul ifk”.

Sherry Jones claims that she has approached her subject matter “respectfully”, and I would never doubt her intentions. However, I do have a problem reconciling this with the fact that in one of the most important and telling incidents in the life of Aishah, Jones chooses to ignore Aishah’s own well-documented narration of the incident. Instead, Jones misuses her artistic license to make up a completely unrecognizable, yet juicier, alternative story.

The problem with Jones’s version of the story starts at the very beginning of Aishah’s story, when Jones has the young Aishah engaged to Safwan ibn Al-Mu’attal. All sources indicate that Aishah, before her engagement and marriage to Prophet Muhammad, had been engaged to marry Jubayr ibn Mut’im, and not Safwan.

Yet Aishah’s supposed engagement to Safwan serves Jones an excellent purpose. It provides a complexity of plot that was probably too juicy to pass up, even for the sake of accuracy and historical honesty.

In Jones’s version, Aishah harbors a love for Safwan since childhood. Even after her marriage to the Prophet, she continues to yearn for Safwan, and he continues to flirt with her, urging her to run away with him to join a Bedouin tribe, as they had planned to do since childhood.

Part of Aishah’s problem with Prophet Muhammad, according to Jones’s story, is this love that she has for Safwan, and it is only after the incident of the false scandal, that she realizes that Safwan would never provide her with the freedom she longs for.

There are many other striking contradictions between the story told by the historical Aishah and that narrated by Jones’s fictional character. While the historical Aishah points out that Safwan only recognized her because he had seen her in the days before the Prophet’s wives were told to cover their faces, Jones has Aishah plotting with Safwan, after a heavy session of flirting, to run away.

While the historical Aishah says that she returned to Madinah riding Safwan’s camel while Safwan led the camel, and in some versions, walked behind the camel, Jones has Aishah riding into Madinah on a horse with her arms around Safwan’s waist, and her cheek resting against his shoulder.

While the historical Aishah said that she was not aware of any scandal or talk against her in the beginning, Jones whips up a deliciously dramatic scene in which Aishah rides into Madinah to hear the people shouting “Adulteress!” at her.

Yes, the idea of having a young girl in love with her fiancée since childhood, and harboring that love throughout her tumultuous marriage to another, older man, does have the makings of a good story. But unfortunately for Jones, this is not the story of Lady Aishah.
Can’t We Write About Muhammad?

I would have loved to ask the exasperated Asra Nomani why she thinks that “you still can’t write about Muhammad”, which was the title of her Wall Street Journal article.

There is a lot of literature that has been written about Prophet Muhammad in the Muslim world. Muhammad’s life, as well as the lives of his Companions and wives, including the Lady Aishah, has been the subject of novels, plays, and even movies and TV series. Jones has done nothing new, except that she has taken much greater liberties with history and fact than others have.

Pointing out all the mistakes in the novel not just in portraying the Lady Aishah, but in portraying almost all the characters, including the Prophet, would take much more than this article.

Yet given all its inaccuracies, its faults, and its biases, should publication of The Jewel of Medina be stopped? By all means, it should not. The hullabaloo that was created by Random House’s decision will also guarantee that the novel’s publishers have their marketing work cut out for them.

I just hope that it is not marketed as an “extensively researched” historical novel about the Lady Aishah, because whatever research Jones did, she certainly does not appear to have used it or benefitted from it. The Jewel of Medina is fiction in the purest sense of the term, with little or nothing of history in it.

I also hope that readers will take it for what it is: an attempt by a Western writer with little knowledge of Arabic, Arabia, Islam, and Muslims using her own Western, 21st century values, ideals and emotions to portray an unrecognizable version of the well-known and well-documented story of Aishah.

If Jones had set out to tell the “untold” or an “alternative” story of the heroism and courage of Aishah, she could have saved herself the trouble. The Lady Aishah has already been seen as a heroine and revered as a role model by Muslim women since the beginning of Muslim history.

An even more inconvenient truth – According to the Food Climate Research Network, most of our plans for fighting global warming are off track. Their new report on the impact of food on the environment suggests that the only way to avoid massive climate change is to ration our meals to four modest portions of meat and a single liter of milk per week.

A tip of my hat to Beaufort Books – I’ve blogged about the epic saga revolving the release of Sherry Jones’ fiction book The Jewel of Medina before. The offices of Gibson Square Books, the UK publisher, were attacked by arsonists, and Random House refused to publish the novel in the US for fear of similar attacks. The book mirrors the story of Islamic Prophet Mohammed marrying the six-year-old A’isha who went on to become one of his favorite wives. And while Muslims must believe this story as much as Christians must believe in the Crucification of Christ, they’d rather not allow anyone to talk about it because, let’s face it, it’s kind of embarrassing to admit worshiping someone so wretched. Well now courageously, Beaufort Books has stepped in to release it in the states.

Are chimps people too? - An article in Wired Magazine poses the question of whether the definition of personhood whould been extended to our evolutionary cousins.

A brief look at herbal medicines

WHAT’S THE HARM?

HIV Positive children in Dominican Republic being treated with massage therapy instead of antiretrovirals – Of course no study has shown massage produces any objective improvement in outcome for HIV/AIDS patients.

Witch doctors in Burundi are getting albinos killed – Witch doctors are perpetuating the myth that the body parts of albinos are valuable in attracting gold, witch is leading many to kill albinos for their severed body parts.

Why We Fight:

AND NOW FOR A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

Bonobos Hunt And Eat Other Primates, Too – “Unlike the male-dominated societies of their chimpanzee relatives, bonobo society—in which females enjoy a higher social status than males—has a “make-love-not-war” kind of image. While chimpanzee males frequently band together to hunt and kill monkeys, the more peaceful bonobos were believed to restrict what meat they do eat to forest antelopes, squirrels, and rodents.

Not so, according to a study, reported in the October 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that offers the first direct evidence of wild bonobos hunting and eating the young of other primate species.”

Playing Pinball With Atoms: Nano On-Off Switch – “With nanotechnology yielding a burgeoning menagerie of microscopic pumps, motors, and other machines for potential use in medicine and industry, here is one good question: How will humans turn those devices on and off?

n an advance toward giving humans that control, scientists in The Netherlands are reporting use of an external electrical signal to control an atomic-scale mechanical device that looks like the flippers on a pinball machine.”

Vitamin D: Guidelines Double Amount For Young – “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is doubling the amount of vitamin D it recommends for infants, children and adolescents. The new clinical report, “Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants, Children, and Adolescents,” recommends all children receive 400 IU a day of vitamin D, beginning in the first few days of life.”

Archaeological Dig Uncovers Roman Mystery – “University of British Columbia archaeologists have dug up a mystery worthy of Indiana Jones, one that includes a tomb, skeletons and burial rites with both Christian and pagan elements.

  By Majed Iqbal- The passion of the Christ, The Satanic Verses, The Last Temptation of Christ, Danish cartoon of Prophet Mohammad and sketches of Hindu Goddess- recent times have seen plenty of controversies surrounding religion under the shroud of Freedom of expression.

In addition to these on-going debates lands the latest hot issue in the form of a Book titled “Jewel of Medina” by Sherry Jones that has made it one of the most controversial books of the season is the next showdown in this battle of ideas of religious sensitivities and the values of the ‘free world’.

Jones book is based on the life and events surrounding the Wife of the Prophet of Islam, Aisha, a renowned and well respected figure head for all Muslims referred to as “The mother of the believers”.

Sherry Jones has said, “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. Anyone who reads the book will not be offended,” Jones said. “I wrote the book with the utmost respect for Islam.”

But despite these re-assurances by the author, the content of the  book has already been dubbed as offensive and provocative.

Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas, who has written Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of ‘A’isha Bint Abi Bakr, said about Jones’ book, “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 (referring to a scene involving Muhammad consummating his marriage to Aisha).

Even Salman Rushdie came into the open for Jones’ defense criticising the London Publishers, Random House, who had pulled out of the deal to publish the book. The Langum Charitable Trust, which awards lucrative literary prizes, said the company was too easily intimidated.

“Random House has exhibited a degree of cowardly self-censorship that seriously threatens the American public’s access to the free marketplace of ideas,” the trust said.

The War on Terror climate has seen continued attempts from different quarters to present Islam, Muslims, Shariah law and their History in a derogatory light whilst continuously hiding behind Freedom of expression. In this case the author apparently was trying to honour Islam, The prophet and his wifes through the book which has merged fact, fiction and fantasy to pander to the sexual tastes of its audience.

It is of no surprise to hear the detailed accounts of sexual adventures of celebrities, the break-ups, divorces and one -night stand stories. To use the same norms and values and thrust them onto depicting religious figure heads of Islam surely would un-nerve any one, regardless fo their faith or background. 

Sherry Jones apparent detailed study of Islam and the lives of the Prophet and wives is surely questionable. What is even more questionable is the universality of the concept of Freedom of Expression and its suitability for protecting the dignity, rights and accommodation for people of differing persuasions.

Sherry Jones surely was mocking Islam when she mentioned how she was honouring Islam by writing this book.

Well, some can argue, that you cant stop her from saying that can you? Freedom of Speech!

PICTURED ABOVE-  Serbian publisher decided to re-release the novel about the Muslim prophet Mohammed’s love life, after it was withdrawn in August 2008, the Tanjug news agency reported on September 14. Publisher, BeoBooks, withdrew 1,000 copies it printed in Serbian on August 18 under pressure from Islamic leaders. It was the first to be published in the world, according to local reports.

“”Alla” muslimer är kränkta igen. Åtminstone om man ska tro upprördheten över Sherry Jones bok The jewel of Medina. Boken, som planerades att släppas på Random House, har skapat en ny Rushdieaffär. Denna gång är dock stödet för verket och författaren inte lika starkt och självklart.
En omtänksam själ, islamkännaren Denise Spelling vid universitet i Austin, Texas varnade för att romanen gör narr av muslimer och deras historia. På några sekunder spreds nyheten på internet och hoten har inte låtit vänta på sig. Så upprepas historien om kränkta muslimer än en gång. Självutnämnda företrädare för över en miljard människor hotar å alla muslimers vägnar att mörda folk som vill förlägga romanen.”

“Totalitära regimer avundas nog den rädsla som islamisterna effektivt har lyckats ingjuta i det fria ordets utövare. Detta tillgjorda och löjeväckande hukande för islam (ingen annan religion kommer undan så lätt) har under de senaste tjugo åren inskränkt yttrandefriheten för publicister, bildkonstnärer, musikskapare (operan i Berlin) och romanförfattare ett antal gånger för mycket.”

Läs mer av Dilsa Demirbag-Sten på Expressen

/Fröken Sverige

“”Alla” muslimer är kränkta igen. Åtminstone om man ska tro upprördheten över Sherry Jones bok The jewel of Medina. Boken, som planerades att släppas på Random House, har skapat en ny Rushdieaffär. Denna gång är dock stödet för verket och författaren inte lika starkt och självklart.
En omtänksam själ, islamkännaren Denise Spelling vid universitet i Austin, Texas varnade för att romanen gör narr av muslimer och deras historia. På några sekunder spreds nyheten på internet och hoten har inte låtit vänta på sig. Så upprepas historien om kränkta muslimer än en gång. Självutnämnda företrädare för över en miljard människor hotar å alla muslimers vägnar att mörda folk som vill förlägga romanen.”

“Totalitära regimer avundas nog den rädsla som islamisterna effektivt har lyckats ingjuta i det fria ordets utövare. Detta tillgjorda och löjeväckande hukande för islam (ingen annan religion kommer undan så lätt) har under de senaste tjugo åren inskränkt yttrandefriheten för publicister, bildkonstnärer, musikskapare (operan i Berlin) och romanförfattare ett antal gånger för mycket.”

Läs mer av Dilsa Demirbag-Sten på Expressen

/Fröken Sverige

Before I proceed, some breaking news. Pfc. Jeremy Hall, the atheist US soldier who suffered discrimination, harrassment and death threats at the hands of his loving Christian superiors and fellow soldiers, is dropping his lawsuit against U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Defense Department, and plans to leave the Army. (According to the American Freethought podcast, Hall was denied permission to attend the recent Atheist Alliance convention, where he was listed as a speaker.)

The week in fundie:

1. For an example of how it is possible for Catholics to be as demented as the fundiest fundagelicals, look no further than Matt C. Abbott’s column on the RenewAmerica* website, “As the ‘Obama-nation’ nears, priests sound alarm“. There you’ll hear from Father James Farfaglia, who is unhappy with the recent US bishops’ statement, Faithful Citizenship, which counsels “the Church’s leaders [. . .] to avoid endorsing or opposing candidates or telling people how to vote.” Farfaglia wants the Church to tell people to vote against Obama and for McCain, because, among other reasons, “McCain will appoint a pro-life Supreme Court justice; Obama will appoint a pro-abortion one.” He also speaks highly of Catholic convert, long-time anti-abortion activist and theocrat Randall Terry, who in 1993 said: “I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good…. Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time. We don’t want pluralism.”You’ll also hear a goodly dose of Christian persecution mania from Father Richard Perozich. Jumping at the shadows of government spooks waiting around the corner to clap him in irons for being an ultraconservative Catholic (“we may not be in jail (at least at the moment)”), Perozich accuses the state of “encroaching on our religious beliefs, our freedom by passing laws which indoctrinate us, penalize us for non conformity, and take away our liberty.” The chief agents of this anti-Catholic persecution , in his view, are (self-hating?) Catholic politicians who, by not always voting in strict accordance with Catholic dogma, have become “slaves to people with evil ideas” . . . those ideas being “abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and homosexual activity.” TEH EVIL, you see, infects the souls of individuals who then force teh evil onto everyone else. How, you may ask? Perozich reaches under his cassock and pulls the following theory out of his wrinkled arse: “First evil forms people into groups to organize and express itself. [. . .] Evil then beings to take over in 4 ways: infiltration, indoctrination, intimidation, and imposition.” The examples he provides are just priceless:
   

   When we know persons with same sex attractions who have not learned to master chastity, we feel sorry for them. We want them to feel better. They infiltrate by asking for tolerance. They reinvent themselves saying that this is who they are. They indoctrinate with false ideas that they are genetically created this way, that they cannot change, that their sex is just as good as, or even better than, normal people because they don’t create overpopulation. They intimidate, calling us bigots, hate-filled people, intolerant. Finally they impose laws forcing us to learn about their sinful lifestyle, to accept it, to take away our freedoms if we don’t accept it, to teach this as normal in schools, nursing programs, to celebrate it publicly in parades, schools, and the work place as ‘diversity’ when in fact it is perversity. [Emphasis added]

   Read the full article to learn more about the INFLITRATE–>INDOCTRINATE–>INTIMIDATE–>IMPOSE strategy is deployed against unsuspecting hard-right Catholics by “unrepetant” woman abortionists and “famous people with diseases” calling for embryonic stem cell research funding.

2. A cursory glance at the headlines reveals that over 26,500 children died around the world today. Climate change may be happening faster than predicted. The global financial crisis has sent stock markets plummeting from Europe to Japan. Meanwhile, the Pope has commenced a marathon Bible reading, in which 1200 people in Rome will take turns “take turns reading from the Bible until all 73 books of the Catholic edition are finished.” Religion: the quintessential filler. (Norwich Bulletin)
3. Sherry Jones, author of the historical romance novel The Jewel of Medina, a first-person narrative of Mohammed’s favourite wife Aisha, has decided to postpone the UK release of her book and has cancelled a book tour there. Last weekend, the home and premises of the book’s UK publisher was the target of a firebomb. (CBC)
4. In the Russian city of Tamboz, officials have banned two gay rights demonstrations, deeming them an “offence to the city’s traditions.” (TVNZ)
5. Oklahoma State Congresswoman Sally Kern, proof that being a drool-cup fundamentalist is no barrier to high public office in the United States, has declared gay people the biggest threat to the nation. “‘While terrorism has killed more than 3,000 people in the continental United States in the last 15 years, homosexual behavior has killed more than 100,000,” the Republican representative said. “It’s a danger to life. It is a danger to health.’” (On Top Magazine)
6. A C Grayling and Steve Fuller duke it out over the latter’s latest book, a defence of the teaching of ID creationism in the science classroom. (New Humanist)
7. After an argument over Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, an adult education student poured what he called “holy water” over his teacher, holding a lighter close to her while chanting religious verses, because he thought she was a witch. (UPI)
8. In Jaipur, India, a woman accused of witchcraft was severely bashed and then forced to pick up a silver coin from a vessel filled with boiling oil. According to one villager, there are ways of telling if a woman is a witch. “Women, whosoever, labelled as a ‘witch’ by the villagers has to pick a silver coin from a tank filled with boiling oil, with both her hands. If her hands are burnt, her witchhood is confirmed, otherwise she is declared innocent.” You think I’m joking, don’t you? (The Times of India)

*RenewAmerica a Christian Right organisation founded as a support group for former Republican Presidential Candidate Alan Keyes.