A year before the release of her divisive fiction about the relationship between Prophet Mohamed and his wife Aisha, author Sherry Jones found herself in the middle of a media storm, defending her choices to a panel of international journalists.
A year later, her book “Jewel of Medina still struggles to find a place on bookshelves around the world.
After setting a date for the book’s release, her US publisher Random House decided to cancel the American release of the novel in fear of any hostile response.
The book’s UK release date has been pushed a year – now due this October.
Many Muslim scholars said that the book might be offensive to Muslims and could “incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment, according to an AFP report.
Critics have questioned the credibility of Jones’ research sources and her choice to chart the sexual life of Aisha.
The book is set for release in several countries, Middle East excluded. “No publishers or distributors in any GCC countries or in Egypt have asked for it, as far as I know, Jones said in an email interview.
“We have had interest in Pakistan as well as Turkey … We hear rumors all the time that the book has been banned in this country or that, but they are not true. No one has banned ‘The Jewel of Medina’ because there is no reason to do so.
“It is a powerful story of the origins of Islam and the fascinating people, male and female, who founded the umma. Westerners who read it invariably come away with a greater respect for Islam and Muslims, as I did from my research, Jones said.
“Muslims who have not read my book are the ones who have gotten upset. .Everyone who reads it, including Muslim critics, says the book is not pornographic or sexually offensive.
Daily News Egypt: When did you start working on this novel?
Sherry Jones: ‘The Jewel of Medina’ began as personal research, for personal reasons. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, I was disturbed to hear people around me blaming all Muslims for the criminal actions of a few.
I wanted to learn more about this religion that people were calling ‘violent’ and ‘oppressive.’ So I found some books about women in Islam and I discovered Aisha bint Abi Bakr in their pages.
As I read more, I became more and more excited to bring the Islamic traditions to the Western world, especially those concerning the women of early Islam. And Aisha seemed the perfect heroine for a novelist.
What was the most difficult chapter to write?
When Aisha marries the Prophet Mohamed was by far the most difficult … I wanted to set the right tone for [their] relationship, and the hadith offers so few details. They say her mother carried her in to him and deposited her in his lap, for instance, but we do not know why this occurred. She was nine years old, and certainly able to walk. Was she afraid? I decided that, yes, she must have. . How did her parents feel about her reluctance to walk to him? How did Mohamed respond?
Which sources did you use during the research process?
I read constantly for five years, everything I could find in English about Mohamed and his wives, about Islam, about Saudi Arabia, about Medieval Arabic culture, about the architecture, poetry, fashions of the age.
I studied Arabic for two years in an effort to capture the rhythms of the language and the poetry, since the book would be written in Aisha’s voice and she was herself a poet, able to recite thousands of poems.
My sources include the 14th century historian Ibn Kathir, the travel writings of Ibn Battuta, the Quran, the Islamic traditions themselves, the great feminist Islamic scholar Fatima Mernissi, and Western scholarly studies by Nabia Abbott, Karen Armstrong, and others.
How did you move from journalism to writing a book about an important figure like Aisha?
As a writer I have spent most of my life in journalism, telling the true stories of people’s lives. I always imagined myself as an author, but I never thought I would write historical fiction, since the books I read tend to be about contemporary society.
I wrote ‘The Jewel of Medina’ and its sequel from a pure desire to tell the story of Aisha, to explore how she grew from a child whose destiny was controlled by men into a self-empowered woman, a political adviser, religious scholar, poet, military strategist, and the most beloved wife of one of the most charismatic men who ever lived.
I fell completely in love with her. I wanted to show the world the crucial roles women played in the early Islamic community. By doing so, I hoped people would see that denying women equal rights and opportunities is not Islamic; Prophet Mohamed gave women rights and would have given them more if not for the resistance of his male followers.
Do you plan on writing about other Islamic figures?
Yes, I am writing a book now on Sukayna bint Al-Hussein, another audacious early Islamic woman. Then I intend to move on, away from Arab/Islamic culture.
Your interpretation of Aisha might not coincide with other Muslims’ views.
Most Muslims who have read my book have told me they like it. Some conservative Muslim women have given ‘The Jewel of Medina’ negative reviews because my portrayal of Aisha differs from their own ideas about her. To these women, I say: Go to my website (www.authorsherryjones.com), and tell the world your own stories and impressions of Aisha in the forum provided. My version of this great woman is not the definitive version.
According to Professor Denise Spellberg at the University of Texas in Austin, nothing was ever written down about Aisha until 150 years after her death, and then it was men who told her tale, not women. So her life, far from being given to us in a manner we know to be factual and objective, is all ‘legacy’ and ‘interpretation.’ Your own interpretation, then, is as valid as mine! Share it with me, and with the many others who visit my website.
