CAIRO: The North Giza Prosecution office has summoned the writer of the controversial book “Trial of the Prophet Mohamed,” Anis El-Deghedi, after a complaint was filed against him by two lawyers accusing him of blasphemy, insulting the Prophet, his companions and family as well as questioning books such as “Sahih Al Bukhari.”
The prosecution also interrogated editor-in-chief of Al-Youm Al-Sabea newspaper, Khaled Salah, for the same accusations after the newspaper’s website published some excerpts from the book.
“I prefer not to comment on the issue as the investigation on the matter is still ongoing,” Salah told Daily News Egypt on Monday.
While the newspaper was planning to publish the entire book, Salah said this is put on hold until they receive an official approval by the Islamic Research Center and other concerned parties. Furthermore, the title of the book will be changed due to the request of millions of Muslims who find it insulting to their religion and Prophet Mohamed.
“We did not mean to insult Prophet Mohamed or Islam in any way when we published some of the titles in the book on our website,” he previously said, adding that they have also published an official apology on the website.
The excerpts from the book that were published on the website have stirred public debate and resulted in the hacking of the website, replacing its content with a message that said, "They defamed the prophet, his family, his companions and Islam as a whole."
Al-Azhar, Islam’s oldest and most venerable institution, has denounced the book. "Publishing such a novel is an act of infidelity against Prophet Mohamed," an official press statement by the council of Muslim scholars at Al-Azhar said, adding that the newspaper "couldn’t have found a worse way of welcoming the holy month of Ramadan than by hurling insults at the Prophet."
