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Stupid fools jailed over attempt to firebomb a publisher’s home in London:
Abbas Taj, 31, a minicab driver from Forest Gate, East London, had claimed he was simply giving two other men a lift to the house in an exclusive square in Islington, North London.
The other men, Ali Beheshti, 41, and Abrar Mirza, 23, had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to recklessly damaging property and endangering life following the attack at 2.30am on Saturday September 27 last year.
Excellent review of Jewel of Medina at altmuslim. Apart from widespread historical inaccuracies, the novel also is rife with romanticized, and even (dare we say it?) orientalized views of Islam. And contra Asma Nomani, the novel isn’t about the Prophet SAW at all.
Rushdie’s critics lost the battle to ban his book but they have won the war. seems too pessimistic to me….
Foiled bomb plot against the UK publisher for Jewel of Madina. This single incident potentially undermines the weeks of outreach, response, and PR that people like Shahed have been doing.
For you Brits: I will be a guest on BBC Religion and Ethics Sunday tomorrow morning, talking about (what else?) the Jewel of Medina controversy, which has been covered to death here on TalkIslam.
My take on Jewel of Medina over at Slate: Jones is just doing what Spellberg herself writes about: how muslims have always refashioned aisha in their own image.
With apologies to this person, I just got off of a call in which I was told that the “Jewel of Medina” has found a UK publisher as also reported by the Guardian.
The person who told me, a prominent Muslim American activist, is trying to formulate a response plan & would love your input. She anticipates a “Satanic Verses + Danish Cartoon” level controversy. She was thinking of having Muslim women writers present a range of views on this.
I thought having scholars and people of faith (drawing from all religious traditions) speak to balancing the responsibilities and the freedoms of speech would also be helpful so that it didn’t just look like “Only Muslims get pissed about this issue.” Respect for religious figures and artistic license is something all people of faith grapple with to some degree.
I also suggested that an artistic response celebrating the lives of the Prophet, Hazrat Ali & Hazrat Aisha, and, in particular, highlighting Sunni-Shia partnerships in art or other areas would be useful. She said these figures and relationships were denigrated in the book. She has an advance copy, which she said she read with “liberal eyes” and was still horrified by.
Any other ideas of what kind of response could be given if this does go forward so as to mitigate the “raging Muslims” depiction?
I realize that because the book hasn’t been published or read by most of us, it’s hard to articulate specific responses, but some general PR/media ideas would be helpful.
During the cartoon crisis, one image stood out for me: A Muslim man sitting outside of a Danish embassy painting a beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary in response to the cartoons. I would love to see a response like that, a good action in turn for a bad, articulated for this.
I am sorry, but here is another link on Random House and Jewel of Madina. This time it is to Aziz’s shiny new Beliefnet blog.
Irshad Manji offers her views on the Jewel of Madina controversy.
(Via Haroon Moghul.)
Related: See Talk Islam’s Jewel of Madina archives.
My first substantive post at Beliefnet is up – a general discussion of the Jewel of Medina controversy.
“censorship is not the proper name; a better one would be judgment.”
Stanley Fish, writing about the Jewel of Medina controversy in The New York Times. He critiques Rushdie’s attempt to interject himself into the fray as well.
Stanley Fish says whatever you call the decision by Random House not to publish the Jewel of Madina, don’t call it censorship.
Meanwhile, the Jewel of Madina has divided Muslim opinion in Serbia.
Related posts: Read the views of Shahed Amanullah, Denise Spellberg, Sherry Jones, G. Willow Wilson, Johann Hari, Sunny Hundal and Salman Rushdie.
The comments on one of the several threads touching on the Jewel of Madina issue has inevitably led to discussing Salman Rushdie.
Given that Random House have also published some of Rushdie’s books, it was only a matter of time before the Knight Bachelor would offer his thoughts.
(I would like to note that back in 1990 Rushdie threatened legal action against an English writer for depicting his situation, following the Iranian fatwa, in a play.)
Related: Read the views of Denise Spellberg, Shahed Amanullah, the author Sherry Jones, Willow, Johann Hari and Sunny Hundal.
Johann Hari delves into the Jewel of Madina controversy (though is it really?).
Willow also adds her thoughts on this topic at her blog. Sunny Hundal adds his thoughts on his latest Comment is free post.
Related: Read the views of Denise Spellberg, Shahed Amanullah, and the author Sherry Jones.
Ms. Sherry Jones, she of all things tolerant, who courageously “refuse[s] to succumb to racism,” writes about her anguish over having her book Jewel of Medina pulled.
I think Willow’s comment says it all.
Related: Professor Spellberg’s and Shahed’s response
No good deed goes unpunished. I believe in free speech, which means that people have the right to publish whatever they want about Islam and Muslims without fear of censorship and/or violence, but also that Muslims have the right (and responsibility) to comment vigorously on any writings about them or Islam, so long as they do not resort to the aforementioned censorship and/or violence.
It was in that spirit that I forwarded an inquiry regarding the book “Jewel of Medina” on a private email list. Unfortunately, nothing is private these days, and the mail got circulated around various lists until it reached the publisher, who promptly pulled the book. You can read all about it here at the Wall Street Journal. As was the case with “The Satanic Verses” and the Danish cartoons, the best Muslim response is civil speech in return, and that should have been the case for this book.