New Novel on Muhammad and Aisha
Prophet Muhammad and Hollywood, Take Two
The mutilated Afghan girl Aisha got a new nose in Los Angeles
What They Say About Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h)
American author Sherry Jones, a correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs, has written a novel where the lead character is one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, Aisha.
The New York Times naturally managed to produce a review that was overcome with historical inaccuracies, it's beyond them to ask someone one knows something about Islam to write a review.
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. His actions during that period have also been seized upon by Western commentators and poets as proof of Muhammad’s unmanageable sexual appetite and self-serving declaration of divine revelation.Among the most contested criticisms of Muhammad are his taking of many more than the four wives he decreed as the limit for other men and his edict, supposedly inspired by Allah, requiring his wives to be placed behind a curtain, the basis for the veiling of Muslim women.
Aisha was not 6 at their engagement, but 9 and the marriage was not consummated until she was 14. Muhammad took Aisha under his auspicious in order to help one of his closest companions and early converts to Islam, and Aisha's father, Abu Bakr.
Muhammad was well off and could afford to care for another individual. Just as he adopted his young cousin as a son, Ali, after his father Abu Talib could not provide for him. Muhammad's "unmanageable sexual appetite" has been a Western criticisms of Muhammad and Islam from the early days of Latin polemics. And the veiling of Muhammad's wives does not provide the basis for the veiling of Muslim women since the wives of the Prophet are seen to inhibit their own special dictates that are not binding on other Muslim women.
Because it is a work of fiction that includes many passages that are sexual provocative, the book has stirred controversy. Random House, a major New York publisher, has dropped the book after initially agreeing to sell it. And someone has put a letter bomb into the mail box of the British publisher. "The Jewel of Medina" deals with the period surrounding Muhammad's exodus from Mecca and into Medina and many aspects of the book have no religious basis of course, and some have no historical basis as well. For instance, a Haram (women sanctuary) is included in the novel, which did not exist in Arabia until recently.
Although some Muslims have legitimate grounds for taking offense at the use of a revered person and Prophet for characters in a novel, any violent outrage is unwarranted and the mark of uncouth individuals. Muslims need to stop throwing tantrums every time someone offends our faith.
We have to understand that although we revere such individuals, in a free society not every one was to ascribe to world view and sometimes we will be offended by free speech. Protesting is fine, though, as long as its non-violent and civil. Finally, any violent reaction to this novel should not be deemed "provoked". Unless one is under physical attack, violence is never provoked. Violence must be judged as an individual action. Any doctrine that rationalizes violent behavior is incompatible with freedom.
