I am glad they caught them and stopped them before they could do it.

A romantic telling of the life of one of the wives of Islam’s prophet has caused controversy among some Muslims – and its publication has been indefinitely postponed in the UK amid fears of a violent reaction. But is The Jewel of Medina actually any good? Blogger Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is one of the few people in Britain to have read it.

The Jewel of Medina is a chest-heaving, brassiere-busting book of outrageously tacky historical romantic fiction.

Some parts of the media are suggesting that this book is at the forefront of defending free speech. The author wants it to reach out to solve our global problems of intercultural dialogue. Between them they had me rolling around on the floor laughing
The book claims to tell the story of Aisha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, through her own eyes, from the age of six, through adolescence and into adulthood. But although she lives through one of the most dramatic periods of history, the narrative conveys little of the enormity of the changes of the era, and of which Aisha was a huge part.

Sherry Jones, the author, says she wanted her book to be “at once a love story, a history lesson and a coming-of-age tale”.

In order to do so, she fabricates a storyline about a lover, Safwan, whom Aisha runs away with – but then decides to leave and return to Muhammad.

But this invented plot dominates, leaving barely any room for the real history and importance of her story.

Whether you believe her to be fact, fiction or fantasy, and Muslims believe her to be very real, Aisha is of great significance in global history. The one fifth of the world population who are Muslim regards her as the wife of the Prophet Muhammad and a “mother of the believers”.

She is said to have been a leading scholar and teacher and recounted many of the traditions about the personality of Muhammad.

Muslims hold Muhammad, Aisha and other religious figures very close to their hearts, dearer to them than their own parents, and just as much to be respected, protected and defended.

Muslims believe they went through enormous hardship in order to keep the spiritual message of faith intact, and in return wish to honour their contribution.

This is to be carried out in a measured and peaceful manner, in keeping with the spirit of Islam that advises returning harsh words with good ones, and malice with mercy.

With this in mind, I would have ignored this book and let it fade into obscurity. Allowing the book to be remembered only for the lack of interest it generated would have been the ultimate poetic justice.

The original publisher pulled out – and those parts of the media who wanted to stir things up said Muslims wanted it banned.

So, in order to find out what the (manufactured) fuss was about, I found myself spending 12 dreary hours reading this cringe-worthy melodramatic prose.

Even if you feel that it is your duty to read it in the defence of freedom of speech, don’t do it, I beg you. Go out and enjoy the last sunny days of autumn, play with your children, watch paint dry. You’ll thank me for

So Christian white separatists don’t have to do it any more?

i think that with the whole palestine israel thing, i side with palestine. But in america?!?!?! people leave all that behind to make a new life, if they need to do that, go back to palestine and israel to do your freedom fighting, in palestine and israel i would say alls fair in love and war, but in america, dont bring that over here. But i totally disagree with them bringing their conflicts to america, they should be trying to resolve those issues instead but it will never come to that lol.

you see this is the thing that ets me mad, people dot listne to the palestinian side, they just see ******* bombings and stuff. but if you actually read into why they do it, and wtch documentaries, you would understand. there is always two sides to a conflict, you can’t have war with one party, and if you read up on israeli jews, believe me they dont sound very nice. i dont think i should have to tell you all the reason why i think palestinians are more right, but if you look into it, i can assure you, you would agree. its just like vietnam, no one knew about what the war was all they knew was that it was about communism, enough reason for americans to get mad. thats ignorance. atleast try to get into the history of it first then judge.Either way their both wrong parties for fighting, but if you understood what palestinains were fighting for, you would see its no different than many freedom fighters, and in history people tend to agree with freedom fighters. but whatever i think the best thing is to stop fighting.

So? There are crazy people everywhere. Fortunately; most of them are addicted to Y/A. lol

Meh. “terrorists” and people who aspire to terror as a career are common thugs and criminals. Nothing more. I’m glad they caught them but I’m frankly happier they caught the people that burglarized my house a couple years ago.

Edit: laslo, right on. that’s what I mean – criminals need cops hunting them down, not military troops ferreting them out in some farflung land. We don’t go to Indonesia to look for criminals, why go to Iraq?

Nazis ***** everywhere….
It is quite sad. At least we are not as f-ed up as France is.

Only goes to prove that we don’t need an entire freakin’ army sent halfway around the world to effectively fight terrorism. A good police force does the job!!

I’m glad they caught them.

those muslims **** everybody dont they?