Random House Changes its Mind on Publishing Book about Prophet Muhammad's Wife

by Suzan Abrams

"..."the pain of consummation soon melted away. Muhammad was so gentle. I hardly felt the scorpion's sting. To be in his arms, skin to skin, was the bliss I had longed for all my life.".. - excerpt published by Wall Street Journal, on the wedding night of the Prophet Muhammad and his 11-year old bride, Aisha.

Fearing a fatal backlash from alleged blasphemous references similar to what happened with novelist Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, Random House (US) has now changed its mind about publishing a book on Aisha, the wife of Prophet Muhammad and initially titled: The Jewel of Medina.

Its author Sherry Jones has said that she is devastated. Jones was paid US100,000 for a two-book deal that was called off in May.

Perhaps warning bells came from a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by its then reporter, Asra Q Nomani, who while stressing her belief for fiction, said that her Muslim faith had been hurt by the saga. This in turn, had led to rumblings of an uproar within certain segments of the Muslim community.

India's Press Report also reminds us that publication of the Satanic Verses had resulted in death threats for Rushdie, riots and the murder of the book's Japanese translators.

For a full report, read HERE.