The Jewel of Medina - Dark Publications

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Product Description

From the Publisher
Born Aisha bint Abi Bakr in seventh century Arabia, she would become the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, and one of the most revered women in the Muslim faith. Married at the age of nine, The Jewel of Medina illuminates the difficult path Aisha confronted, from her youthful dreams of becoming a Bedouin warrior, to her life as the beloved wife and confident of the founder of Islam.

Extensively researched and elegantly crafted, The Jewel of Medina presents the beauty and harsh realities of life in an age long past, during a time of war, enlightenment, and upheaval. At once a love story, a history lesson, and a coming-of-age tale, The Jewel of Medina provides humanizing glimpses into the origins of the Islamic faith, and the nature of love, through the eyes of a truly unforgettable heroine.

Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

A lot to talk about October 8, 2008
57 out of 80 found this review helpful

The Jewel of Medina goes on sale in the United States today. *queue scary music.*

Two weeks ago, I got a copy of the novel from Beaufort Books, the U.S. publisher, to review for the magazine I work at. I read the book, interviewed Denise Spellberg--the associate professor of history and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas who advised Random House not to publish Jewel--and also managed to wrangle a one hour-interview with author Sherry Jones.

My article can be read here: [...]

If you're interested, you can also listen to the interview here: [...]

I initially began reviewing this novel by deciding to list all the inaccuracies and false facts I found in it. But once I realized I'd already filled four pages of text and I was only 40 pages into the book, I stopped.

Purple prose aside (and there's a lot of that), my biggest beef with The Jewel of Medina is the author's insistence that the book is "extensively researched" and based as close as possible to historical facts when the reality is that Jones has taken liberties with history that would make historians gnash their teeth. If she'd only just added the disclaimer "this book is loosely based on real facts," it would have been so much easier to stomach.

In my interview with her, she admitted that

"A novel has a protagonist, [...] a narrative, thriving action, tension, climax, [and] resolution, and [...] I didn't find that the lives of the characters conformed to that structure. So I had to introduce elements and make some changes for the sake of putting together a novel."

In other words, she had to distort history and sensationalize it in order to get people to read it. Sex and violence sells. And what better way to draw in readers than with a racy, completely fictionalized and very controversial version of hadith al-ifk? (the accusation of adultery made against `Aisha). Which, by the way, was made available online months ago. A teaser, if you like.

In other words, it's libel. If Lady `Aisha was alive today, she could sue.

But is it not libel because Jones has said her novel is fiction? [...] But with Jones' book, how will the inaccuracies be discernible by non-Muslim readers? Advising them to read the novel with a healthy grain of salt will not help them differentiate between what is fact and fiction. Consequently, the fiction will end up circulating in mainstream literature and Muslims will have to work hard to counteract the ideas put forth by Jones' book.

And it's not just the obvious boo-boos (hadith al-ifk interpretation, the hatun [great lady of the house], purdah [seclusion, a sub-continental custom that did not apply to the Islamic age], Lady `Aisha being a warrior, etc), but little things mentioned oh-so-subtly: you'll get your hand cut off for stealing even when you're starving, you'll get stoned if you're seen speaking to a man, and other random things like the Prophet's favorite meal and decorating camels with kohl (eyeliner) and flowers before slaughtering them (huh?).

One more thing: why is it al-Lah and not Allah?!

To be fair to the author, she does represent certain situations, events and personas in a good light. But the novel includes many glaring inconsistencies; I'd be reading, and suddenly something so blatantly wrong reared its head and jarred my concentration. What we call in Arabic el sem fel `asal (poison in honey). It's especially galling when you realize that many strands of the truth are taken to weave a tale that is not quite true--though a lot more sensational.

The Prophet, for example, appears as a just and fair leader, although Jones alludes to the idea that he might have been marginally corrupted by power. His kind treatment of women shines through and even though it's not a glowing portrayal, neither is it at all fair to liken Jones' representation of him to the Danish cartoons.

But the poison here is Jones portraying him as a man who, to put it bluntly, was sex-obsessed, looking at women as if they were "a bowl of honey" with "nostrils flared," and "no duty in his lust filled gaze." He marries complete babes because he desires them--and oh, they also happen to be political alliances. Not the other way around. The Egyptian women arrive in belly-dancing suits, and with their eunuchs. Oh, and did I mention the catfights? And that One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is one of Jones' sources? `Nuf said.

(Though again, to be fair, there are no sex scenes. With all the fuss, I was expecting pages and pages of heaving bosoms. Elhamdulelah there wasn't).

Lady `Aisha is the heroine of the novel. However, she is portrayed as an impulsive, petty, solipsistic, flighty, irrational, irresponsible, vindictive liar who breaks her promises and only wants the glory of the battlefield. And those were only some adjectives I jotted down while reading.

The author is a 21st century western woman, and it filters through. Lady `Aisha enjoys her "last day of freedom" before her arranged marriage, "a fate chosen by others, as though I were a sheep or a goat fatted for this day," and hates the "ridiculous inventions such as purdah and hatun and durra [second wife] and their traditions of male superiority that made chattel of women."

When she hears the verse about hijab, or veiling, "words I could have lived the rest of my life without hearing," she says the prophet might as well have "buried [us] alive" or "put blinders on us." Seclusion to her, which Jones has her endure since the age of six, was living within the "dark, cold walls of a tomb."

It seems as though Jones cannot quite manage to divorce herself from western mentality and put herself in the shoes of a woman who lived in a very different time and place. She almost forces Lady `Aisha into being a feminist, with the criteria being (of course) that she believes veiling is oppressive, women are treated badly, she doesn't need or want male protection, etc., etc.

"If I were a man, I'd be riding through the desert now. No one would lock me away or call me "parrot" or judge my worth by the number of children I had. I'd be in charge of my life as only men could be, with their swords and their horses, their courage and their wits."

Okayyy. But c'mon, a six-year-old dreaming of the freedom to choose her own destiny? And wanting a sword in her hand? Wanting to "charge through the desert, wild and free?" Really?

In the end, the book is not really worth all the hype. What is though, is what comes next.

There's no denying that many Muslims will be offended by the depiction of their sacred figures. I consider myself pretty open minded and tolerant, and yet my gut clenched more than once while reading this book. It's just very very hard for those who aren't Muslim to wrap their heads around the respect Muslims give to their prophet, his companions, and the mothers of the believers.

I interviewed the author and I genuinely believe she had good intentions, and just didn't-quite-get-it. It's a shame Muslims didn't pay more attention to her book before it was published. When I interviewed her, she told me that had she known bowing was not a part of Islamic culture (when Lady `Aisha becomes the hatun, the prophet and his wives bow to her), she would not have included it. She says no Muslim organization would give her the time of day to review her book.

The question is, have Muslims developed thicker skins? Regardless if you believe Jones was well intentioned and just didn't get it or cashing in on the Islamophobic wagon, the truth is she's being given a platform to speak on and has said, more than once, that her intentions were to honor Islam and that she will continue to defend Islam in her public speaking.

So, yeah, I'm sure bombing the home and office of the book's publisher is the way to go about proving to her and the world that Islam is a great and tolerant religion.

The novel will be published and there is nothing Muslims can do to control that. What they can control are their reactions. Random House deciding to self-censor themselves shows that they already believe the worst about Muslims. I'm not suggesting we put up and shut up, but that we answer free speech with free speech.

Muslims, if they get it right, can use the publication of this book as a platform to educate people about the characters who are so much a part of their lives and as a starting point to really teach non-Muslims about the life of `Aisha, who was a woman far more fascinating that Jones was able to portray.

The book, warts and all, does have potential. Jones will have piqued the readers' interests, and instead of letting the wrong facts in the book stand, Muslims can seize the opportunity to teach many who might never have heard about `Aisha and her life about her.

And if they get it wrong, Muslims will end up muddying the image of Islam even more. Is that what Lady `Aisha would have wanted?

(Review for Muslimah Media Watch.org)

3 out of 5 stars

I wanted to love this book...but I didn't. Here's why: October 16, 2008
16 out of 19 found this review helpful

I'm reviewing this novel strictly on its merits as a work of historical fiction. I'm not reviewing the author's intentions, or her courage, or Random House's lack of grace under pressure, or anything other than the book. Which is why I give it three stars: it's really no more than a midlist novel, which without a raging controversy to fuel sales would not have made much of a ripple. I had looked forward to reading this novel and really hoped for and expected far more from it. THE JEWEL OF MEDINA is cliche-ridden and formless, and the main character is not only a cliche (Red-haired heroine? Check. Girl who fights with a sword? Check. Spitfire with the value system of a 21st century feminist? Check. Important man madly in love with her for no apparent reason? Check.) but such a PITA that by the end of the book I was rooting for Muhammad to slap her into next Tuesday. A'isha has no control over her insanely bad temper, and the entire book seems to go "I lost my temper and insulted everyone. Then I was really sorry and swore I'd do better and begged Muhammad to forgive me." Why Muhammad loves this brat passeth understanding. The A'isha portrayed here is neither an average girl who discovers God has great plans for her nor a brilliant woman of her own time. She learns nothing from the beginning of the book to the end. As to the historical part of this "historical novel" - it's full of things from about a thousand years on either side of the date and about a thousand miles around the location of the story. (And the author's constant use of the word "wrapper" to describe a veil drove me nuts. Oh, yes, and I wish she'd never learned the word "consummated".) I also grew extremely tired of the author's mind-boggling overuse of similes. Sometimes, you know, a date palm is just a date palm, and that's all it's like. Let me just sum up by saying that by the time, on page 197, A'isha decides to become Muhammad's political advisor: "to help the umma, fulfilling my promise to al-Lah with my intelligence instead of my sword" all I could think was "Well, then I give Islam and the umma about two weeks tops!"

5 out of 5 stars

Jewel of Medina is excellent October 6, 2008
15 out of 22 found this review helpful

I have just read the Jewel of Medina and it is an inspiring, well written adventure that brings the early days of the Muslim religion to life. This is my first exposure to the Muslim culture and it is a very positive experience. Muhammad, A'isha and Ali become real people expressing honest human emotions and a genuine desire for creating a religion of peace, understanding and equality. This is such a relief from their minimalist image portrayed by today's Muslim extremists. The Jewel of Medina held my attention from the opening prologue and never faltered. It is fast paced, complex, emotional and even lighthearted as Muhammad, A'isha and Ali each evolve into powerful leaders for their faith. Read the Jewel of Medina for entertainment, understanding and compassion.Jewel of Medina

5 out of 5 stars

Opens hearts and minds October 7, 2008
15 out of 22 found this review helpful

The Jewel of Medina brings the reader into a relatively unknown world of 7th Century Saudi Arabia and brings to life the events surrounding the beginning of Islam. The novel seems very respectful of Muhammad to me while at the same time focusing on the lives of his wives, especially A'isha. It seems shocking to us today to realize that she married him when she was only nine as we forget that in the past commonly betrothals took place at birth and marriages even among nobility were made in childhood or early teens. Jewish girls in the time of Jesus were betrothed by 12 and married at 13. I liked the inside peek at lives of these secluded women in the same way that The Red Tent gave us a glimpse of the private lives of Jewish women. I am sure the book will provoke thoughtful discussion and some disagreement about what it might really have been like to live in the past. I do think those of the west and Middle East, Christians and Muslims can come to understand and respect one another more from such interactions as we learn about differing points of view. Each of the wives is brought to life and the penury and hardship of a life amidst great turmoil as the idea of one God is taught to the Arab tribesmen. I hope there comes a time when A'isha's name no longer is a curse to anyone.

4 out of 5 stars

A'isha is an unforgettable character! October 7, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

This book is an exciting page turner that tells a wonderful and compelling story about the beginning and maturation of the relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and his favorite wife A'isha. Through that story we get not only to see A'isha's character grow and mature, but we also learn something of the struggle of Muhammad and his followers to practice their faith, and worship their God as they wished. In the hands of author Sherry Jones, A'isha is shown as a remarkable and irresistible character. How A'isha learns to deal with these obstacles, how she learns to live as one of several wives of the prophet, and how the experiences contribute to her growth and strength as a woman constitutes the central conflict in the story, and its resolution is truly beautiful. The Jewel of Medina is historical fiction in the best sense of the genre. Jones' writing style is a pleasure, always inviting us deeper into the story, often soaring, and is always a veritable feast of metaphors! It is, of course, written with modern sensibilities, and the author takes full advantage of artistic license to create vibrant and living characters from historic personages about whom little in the way of everyday detail is known. If "text book" history is sometimes modified to suit the dramatic requirements of giving us a forceful narrative, the story is accurately anchored in history at all the key points, and thus gives us non Muslims a glimpse into the very human side of Islam and its founding prophet, and and particularly of his plucky and adventurous favorite "jewel" of a wife A'isha.

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