Customer Reviews

The Jewel of Medina

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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 cliché-ridden and formless, and the main character is not only a cliché (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!"

The Quick Synopsis:
The Jewel of Medina is a historical fiction novel about A'isha bint Abu Bakr, one of the Prophet Muhammad's numerous wives and, according to Muslim history, his favorite. The story is told in first person and covers A'isha's life from childhood to young adulthood (she was 18 years old when Muhammad died.)

The Tempest in a Teapot:
Much controversy has surrounded this debut novel from Sherry Jones. It was originally picked up by Random House in a two-book, $100,000 deal in 2007. Prior to scheduled publication in August of 2008, galleys were sent out and a subsequent firestorm erupted when a University of Texas Professor by the name of Denise Spellberg decided to warn Random House that the book could incite violence from radical Muslim groups, calling the book "an ugly, stupid piece of work" and "soft-core pornography."

Random House dropped the book like a hot potato. Some people screamed "censorship!". Others screamed "heresy!". The publishing world was in an uproar. Enter British publisher Gibson Square, who picked up the rights and published the book. A short time later, Gibson Square headquarters were set on fire in an apparently related arson case.

Long story short, Beaufort Books, a small American publishing house who apparently knows a cash-cow when they see one, picked up the rights here in the U.S. and that's how it ended up in my reading pile.

The Literary Criticism
While I wouldn't go so far as to call it "an ugly, stupid piece of work," as Ms. Spellberg did, it's not going to be winning any literary awards in the near future. I found the novel to be something of a missed opportunity. Jones writes the novel from A'isha's viewpoint, but rather than exploring the thoughts and actions of a 7th-century Middle Eastern girl caught up in the birth of a major new faith that will change the course of history, she instead gives us a fluffy historical romance novel.

Now there's nothing wrong with a good romance novel, in my elevated opinion. (The Thornbirds, anyone?) Unfortunately, The Jewel of Medina doesn't even make a good romance novel. Jones tries to use the ol' tried-n-true romance formula:

1. Girl yearns for freedom to be an independant, free spirit who transcends the gender limitations of her era.
2. Somewhere along the way she falls in love with the perfect man.
3. They clash.
4. They overcome the obstacle.
5. They live Happily Ever After.

The reason this formula works in a historical romance novel is because modern-day women identify with the protagonists goals, which are quite attainable in the 21st-century. But it is a formula and an overused one, at that.

The problem with this formula in The Jewel of Medina is that A'isha was but six years old when Muhammad asked for her hand in marriage and only nine years old when the marriage was consummated. By modern day standards this would be considered the rape of a child. Jones tries to gloss over this by delaying consummation of the marriage until A'isha is a teenager and at the same time presenting A'isha as much more mature than a child could possibly be. She is given thoughts and dialogue more consistent with a much older girl. Except she plays with toy horses. Alot. With Muhammad (which only makes him look creepier. I can see why this might offend some people.)

Jones never seems to reconcile exactly how she wants to paint the Prophet Muhammad. She seems to go out of her way to emphasize his compassion and enlightened (at least by 7th-century standards) views of women. Yet when it comes to his acquisition of wives, which was common for the time, she ends up giving us a lecherous old man. Perhaps a dichotomy was intended, but it only reads as inconsistency instead.

Similes abound and are so heavy that they sometimes illicit an unintended chuckle:

"That evening I stepped into the courtyard to see the moon. It dangled like an ornament from the bejeweled sky, dipped in gold and looming so close it beckoned my fingers to reach out and pluck it."

Dialogue doesn't fare much better. The act of sex is continually referred to as the "scorpion's sting." Ouch. I'll leave it at that.

I fully believe that Jones holds A'isha and the Prophet in the highest regard. She clearly had the best of intentions with this novel. But we all know what the road to heck is paved with, don't we? I was looking forward to a novel full of insight into the birth of Islam and the role the Prophet's wives played. I was looking for a glimpse into the mind and life of a Middle Eastern woman in 7th-century Saudi Arabia. I was looking for...something different than what I got, I suppose.

And for those Muslims who were so worried that us Westerners would believe such things about Muhammad? Give us a little credit, please.

The Recommendation:
If you want to weigh in on the controversy by all means go ahead and buy the book, just don't have high expectations for an enlightening, engaging read. Better yet, go buy a copy of The Thorn Birds.

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)

Sherry Jones misses an opportunity to both entertain and inform her readers about a historic period that is essential information for any modern reader intent on coming to some understanding of the Muslim religion.

For a story in which the protagonist begins her tale as a pre-pubescent female forced into marriage with a much older man, the book develops little empathy for or understanding of A'isha's plight. She starts out as a plucky, but spoiled, little girl with a pretend sword in her hand and ends, disappointingly for the reader, with the realization that she has developed little more than that same quality decades later. No authentic inner struggle or transformation occurs.

Similarly, any reader expecting to discover some insight into Islam or its self-proclaimed prophet, will come away dissatisfied. While some effort at basic research by the author is evident, very little of the story echos with verisimilitude, an essential component of any quasi-historical work.

Before beginning to scribble her manuscript notes Jones would have been better served by taking a few months hiatus, traveling to a Muslim country, and becoming somewhat infused with the essence of such a society.

As an attempt at a feminist adaptation of the bodice-ripper genre, Jewel of Medina never develops the basic points of a political tract. Despite attempting to bring a new perspective to the problems of women living under the strictures of sharia law, Sherry Jones leaves the reader wondering at the paper-cut-out creations of her historical cast, her travel guide descriptions of the settings and a visceral lack of enthusiasm for her protagonist or her problems. The subject and scope of the story demand a better effort.

Read an excerpt. See if you can't tell how bad a 10-quart tub of chili is by tasting just a tablespoon. The writing is abysmal.

My heart smashed against itself, clamoring to be heard. I struggled with the guard, wanting to scream out a warning to Muhammad. He stood without a weapon and surrounded by assassins, unaware of danger.
"Yaa, Muhammad, beware!" Hafsa ran into the courtyard with Umar and Talha, who brandished swords. Seeing them, the guard released me and rushed towards Alia, waving his own sword. Nu'man was nowhere to be seen.
"Muhammad, watch out! I cried. "They're assassins!" But no one heard me.
"I didn't mean it," Alia cried. "Your other wives told me to say it. They said you would like it, those she-dogs! Please do not send me back home. I will do anything!"

Overlooking the painfully incomprehensible and visually-challenged metaphor in the first sentence, the prose style rivals the worst possible trash fiction. Considering how popular Dan Brown, another purveyor of dumpster prose, has become, one wonders why the same illiterate crowd isn't storming the city walls for a copy of Jones' work. Change the name of Muhammad to Billy-Bob and the setting to a race track where several people have been caught by security sneaking in without tickets, and you have the same scene. "She-dogs." Wow. I really feel like I'm transported to another world.

This book isn't an offense to Muslims (unless Muslims believe in literary elegance more than they believe in Danish cartoons). It is an offense to anyone who can tell the difference between John Updike and Stephen King. I think Jones tried to produce a controversial book that would profit from the knee-jerk reaction we have all come to know and loathe from the Islamic world, and she ended up with the most horrifically bad spate of hackneyed prose since The Bridges of Madison County.

Seriously. The Muslim world flipped its collective lid over a few childish and self-evidently innocuous cartoons, so Jones sets out to write a torpid romance novel involving a NINE-YEAR OLD BRIDE TO A 35-YEAR OLD FOUNDER OF A WORLD RELIGION!

Shameless sensationalism and exploitation of controversy. That's all this piece of bilge is.

If you wish to endure the writing skills of a 13-year old and want to stay clear of controversy, pick up one of the Harlequin Romance NASCAR series and read of buxom Lucy-Ann's torrid affair with Billy-Bob the studly pit crew intern and leave this piece of swill on the shelf. I've no doubt the experience would be just the same.

I consider myself a liberal Muslim and picked up this book when I read the insert proclaiming "... extensively researched and elegantly crafted..". I had thought that this would be an interesting fictionalization of historic events that would have been researched well by an author who is supposed to be a professional journalist. I was surprised and disappointed to find that this novel is just a trashy romance hiding under the guise of historical fiction. Every chapter, in fact, almost every page has some sort of sexual tidbit to titillate the reader. The author seems to have spent 1 or 2 days researching islam, probably gathered the juiciest bits of scandal and speculation from the early days of islam and published the book hoping that the ensuing controversy and inevitable condemnation by muslims would lift sales to stratospheric levels. From the other posted reviews, it appears that this hope is not going to come true.

There is so much material and stuff to write about from the early days of Islam but the author completely wasted the opportunity. The protagonist and almost every one else in the book seems to have sex on their minds at all times. Every thing else is secondary. Contrary to what the cover and inserts say, there is hardly any history, no real exploration of feminism in early Islam, and hardly any politics to speak of except the politics of "sex". What is even more amazing is that the author managed to get glowing reviews on the back, one of which proclaims " does an extraordinary service to islam in popularizing - and humanizing - a Muslim heroine" If writing a novel about a sex-obsessed petulant heroine surrounded by sex-starved believers is a service to islam then indeed Islam is well served!

As a moderate Muslim, I was eager to read the Jewel of Medina, hoping it would provide me with insight into the Prophet's domestic life. I was disappointed to see that not only was the story replete with distortion and factual inaccuracies, it seemed like Jones' research, while thorough, was incomplete. That doesn't say much for her credibility as a journalist.

All writers of historical fiction have the privilege of artistic license to enhance their plot, but Jones should have been careful when dealing with the founder and leader of Islam, a religion already under scrutiny around the world. For example, the Prophet received his revelation allowing men to marry a maximum of four times after he had married all his wives, in the fifth year after his migration to Medina. By omitting the timing of this revelation, Jones made our Prophet seem like a man with double standards, a man who didn't practice what he preached. If I didn't know about the revelation, what would I think of the Prophet? Reading this, how will non-Muslims judge him?

Ayesha is one of the three most respected women in Islam. Jones rendered her as a self absorbed, attention seeking and impulsive girl, who's best ideas (the trench around Medina, the attempt to save the Prophet's life etc) were driven only by self-interest and self-promotion, not by the desire to serve Islam.

While I don't doubt Jones' intentions--she portrays the Prophet as a patient, compassionate, wise and peaceful man, most of his wives as wise and patient, and leads readers through Ayesha's journey towards self-discovery--she's given ample fodder to people with Islamophobia.

Read it for its intrigue and sensationalism, not for its reliable depiction of Islam's early years.

Even before its publication, The Jewel of Medina angered some people, made some very nervous, and rallied others who resent being told what they may or may not read. The book's first publisher bailed out on it's deal to publish the novel and its British publisher, after being firebombed, is yet to publish the book. Thankfully, the publication and marketing of this Sherry Jones debut novel in the United States has been accomplished without violence and with little, if any, real protest from those who would like to see Jones silenced.
The Jewel of Medina is not a great novel. But, of course, it is not that simple.

Any fictional account written today about the relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and his nine wives and four concubines, even as sympathetic an account as this one, will be controversial. But, more particularly, The Jewel of Medina is especially prone to controversy since it is told from the point-of-view of Muhammad's "child bride," A'isha bint Abi Bakr, who was betrothed to Muhammad when she was six years old and he was fifty.

A'isha, as portrayed by Jones, is an independent and willful little girl, a free spirit who sees herself as the equal of any male she encounters. She is especially close to one of the little boys, Safwan, she plays with every day and his continuing presence in her life will at times tempt her to break her marriage vows to Muhammad.

A'isha's world changes forever on the day that her mother calls her away from her friends to tell her that she is to immediately begin purdah, confinement to her home, where she will remain until her husband comes to claim her on her wedding day. That is shock enough for a little girl like A'isha, but the even bigger shock is that the future husband to whom she was betrothed at birth, Safwan, is out of the picture. Instead, her husband-to-be is a man even older than her father, the Prohphet Muhammad.

Rebellious, though she might be, A'isha remains confined to the home of her parents for the next three years and, by the time she is nine years old and Muhammad comes for her, she is desperate for a change of scenery despite her fears about what marriage will be like. Much to her relief, the marriage between A'isha and her new husband is not actually consummated until several more years pass and she has matured into womanhood.

Ironically, as imagined by Jones, A'isha eventually becomes much more anxious to consummate the marriage than Muhammad is because of the competition she faces within Muhammad's harem for its leadership role. She realizes that her image as "child bride" is not one to convey the status and respect required for her to assume the role of "Great Lady of the harem." The A'isha of The Jewel of Medina, much like the historical A'isha, grows into a strong woman, very much a Joan of Arc of her times, a woman who becomes a trusted advisor to Muhammad and who leads troops into battle against the enemies of Islam. In fact, although it is not covered in the book, the historical A'isha played a key role in the initial Islamic civil war that produced the split between the Sunni and Shi'ite factions that is still causing problems for the religion today.

The Jewel of Medina is historical fiction, "fiction," being the key word. It is not anti-Islam and, to the contrary, it reads as a very pro-Islam look at the religion and its founder, the Prophet Muhammad. It places the religion's origins into the context of its times, a time when war among different tribes and alliances was more the norm than the exception, when leaders had to literally fight for the survival of their own, a time when polygamous marriages were often entered into as a means of building political alliances.

More importantly, it is a reminder that Muhammad was a human being, something of which he himself often took great pains to remind his followers.

I said earlier that The Jewel of Medina is not a great novel. It's style is a little stilted, especially the dialogue, and that makes it easier to take in doses of a chapter or two at a time rather than in longer stretches. But even though it focuses largely on the relationships between, and internal struggles for dominance, among Muhammad's wives, there is much to learn from the novel. Most readers, in fact, will come away from the book with a better understanding of, and more compassion for, the religion of Islam than with which they began the book.

I, for one, am thankful that the author and publisher had the courage to get this one into my hands. It was not a wasted effort on any of our parts.

The story of the life of Muhammad and the early history of Islam is a fascinating one of which the majority of westerners know little. There is an urgent need for understanding between world cultures; popular literature can potentially well serve this need. Unfortunately Sherry Jones' book does not.

The fundamental problem is that the author has tackled an enormously sensitive subject, and one can only praise her for her courage in doing so, but has tackled it in a wholly inappropriate style, rendering the first years of Muslim history as chick lit. Her protagonist, Aisha, is, with the exception of Ali, the most controversial and divisive figure in Islam, complicit in the early fracture between Sunni and Shia belief and worthy of a serious study. In this book she is portrayed as a whining adolescent.

Whilst in no way supporting the strident calls for the book to be banned I can to some extent understand the criticism - a subject as serious as the book's requires a more serious treatment. (This, of course, did not help Salman Rushdie whose Satanic Verses was erudite, layered and provocative in its treatment of another controversial event in Muslim history.)

Read the book - but follow it up by then reading some of Jones' reference material. This is a great story that deserves to be told - unfortunately Sherry Jones isn't the author to tell it.

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.