Random House pulls novel on Islam, fears violence

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Publisher Random House has pulled a novel about the Prophet Mohammed's child bride, fearing it could "incite acts of violence."

"The Jewel of Medina," a debut novel by journalist Sherry Jones, 46, was due to be published on August 12 by Random House, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, and an eight-city publicity tour had been scheduled, Jones told Reuters on Thursday.

The novel traces the life of A'isha from her engagement to Mohammed, when she was six, until the prophet's death. Jones said that she was shocked to learn in May, that publication would be postponed indefinitely.

"I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed ... I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder," said Jones.

Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry said in a statement the company received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

"In this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel," Perry said.

Jones, who has just completed a sequel to the novel examining her heroine's later life, is free to sell her book to other publishers, Perry said.

The decision has sparked controversy on Internet blogs and in academic circles. Some compared the controversy to previous cases where portrayals of Islam were met with violence.

http://www.reuters.com/article.../idUSN0736008820080807

 

[PokerGuy]

Of course Random House is a private business, they can decide to publish what they want and not publish what they don't, but this is the kind of thing that illusrtrates how we're allowing nutcases to destroy our freedoms.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: PokerGuy
Of course Random House is a private business, they can decide to publish what they want and not publish what they don't, but this is the kind of thing that illusrtrates how we're allowing nutcases to destroy our freedoms.

I hope these kinds of actions don't set precedents. It's easy to hide in a crowd but if more companies do things like this, those that don't will be increasingly likely to be targetted and it becomes a snowball effect until the only thing about islam published is the koran.

 

[idiotekniQues]

random house made the wrong call here.

 

[Atreus21]

You know, I'm slow to realize it, but it just occurred to me if there'd been a DaVinci Code regarding Islam, I think we'd all be dead by now.

Ludicrous.

 

[Dari]

The world isn't perfect. Everyone isn't equal. If you write about somebody's religion and you KNOW they don't like their religion being protrayed in certain manners, be ready for the blowback. Some companies don't want to pay for that blowback. After all, a company exists to make money, not exercising its American freedom of speech.

There's something call respect and people need to understand it.

 

[Atreus21]

Originally posted by: Dari
The world isn't perfect. Everyone isn't equal. If you write about somebody's religion and you KNOW they don't like their religion being protrayed in certain manners, be ready for the blowback. Some companies don't want to pay for that blowback. After all, a company exists to make money, not exercising its American freedom of speech.

There's something call respect and people need to understand it.

I agree.

And anyway, I don't think American muslims would riot. This is a culture issue.

But on the other hand, I can't help but notice that it's not out of respect that this company didn't publish this, but out of fear.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: Atreus21

Originally posted by: Dari
The world isn't perfect. Everyone isn't equal. If you write about somebody's religion and you KNOW they don't like their religion being protrayed in certain manners, be ready for the blowback. Some companies don't want to pay for that blowback. After all, a company exists to make money, not exercising its American freedom of speech.

There's something call respect and people need to understand it.

I agree.

And anyway, I don't think American muslims would riot. This is a culture issue.

But on the other hand, I can't help but notice that it's not out of respect that this company didn't publish this, but out of fear.

Of course it's fear. They've seen what happens when you piss off Muslims. Can you imagine being the CEO or author of this book and having to go into hiding because of this? There will continue to be people that will push the boundary of what is acceptable to muslims, but the individual price is quite high.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: Atreus21

Originally posted by: Dari
The world isn't perfect. Everyone isn't equal. If you write about somebody's religion and you KNOW they don't like their religion being protrayed in certain manners, be ready for the blowback. Some companies don't want to pay for that blowback. After all, a company exists to make money, not exercising its American freedom of speech.

There's something call respect and people need to understand it.

I agree.

And anyway, I don't think American muslims would riot. This is a culture issue.

But on the other hand, I can't help but notice that it's not out of respect that this company didn't publish this, but out of fear.

Of course it's fear. They've seen what happens when you piss off Muslims. Can you imagine being the CEO or author of this book and having to go into hiding because of this? There will continue to be people that will push the boundary of what is acceptable to muslims, but the individual price is quite high.

From reading the following quote, I don't think the intent of the author was to offend Muslims. Personally, if I were an author, I would avoid creating any works that had Muslim characters in them for fear of accidentally offending them.

"I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed ... I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder," said Jones.

Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry said in a statement the company received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

 

[BassBomb]

Man.. My religion is PURE JOKES

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: StormRider

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: Atreus21

Originally posted by: Dari
The world isn't perfect. Everyone isn't equal. If you write about somebody's religion and you KNOW they don't like their religion being protrayed in certain manners, be ready for the blowback. Some companies don't want to pay for that blowback. After all, a company exists to make money, not exercising its American freedom of speech.

There's something call respect and people need to understand it.

I agree.

And anyway, I don't think American muslims would riot. This is a culture issue.

But on the other hand, I can't help but notice that it's not out of respect that this company didn't publish this, but out of fear.

Of course it's fear. They've seen what happens when you piss off Muslims. Can you imagine being the CEO or author of this book and having to go into hiding because of this? There will continue to be people that will push the boundary of what is acceptable to muslims, but the individual price is quite high.

From reading the following quote, I don't think the intent of the author was to offend Muslims. Personally, if I were an author, I would avoid creating any works that had Muslim characters in them for fear of accidentally offending them.

"I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed ... I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder," said Jones.

Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry said in a statement the company received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

Perception. Even if she wrote that the Prophet was a saint and great in bed, I don't think Muslims want to hear about that.

 

[PokerGuy]

So isn't it absolutely absurd now that authors and publishers in the US can't use their freedom of expression for fear of what these fanatics might do?

 

[Theb]

This is an excellent publicity boost, if she can find another publisher.

 

[MagicConch]

If she had written about Buddha, Jesus, Shiva, the Báb (Bahai), Solomon, Moses, Arjan Dev (Sikh) etc., I bet they would have published it.

 

[Moonbeam]

When absolutists are challenged they feel threatened and people who feel threatened are dangerous. Absolutism is under assault all over the world. Every person growing up today practically, is exposed to the fact that there are millions of only truths. This leads inevitably to the suspicion that one or two of them might be wrong and so on. A mighty wave is coming and the past will be washed away.

 

[her209]

Almost as stupid as renaming anything with the word "French" to "Freedom".

 

[jpeyton]

The terrorists won when we started having to throw away perfume bottles at airport security checkpoints.

 

[jonks]

Their business, their right to make cowardly decisions.

But we have to draw the line somewhere. If this were, say, a textbook for an Eastern Studies class and the publisher decided not to publish, or if a high school world culture book were to cut a chapter on Mohammad for fear of "insulting", well then we'd need to do something a little more serious.

There doesn't seem to be any intent by the author to be disrespectful or inflamatory, so claiming this was a move calculated to be "respectful" to muslims is just a cowardly explanation for a cowardly decision.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Atreus21
You know, I'm slow to realize it, but it just occurred to me if there'd been a DaVinci Code regarding Islam, I think we'd all be dead by now.

Ludicrous.

Rushdie's still with us.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: jonks

Originally posted by: Atreus21
You know, I'm slow to realize it, but it just occurred to me if there'd been a DaVinci Code regarding Islam, I think we'd all be dead by now.

Ludicrous.

Rushdie's still with us.

Does Britain still supply bodyguards for him?

 

[jonks]

dp

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: jonks

Originally posted by: Atreus21
You know, I'm slow to realize it, but it just occurred to me if there'd been a DaVinci Code regarding Islam, I think we'd all be dead by now.

Ludicrous.

Rushdie's still with us.

Does Britain still supply bodyguards for him?

If the muslims can't kill one man who was the author of a heathen text, I think the rest of us are gonna make it. Well most of us.

 

[Rakewell]

It is 'ludicrous'.

The Muslim community has a history of picking one offensive topic over another to protest.

Anyone here find it odd that the Danish cartoons a year or two ago were protested all over the middle east, yet Mohammed (Along with Jesus and other Religious Deities) was part of the 'Super Friends' on an episode of SOUTH PARK?

Where was the protest then?