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A Book Too Hot Off The Presses
Washington Post ^ | August 21, 2008 | Michelle Boorstein

Posted on 08/23/2008 6:41:21 PM PDT by Lorianne

Random House Feared Radical Muslim Backlash ___ Once upon a time, Sherry Jones was a Montana newspaper reporter who dreamed she could contribute to world peace with a novel about the prophet Muhammad and his feminist leanings. Then she wrote it. Today? She's the target of a Serbian mufti and a Middle Eastern studies professor with a lawyer.

Life has been a roller coaster lately for Jones, 46, who went from being a Book-of-the-Month Club pick to seeing her novel dropped by Random House, which said in a statement it had received "cautionary advice" that the fictionalized story of one of Muhammad's wives might "incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

A Random House spokeswoman said she could not think of any other time the company had canceled a book because of such fears.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: islamofascism; jihadinamerica; radicalislam; randomhouse

1 posted on 08/23/2008 6:41:21 PM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

I thought liberals said that we haven’t had any attacks on our soil because there were no radicals in our country, not because President Bush had anything to do with it?

Publish it and let’s see.


2 posted on 08/23/2008 6:44:55 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
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To: Lorianne

Creeping dhimmitude is rampant, and there seems to be no refuge from it. THE U. S. CONSTITUTION IS NOT SELF-ENFORCING.


3 posted on 08/23/2008 6:46:30 PM PDT by Elsiejay
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To: Lorianne

Sherry Jones Never Expected a Fatwa

When Sherry Jones told her publishers at Ballantine that they should send a copy of her novel about the life of one of Muhammad’s wives, The Jewel of Medina, to Islamic studies scholar Denise Spellberg, she never anticipated that Random House, Ballantine’s corporate parent, would decide they were afraid to publish the novel after all. Instead of giving Ballantine a nice blurb, Spellberg called her own editor at Knopf and told her putting the book out was tantamount to “a declaration of war” against Islam and would probably lead to terrorist attacks on Broadway—and that was enough to put Random off the idea altogether.

http://tinyurl.com/64zazm


4 posted on 08/23/2008 6:50:26 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Lorianne

She should make it a free e-book, if she truly doesnt fear Islam.


5 posted on 08/23/2008 6:50:50 PM PDT by ThisLittleLightofMine
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To: Lorianne

Prologue from The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones

http://tinyurl.com/5zp9c9


6 posted on 08/23/2008 6:53:19 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Lorianne
The following is adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat:

Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components. Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called ‘religious rights'.

When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to ‘the reasonable’ Muslim demands for their ‘religious rights,’ they also get the other components under the table. Here’s how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007)).

As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:

Nation % Muslim
United States 1.0%
Australia 1.5%
Italy 1.5%
Norway 1.8%
Canada 1.9%
China 2.0%



At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:

Nation % Muslim
Denmark 2.0%
United Kingdom 2.7%
Germany 3.7%
Spain 4.0%
Thailand 4.6%



From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. (United States).

Nation % Muslim
Switzerland 4.3%
Philippines 5.0%
Sweden 5.0%
The Netherlands 5.5%
Trinida and Tabago 5.8%
France 8.0%



At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world. When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions (Paris –car-burnings). Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats (Amsterdam - Mohammed cartoons).

Nation % Muslim
Guyana 10.0%
India 13.4%
Israel 16.0%
Kenya 10.0%
Russia 15.0%



After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:

Nation % Muslim
Ethiopia 32.8%



At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:

Nation % Muslim
Bosnia 40.0%
Chad 50.1%
Lebanon 59.7%



From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:

Nation % Muslim
Albania 70.0%
Malaysia 60.4%
Qatar 77.5%
Sudan 70.0%



After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:

Nation % Muslim
Bangladesh 83.0%
Egypt 90.0%
Gaza 98.7%
Indonesia 86.1%
Iran 98.0%
Iraq 97.0%
Jordan 92.0%
Morocco 98.7%
Pakistan 97.0%
Syria 90.0%
Tajikistan 90.0%
Turkey 99.8%
United Arab Emirates 96.0%



100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace — there’s supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim:

Nation % Muslim
Yemen 99.9%
Afghanistan 100.0%
Saudi Arabia 100.0%
Somalia 100.0%




Of course, that’s not the case. To satisfy their blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons.

"Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world and all of us against the infidel."

– Leon Uris, ‘The Haj’.


It is good to remember that in many, many countries, such as France, the Muslim populations are centered around ghettos based on their ethnicity. Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. Therefore, they exercise more power than their national average would indicate.


7 posted on 08/23/2008 7:05:52 PM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: Lorianne

Muslim backlash! This evil cult needs to be crushed. There is only one thing that these rag headed bastards understand and that is brute force. The same level of brute force that their all mighty Mohamad used when he raped his 9 year old “wife” must be used against them.


8 posted on 08/23/2008 7:07:12 PM PDT by WellyP
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To: Lorianne

Why not post it on the intenet and ask for a donation?


9 posted on 08/23/2008 7:16:48 PM PDT by IllumiNaughtyByNature (Don't go chasing waterfalls.....na na na na nana na na na na nana....gets stuck in your head, huh?)
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To: Lorianne
Sherry Jones was a Montana newspaper reporter who dreamed she could contribute to world peace with a novel about the prophet Muhammad and his feminist leanings

WTH, feminist leanings??? The feminist leanings where he buries women up to their waist, covers their head with a sack and has fellow muslims throw rocks that are "not too large to kill her immediately nor to small to hurt her"? Or the feminist leanings where her husband can proclaim "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you" and leave her to the wolves? What an utter crock of crap.

10 posted on 08/23/2008 7:18:41 PM PDT by theymakemesick (The war on drugs benefits government agencies, politicians and drug dealers, they don't want to win.)
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To: Lorianne

Christians are the target of critical books all the time. Apparently, if you want to be powerful in this World, your religion has to threaten murder and mayhem.


11 posted on 08/23/2008 7:50:31 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Boycott Washington D.C. until they allow gun ownership)
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To: All
A newspaper in the Islamic Republic of Iran published a malicious article about Michael Savage.

I do not know if there is a connection but at about the same time Savage dropped his suit again CAIR saying, among other things, that he and his family were receiving threats.

Earlier a court ruled that his suit claiming copyright violations could not proceed but the economic harm -- and I believe RICO portion -- could be resubmitted. But he's decided to drop it altogether.

(Yes, I know of the hatred of Savage -- gloat if you must. I even agree that he's brought a large part of the problems with all other talk show hosts upon himself by his antics. He is however one of the few if not the only talk show host with the guts to go after radical Islamists.)

12 posted on 08/23/2008 7:58:50 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: ConservativeMind; Fred Nerks
Publish it and let’s see.>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I guess that Random House has succumbed to dhimmitude.

I thought that we had a liberal movement of non censorship in this country. Where is the ACLU? The horror, the horror!

This is how Islamofascism works, its first phase of cultural conquest.Why should the mores of a foreign culture be imposed in fascist style on literate Americans who do not share that culture?

Yes by all means publish this book. I will subscribe for it even before it is published!

**********************************************

Sherry Jones"The Jewel of Medina"

Photobucket

*************************************************

Friday, Aug 08

Sherry Jones Never Expected a Fatwa

When Sherry Jones told her publishers at Ballantine that they should send a copy of her novel about the life of one of Muhammad's wives, The Jewel of Medina, to Islamic studies scholar Denise Spellberg, she never anticipated that Random House, Ballantine's corporate parent, would decide they were afraid to publish the novel after all. Instead of giving Ballantine a nice blurb, Spellberg called her own editor at Knopf and told her putting the book out was tantamount to "a declaration of war" against Islam and would probably lead to terrorist attacks on Broadway—and that was enough to put Random off the idea altogether.

"Ballantine was hoping to show reviewers that the novel wasn't just fluffy historical romance," Jones said during a phone interview yesterday afternoon; an endorsement from Spellberg, the author of Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of 'A'isha Bint Abi Bakr, would have stood out on the tear sheet as an imprimatur of intellectual credibility. "Spellberg's book was one of the first I read when I wanted to learn more about A'isha," Jones recalled, and she was stunned when she found out about Spellberg's hostile reaction. At first, although confused, Jones tried to be understanding of Spellberg's inner motives, whatever they might be, "but now that's she calling it 'soft core pornography,'" she said with a slight laugh, "I really don't feel that nice anymore."

What's the book really like? You can read the prologue for yourself, since Jones provided Smart Bitches, Trashy Books with a copy. "I haven't been thumbing my nose at Islam," Jones stressed to me. "There's nothing in my book that doesn't exist in nonfiction, except for a few instances of literary license which are of no great significance."

Jones also clarified to me that while Spellberg told Shahed Amanullah she wanted to "warn Muslims" about the book, Jones was the person who told Random House about the online discussion that resulted when an email from Amanullah was posted on a Shiite community website—because she thought it was an indication of how unlikely it was that her novel would incite violence. "I was impressed by the discussion there," she said. "Nobody was saying it was time for a fatwa... It didn't feel violent to me; it felt like the response I might have expected." Still, she insisted, "I was never angry about their decision. I can imagine how easy it is to push that fear button in New York... [and] they're a private corporation; they can do whatever they want."

(Amanullah, meanwhile, posted an article on his altmuslim.com website yesterday arguing that actions like Random House's are a symptom of "the stagnation and increased misunderstanding that comes from a stifled discourse.")

So where do things go from here? Now that the rights to The Jewel of Medina and its sequel have reverted back to Jones, she and her agent, Natasha Kern, are planning to resubmit them to other publishers. Given that there was at least one serious offer on the table when Ballantine made its original pre-empt bid, and Jones says Kern was prepared to take the novels to auction, it's entirely possible she'll find another publisher—except that now she's lost the eight-month headstart she had on Kamran Pasha's Mother of the Believers, another novel about A'isha which Atria Books confirmed is still on its schedule for an April 2009 release: "We have no intention to change our publishing plans," runs an official statement received yesterday afternoon, "and we think readers will find Kamran Pasha's book to be a compelling work of historical fiction that with great respect and sensitivity portrays an empowered Muslim woman who helped usher Islam into the world."

Which is exactly how Jones feels about the situation. "I'm just so passionate about her and about telling her tale," she said (and isn't worried about Pasha's novel: "the more A'ishas, the better"). "She's one of the most influential women in history, and so little is known about her in the Western world. I really believe she represents the potential in all women." She has even, she said, drawn inspiration from A'isha's courage during these past months. Now, she added, she's hopeful that this controversy means "a better chance that the book will be read by more people."

13 posted on 08/23/2008 9:07:57 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (Ridicule Obama))
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To: Lorianne

Good Grief. How stupid can a feminist be. Well apparently very.


14 posted on 08/23/2008 9:14:03 PM PDT by therut
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To: Candor7
"She's one of the most influential women in history, and so little is known about her in the Western world. I really believe she represents the potential in all women." She has even, she said, drawn inspiration from A'isha's courage during these past months. Now, she added, she's hopeful that this controversy means "a better chance that the book will be read by more people."

and there's the rub - it's the women in islam that hold the key...the clerics know if muslim women begin to question their position of subjugation to muslim men, islam is finished.

15 posted on 08/23/2008 9:43:41 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: Fred Nerks
I adore strong women who are confident in their biological beings as women. Lets hope that those behind the veil have a way to overthrow the oppression of centuries and move Islam into the modern era.

This book is but a beginning. It also needs translation into Arabic, and needs to be air dropped over the ME by the millions of copies.That would be the bomb.

16 posted on 08/24/2008 5:38:44 AM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (Ridicule Obama))
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