Random House Has Pulled a Book from Publishing

The publisher Random House has pulled one of their novels that was about the Prophet Mohammed's child bride, because it could "incite acts of violence," reported Reuters.

The book was called The Jewel of Medina and was Sherry Jones's first novel. It was supposed to be published on August 12 by Random House, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, and she was to go on an eight-city publicity tour, she told Reuters on Thursday.

The novel is about A'isha and tracks her life from her engagement to Mohammed, when she was six, until the death of the prophet. Jones said she was shocked to learn in May that the publication of the book was to be postponed indefinitely. She told Reuters, "I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed .. I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder."

The deputy publisher at Random House, Thomas Perry, said that 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," reported Reuters.

Perry went on to say, "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 that would be involved in the distribution or sale of the novel." He told Reuters that Jones, who just finished a sequel to the book detailing the heroine's later life, is free to sell the book to other publishers.