Asra Nomani wrote a piece on Wednesday for the Wall Street Journal titled You Still Can’t Write About Muhhamed. She writes:
When Random House bought her novel last year in a $100,000, two-book deal, [Sherry Jones] was ecstatic. This past spring, she began plans for an eight-city book tour after the Aug. 12 publication date of “The Jewel of Medina” — a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet’s harem.
It’s not going to happen: In May, Random House abruptly called off publication of the book. The series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world.
Ms. Nomani describes in some detail how Random House sent a galley to a professor of Islamic history, who then passed it on to a Muslim group to warn them. Random House then backed down, fearing a “Salman Rushdie effect” would become too dangerous for them and the author.
RH may be correct. However, it is a sad commentary on their lack of courage and their willingness to be cowed by threats, implied or direct, from the Muslim community flexing its political muscle. It also offers an interesting insight into the state of Islamic leadership in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars Congress from restricting freedom of speech (is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, she who won’t even let bills she doesn’t like be debated on the floor, listening?), and the Supreme Court has extended that prohibition to all branches of the federal govenment (via the 14th Amendment). But, of course, this action by RH is not a First Amendment issue since it does not involve any branch or department of government.Ms. Nomani adds in her concluding paragraph:
All this saddens me. Literature moves civilizations forward, and Islam is no exception.
Indeed.
As a publisher, I have to defend RH’s right to decide not to publish a book for whatever reasons. But that doesn’t mean I am not very disappointed in them. I wonder if they would have been so quick to cancel publication of a book attacking Christianity and Christ Jesus. Oh wait, that’s right, Christians never threaten to kill people who offend them or their religion…
But did RH censor Ms. Jones? Of course not. Nobody told her she couldn’t write whatever she wanted or even whether she could publish it. Only that they would not publish it. She’s free to market it elsewhere or self-publish it. Freedom of speech does not guarantee anyone a publishing platform or a reading audience.
