Mohammed Novel: Academic Faces Calls to Apologise Over ‘Pornographic’ Remarks [incl. Denise Spellberg]

An academic who said a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed amounted to “softcore pornography” is facing calls to apologise after the home of the book’s publisher was firebombed.

Martin Rynja, whose Gibson Square publishing house will release The Jewel of Medina in the UK next month, is in hiding and under police protection after the attack on his home by suspected Islamic extremists.

The book he is publishing is by American author Sherry Jones and focuses on Mohammed’s relationship with his young bride Aisha.

It was dropped from publication in the United States by Random House earlier this year after warnings of violent reprisals.

Controversy over the book has been stoked following comments made in the US media by Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and an expert on the life of Aisha.

The professor was originally approached by Random House for a comment or “blurb” to put on the cover of the book but she was apparently appalled by it.

She was then quoted as saying that it took “sacred history” and turned it into “softcore pornography” and that the novel constituted a “declaration of war” and “a national security issue”.

Author Miss Jones has now called on Professor Spellberg to retract her comments, saying they are “unfair” and “slanderous”.

Miss Jones said: “She used the most inflammatory language she could possibly have used. If you want to incite heated emotions from any religious group you just use the word ‘pornography’ in the same sentence as their revered figures.

“She ought to take back her words because it is in no way an accurate description of my book. There are no sex scenes in it.

“I have not dishonoured the Prophet. I wrote it with the intention of honouring him.”

The home of Mr Rynja, 44, in Islington, north London, which doubles as the office of his publishing house, was attacked in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He was not there at the time and three men were arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences.

Professor Spellberg teaches courses including the history of the Middle East and Gender in Islamic History and has a PhD from Columbia University.

Her published works include an academic study of Aisha’s life called Politics, Gender and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of Aisha bint Abi Bakr.

She is currently on leave and could not be reached but she defended her position on The Jewel of Medina in a letter to the Wall Street Journal last month.

The professor said she did not espouse censorship of any kind but believed Miss Jones’ novel gave a false representation of Aisha’s life.

She said: “I felt it my duty to warn the press of the novel’s potential to provoke anger among some Muslims.

“The combination of sex and violence sells novels. When combined with falsification of the Islamic past, it exploits Americans who know nothing about Aisha or her seventh century world and counts on stirring up controversy to increase sales.”

The novel tells of Aisha’s marriage to Mohammed at the age of nine and, most controversially, includes a fictional description of the night the couple consummated their marriage.

The radical London-based cleric Anjem Choudhary has called the book an insult to the Prophet’s honour, something he said would warrant a “death penalty” under Sharia law.

Miss Jones’ agent Natasha Kern said publication of the novel would go ahead in the UK in two weeks.

She claimed Professor Spellberg’s comments had been “the match that lit this conflagration”.

Ms Kern added: “I think she should come out and apologise to Martin Rynja, because he’s been endangered precisely because of what she said.”

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