‘Jewel of Medina’ novelist called naive

I received an e-mail concerning a story that I wrote for today’s editions. It was sent by Spokane reader Andrew Rolwes:

I was astonished to find out that Sherry Jones is a local author.

I have spent two years of my life in the Middle East as an Army officer involved in operations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. I know a few things about the culture and religion of that part of the world and can say without reservation that if Ms. Jones seriously believes that she is not at risk (even if the book is never published, which appears unlikely) she is terribly naive.

Since Salman Rushdie has spoken on behalf of her work, she should contact him and ask him to recount his experiences with his novel “The Satanic Verses.” She will learn that in addition to the Ayatollah’s fatwa and the consequent years he had to spend in hiding, actual bloodshed did occur. His Japanese translator was murdered, and I believe the book’s publishing company for one or more of the Scandinavian countries was threatened so often that they shut down for several week or longer. The nature of those threats being anonymous phone calls where the caller says “I know where your children go to school.”

The bottom line is that the story of Aisha is, along with the story of “The Satanic Verses” (both of which are recounted in the Hadiths), a source of embarrassment to Muslims attempting to advance their ideology in the west. That Ms. Jones has chosen to break this historical episode wide open in a way that is as accessible as a work of popular historical fiction is, in my estimate, highly courageous and also very risky. Theo Van Gogh’s documentary could be considered to have been much less offensive and yet he was murdered. It’s unfortunate that their intimidation has been so effective that it can check a portrayal of an historical event in the establishment of that religion.
Andrew Rolwes

Interesting point of view. Any rebuttals?