Journalist Sherry Jones, the Montana and Idaho correspondent for the international news agency the Bureau of National Affairs , maintains that she envisioned The Jewel of Medina , her fictionalized account of A'isha Abi Bakr, the child bride of記者謝裡瓊斯，蒙大拿州和愛達荷州通訊員國際新聞機構的國家事務局 ，認為她設想的寶石麥地那 ，她虛構考慮A'isha阿比貝克爾，兒童新娘 Muhammad穆罕默德 , as a “bridge builder.” But even before it was published, the novel became a casualty of the clash of civilizations.作為一個“橋樑建設者。”但是，即使這是出版，小說成了傷亡的文明衝突。

After Denise Spellberg, associate professor of 丹尼斯Spellberg後，副教授 history 歷史 and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas, assessed the manuscript as “a very ugly, stupid, piece of work” which turned sacred history into soft-core pornography and warned that publication could provoke violence, Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, consulted with security experts and then negotiated an agreement with Jones to terminate their $100,000 two-book contract. 中東研究在德州大學，評估手稿為“醜陋，愚蠢，一塊工作”，這把神聖的歷史進入軟核色情出版物，並警告說可能引發暴力，百齡壇圖書，一個部門蘭登書屋，諮詢的安全專家，然後與瓊斯達成了一項協議，終止其10萬美元的兩個合同書。

Amid allegations of self-censorship and the suppression of free speech, two publishing houses – Beaufort Books in the US (whose list includes OJ Simpson's If I Did It ) and Gibson Square in Great Britain – announced they would rush the novel into print.在一片指責的自我審查和鎮壓言論自由，兩個出版社-博福特圖書在美國（其名單包括辛普森的假如是我幹 ）和吉布森廣場大不列顛-宣布，他們將趕小說付印。 On September 27, the home of Martin Rynja, publisher of Gibson Square, was fire-bombed. 9月27日，馬丁 Rynja家，出版商的吉布森廣場，是火的轟炸。 Nonetheless, The Jewel of Medina has been – or will be – published in at least 15 countries.然而， 這些寶石的麥迪已經-或者是-刊登在至少15個國家。

The novel isn't worth the attention it's getting.這本小說是不值得的注意的越來越。 As reliable, historically, as Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves , The Jewel of Medina is a “chick lit” feminist tract, painted in purple prose.由於質量可靠，從歷史上看，迪斯尼的阿拉丁和大盜之王 ， 寶石的麥迪是一個“女性文學”女性道，塗上紫色的散文。 Then — and now — Jones's A'isha claims, centuries after her death, “girls turn away because they don't know the truth… That none of us is ever alive until we can shape our destinies.然後 - 現在 - 瓊斯的A'isha聲稱，在她死後幾個世紀以來，“女孩轉身離去，因為他們不知道真相...這些都不是我們永遠活著，直到我們可以塑造我們的命運。 Until we can choose.”除非我們可以選擇。“

Not your typical seventh-century Muslim maiden, A'isha begins her crusade against marital rape before she's 10.不是典型的7世紀穆斯林少女，她的討伐 A'isha開始之前，婚內強姦她的10。 She vows never to be “the poor girl underneath,” enduring “a woman's life” with “downcast eyes and nary a whimper of complaint.” She'll fight back — and if her husband doesn't like it, “he could divorce me and I wouldn't care.她發誓絕不是“可憐的姑娘底下，”持久“女人的一生”與“低垂的眼睛和進制一嗚咽的投訴。”她會反擊 - 如果她的丈夫不喜歡它，“他可以離婚我，我不會在意。 I'd rather be a lone lioness, roaring and free, than a caged bird without even a name to call my own.”我寧願是一個孤獨的母獅，咆哮和自由，比籠中鳥，甚至沒有一個名字叫我自己。“

Then Jones goes phallic.然後瓊斯去陽具。 Summoned to meet the prophet, A'isha hesitates, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath: “My future awaited on the other side – a fate chosen by others, as though I were a sheep or a goat fatted for this day.” Her mother pulls the curtain away: “What are you waiting for?召喚，以滿足先知，A'isha猶豫，閉上眼睛，並採取深呼吸：“我的未來期待已久的另一面 - 一個命運選擇了別人，就好像我是個綿羊或山羊脫脂這一天。”她的母親拉著窗簾離開：“你還等什麼呢？ Ramadan?”拉馬丹？“

“No more fighting with sticks,” Muhammad tells her, in a bedroom filled with wooden soldiers, dolls, a jump rope and a sword. “沒有更多的戰鬥用棍棒，”穆罕默德告訴她，在一間臥室充滿了木頭兵，布娃娃，跳繩和一把劍。 “I will teach you how to use the real thing.” As the prophet's eyes changed, “as if catching flame,” the little girl waited for “the scuttling hands, the stinging tail… Soon I would be lying on my bed beneath, squashed like the scarab beetle, flailing and sobbing while he slammed himself against me. “我會教你如何使用真正的東西。”作為先知的眼睛變了，“好像追趕的火焰，”小女孩等待“的鑿沉手，刺尾...很快，我會躺在床上下，壓像聖甲蟲甲蟲，揮舞泣而他自己對我抨擊。 He would not want to hurt me, but how could he help it?”他不想傷害我，但他怎麼可能幫助它？“

Jones believes that The Jewel of Medina portrays瓊斯認為， 麥地那描繪的寶石 Islam伊斯蘭教 as, at bottom, an “egalitarian religion” and Muhammad as a “gentle, wise and compassionate” leader, who respected women, especially his wives.因為，從本質上講，一個“平等主義宗教”和穆罕默德為“溫柔，聰明和富有同情心的”領導者，誰尊重婦女，尤其是他的妻子。 Thanks to the prophet, A'isha suggests, women could “inherit property, testify in hearings and write provisions for divorce into their wedding contracts.”多虧了先知，A'isha表明，婦女可以“繼承財產，在聽證會作證的規定，寫在他們結婚離婚合同。”

But the gender politics of the novel is, at best, confused. 但是 ， 性別政治的小說，充其量混淆。 And Jones's Muhammad has feet of clay. A man of physical passion, he is seduced by power, making strategic alliances through marriage. 和瓊斯的穆罕默德有腳的粘土。一個人的身體的激情，他是迷惑的力量，使戰略聯盟通過婚姻。 Muhammad changes Allah's law at will and whim.穆罕默德改變真主的意願和法律的心血來潮。 Intent on marrying the wife of his adopted son, he declares that “we have been in error all these years.” Since Zayd does not carry his blood in his veins, “why should I hesitate?” In another self-indulgent about-face, he annuls the edict limiting a harem to four wives.娶了妻子的意圖，他的養子，他宣稱，“我們一直在錯誤的所有這些年。”自從栽德不履行他的血在他的靜脈，“我為什麼要猶豫？”在另一個自我放縱的挽回顏面他撤銷本級的法令限制一個后宮四個妻子。 And by ordering females to cover their faces, A'isha concludes, the prophet transforms himself “from a liberator of women into an oppressor of them.”並下令女性，以支付他們的臉，A'isha總結，變換自己的先知“從解放者婦女進入一個壓迫者他們。”

The Jewel of Medina is a platform for the propositions of the politically correct, circa 2008. 這些寶石的麥地那是一個平台，在政治上正確的命題，大約2008年。 An unmarried woman in Medina in 625 “with no family to support her and no skills,” A'isha claims, had only two prospects: begging and prostitution.一個未婚女子，麥地那625“，沒有家人支持她，沒有技能，”A'isha索賠，只有兩個前景：乞討和賣淫。 As she walks through a tent city with the mother of the poor, the child-bride chides herself for moping while people struggled to survive.當她走過了一個帳篷城市與母親的窮人，兒童新娘責怪自己的悶悶不樂，人們掙扎求生。 She drapes her wrapper around the shoulders and head of a child in tattered clothing to protect her “tender face” from the sun.她窗簾她包裝的肩膀和頭部的孩子在破爛衣服以保護她的“溫柔面”從太陽。 “From now on,” A'isha concludes, “when I heard others denigrate the tent people as I'd once done, I'd make sure to tell them of their pride and dignity.” “從現在開始，”A'isha總結說：“當我聽到別人貶低人民的帳篷我一旦這樣做，我一定要告訴他們自己的驕傲和尊嚴。”

You don't know whether to laugh or cry.你不知道是該笑還是哭。 As she confesses in the “afterword” – and demonstrates in the novel with asides about當她承認在“後記” - 並演示了在小說中關於與旁白 gowns袍 that “plunge down to the navel” and off-shoulder garments “that burst open like springtime” when the wearer dismounts a camel – Sherry Jones doesn't know what it was like to be alive and a woman in seventh-century Arabia. She may have “huge respect and regard for the Muslim faith,” but she doesn't display much knowledge about Islam, either .說：“投身到肚臍”說著肩服裝“的爆裂開來，猶如春天”的時候，死死卸下駱駝-雪利瓊斯不知道是什麼樣子還活著，一個女人在第七世紀的阿拉伯。 她可能有“巨大的尊重和信仰方面的穆斯林”，但她沒有對伊斯蘭顯示很多知識，無論是 。 It's an outrage that publication of this book – or any book – was held hostage to threats of violence.這是一個憤慨，出版這本書 - 或任何書籍 - 被劫為人質的暴力威脅。 But as a work of historical fiction The Jewel of Medina is a non-precious stone that ought to be allowed to sink without a trace.但作為一個工作歷史小說寶石麥地那是一個非寶石這應該被允許下沉得無影無踪。

The writer is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. 作者是托馬斯和多蘿西利溫教授在美國研究的康奈爾大學。

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