There’s a controversy over the historical novel called “Jewel of Medina,” about one of the Prophet Muhammad’s wife, Aisha. If you are unfamiliar with the controversy, the links below provide good background.
I believe that Sherry Jones should publish the work. We should have people like Gordon Newby knocking it down. It’s bad history and bad writing. That’s the marketplace of ideas. More importantly we should have better people writing. Muslim or non-Muslim, it doesn’t matter, they just have to be good. I would never recommend Martin Lings’ excellent biography of the Prophet as a casual read, but I would recommend Karen Armstrong’‘s. The former is a Muslim, the latter not. Armstrong’s book is just more approachable.
In terms of sexual taboo, I think most Muslims need to ask themselves, who transmitted the hadith on the Prophet’s sexual habits? It was his wives. They weren’t afraid to talk about sex, so let’s not turn our prudishness into their failings.
I work at a bookstore and received an advanced reader’s copy offered by random house, who was going to publish it in the states. I didn’t read it (I just can’t get myself to read fiction anymore), but passed it on to my fellow convert friend. She said it was such a strange story.
FYI, it is published in the States, not by Random House, but by Beaufort Books, which appears to be an independent publisher.