The Jewel of Medina: A Novel

This novel positively increased my understanding of Islam, its history and significant founders

I have just read the Jewel of Medina and it is an inspiring, well written adventure that brings the early days of the Muslim religion to life. This is my first exposure to the Muslim culture and it is a very positive experience. Muhammad, A'isha and Ali become real people expressing honest human emotions and a genuine desire for creating a religion of peace, understanding and equality. This is such a relief from their minimalist image portrayed by today¿s Muslim extremists. The Jewel of Medina held my attention from the opening prologue and never faltered. It is fast paced, complex, emotional and even lighthearted as Muhammad, A'isha and Ali each evolve into powerful leaders for their faith. Read the Jewel of Medina for entertainment, understanding and compassion.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

The Jewel Of Medina is a FANTASTIC love story and an EXCELLENT introduction to Islam.

I have just read the Jewel of Medina and it is an inspiring, well written adventure that brings the early days of the Muslim religion to life. This is my first exposure to the Muslim culture and it is a very positive experience. Muhammad, A'isha and Ali become real people expressing honest human emotions and a genuine desire for creating a religion of peace, understanding and equality. This is such a relief from their minimalist image portrayed by today's Muslim extremists. The Jewel of Medina held my attention from the opening prologue and never faltered. It is fast paced, complex, emotional and even lighthearted as Muhammad, A'isha and Ali each evolve into powerful leaders for their faith. Read the Jewel of Medina for entertainment, understanding and compassion.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

scorchingly frank and debauch

Jewel of Medina is a scorching tale of exploitation and eroticism... told with a knowing tenderness and yet brutal and pointed.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A'isha is unforgettable!

This book is a page turner that tells a wonderful and compelling story about the beginning and maturation of the relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and his favorite wife A'isha. Through that story we get not only to see A'isha's character grow and mature, but we also learn something of the struggle of Muhammad and his followers to practice their faith, and worship their God as they wished. In the hands of author Sherry Jones, A'isha is shown as a remarkable and irresistible character. How A'isha learns to deal with these obstacles, how she learns to live as one of several wives of the prophet, and how the experiences contribute to her growth and strength as a woman constitutes the central conflict in the story, and its resolution is truly beautiful. The Jewel of Medina is historical fiction in the best sense of the genre. Jones' writing style is a pleasure, always inviting us deeper into the story, often soaring, and is always a veritable feast of metaphors! It is, of course, written with modern sensibilities, and the author takes full advantage of artistic license to create vibrant and living characters from historic personages about whom little in the way of everyday detail is known. If 'text book' history is sometimes modified to suit the dramatic requirements of giving us a forceful narrative, the story is accurately anchored in history at all the key points, and thus gives us non Muslims a glimpse into the very human side of Islam and its founding prophet, and and particularly of his plucky and adventurous favorite 'jewel' of a wife A'isha.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Poorly written with forged stories and lies about Aisha, an actual and very important figure for Muslims

Written with no care about the authentic historical narrations of the story of Aisha, even though the synopsis to the books states to be 'extensively researched'. Inspired by the scandals over European newspapers' cartoons the writing and the publishing of the novel is solely aimed to raise controversy and add anger to the anger of Muslims, just like a young boy playing with the bee-nest.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

I don't care about the controversy, I care about the writing - and it's BAD!

I was intrigued to finally have the chance to read this book after so much hoopla over its publication. The problem is, the book is just poorly written. It's melodramatic, unbelievable, and tedious. In trying to conjure a medieval Arabic style, the author has instead fallen flat and written a book that will make you roll your eyes or groan aloud at the weak and overly dramatic metaphors. Gag.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Engaging historical novel about ambitious subject

A historical novel has to blend the accepted record of the time with the imagination of the writer, and this one succeeds extremely well. The characters are well drawn and engaging, especially A'isha and Mohammed. And the plot, the early years of Islam told from A'isha's perspective, kept me turning pages. Jones has a gift for metaphor and character-informed dialogue. Jones' book isn't a history text, but the plot choices she made work in terms of the story, the novelist's burden. There have been a lot of innacurate Internet-fueled assertions about this book since well before it was published. Someone even nonsensically called it porno! I saw this book as a kind of coming-of-age story about A'isha's spiritual awakening as she grew into the strong woman behind the icon. A'isha is an ambitious, even courageous, subject for a Western writer to address. Reading this book introduced me to stories and historical figures I had never heard of in a respectful and engaging way. No thoughtful reader is going to mistake it for straight history, but it might make that reader more mindful of and curious about the history it draws from and the culture that generated that history. I would highly recommend this book.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

let the truth set you free

The author's writing is alright not spectuacular. In this book, th erecord is finally set, that Aisha was no different that young girls at any time. They fall in love, they at times lust after the forbidden and they try to set their own paths. A review of Muslim history regarding the wife of Mohammad, Aisha, has left millions of muslims with the impression that she rose above the rest of the women in almost every way, most of all piety. This books shatters the lies and forgeries in Islamic history. Indeed it presents Aisha for what she really was. A young girl who loved a charming though uncourageous young man. Their love is dealt a blow as Mohammad a man of 60 year enters the equation and slects Aisha to be his bride. His marriage and selection even 1400 years ago was taboo. Yet Mohammad elects to justify his actions by telling the faithful that the Angel Gabriel had shown him a picture of Aisha on a piece of cloth. Mohammad had to tell his followers that his slection of a 9 yr old bride was not really his choice, rather Allah/God had wanted him to have her, hence making it a bit more palatable to followers who were faithful to Mohammad's message yet becoming weary of his personal and private actions. These followers would soon revert back to their old beliefs the minute Mohammad had died, thus dealing a crushng blow to the the character of Mohammad. It was not until they were forced under the sword of Abu Bakr the first of the Caliphates to proclaim themselves as Muslims again.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

I'm not even past chapter 10 (yet). However I can tell that this

I'm not even past chapter 10 (yet). However I can tell that this book is gonna be amazing. I know that I am rooting on the side of Muhammad and A'isha. I want Muhammad to protect his people and I want A'isha to win over Muhammed and serve her people.

The history lesson this book provides is also makes it worth while. Everyone always needs to learn new and different things. This is a way to learn a little about the creation of Islam through the eyes of a child (and finally a young woman).

This is a must read!

I read this book not too long ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not put the book down at all! It is a wonderful blend of history and fiction, the emphasis being on the fiction part. I did not come to know about the controversy surrounding the book until after I had read it, to me it seemed completely understandable why people would not be fond of this book and the way the story is written, considering it's about the prophet Mohamed and his youngest bride A'isha. It's written in her perspective and if you are a fan of historical novels this is an absolute wonderful read. If you can look past the fact that it is written about Mohamed and take the story for what it is: a young girls tale of coming of age as an individual, a wife, and becoming accustomed to her place in her marriage and the world at a time when her husbands mission holds utmost importance, then you will enjoy this book just as much as I did.

Must Read !!

I was pleasantly surprised reading this book, it gives light to alot of things conserning the women in his life. all in all a good book to read

The prophet Muhammed's personal live, seen from his favorite wife

I love historical novels. The subject matter intrigued me. It is the first book I read about the lives of women during prophet Muhammed's time, seen from the view point of a woman. I found it enjoyable to read and also educational. I had known that the prophet had multiple wives but never knew the reasons why. The book is a beautiful love story as well as a historical description of the creation of Islam.
I cannot wait for the sequel to understand more of the split into Sunni and Shi'ite branches of Islam and how it impacts the lives of women of its time and the time we live in now.

Error in storyline

I am a muslim and have been taught a lot about influential islamic figures this book is interesting but aisha was not nine when she was married she was in her late 20's the book below is what makes more sense...

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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