Book Review

Jones, Sherry. The Sword of Medina: A Novel.New York: Beaufort Books,2009.

This book is set in the eighth century in Saudi Arabia right after the death of Muhammed. Before Muhammed died he left his jewelled sword, al-Ma'thur, to his favorite wife Aisha, telling her to use it in the jihad to come. Aisha's father Abu Bakr takes over as Kalifa but quickly succumbs to the same illness which took Muhammed's life, creating yet more turmoil over the who will be the next Kalifa. The turmoil created fissions in the Islamic religion which still continue to this day. Another candidate for the position of Kalifa is Ali, a relative of Muhammed, who is Aisha's sworn enemy due to unkind comments he made years ago. Aisha does all she can to prevent this from happening.

This book of historical fiction is told alternately between the point of views of Ali and Aisha both of whom express increasing dismay at the changes developing in the Islamic religion since Muhammed's death. Eventually Aisha and Ali come to respect each other and Aisha come to see that Ali is the best choice for Kalifa but Ali is murdered before he has a chance to serve.

I very much enjoyed this book. I found Jones' writing style to be engaging from the very beginning despite not being sure what to expect from this book. I have read books before that are set in the contemporary middle east but nothing from around the time of the beginning of Islam so I did not know most of the history. I like the fact that although Aisha and Ali are initially enemies that time and wisdom erases their differences and they begin to see how alike they really are. I would like to read the prequel The Jewel of Medina.