It took a hacker and public outrage to stop a private newspaper from publishing a novel that allegedly defames Islam, writes Mohamed Abdel-Baky For over a week, the private newspaper Al-Yom Al-Sabei has been under the public fire for its intention to publish a new novel insulting the Prophet Mohamed. The crisis ended up with a public apology made by Al-Yom Al-Sabei 's editorial board, announcing the newspaper has put on hold publication until the novel and its title gain the approval of Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy. Editor-in-Chief Khaled Salah added that the novel would not be published until the writer changed its current title, The Trail of Prophet Mohamed. Public anger erupted when Al-Yom Al-Sabei published a large ad online about the new novel. The ad gave information on the content of the novel, criticising the Prophet Mohamed's relation with women and claiming that force was sometimes used to spread Islam. Shortly after publishing the ad, an Egyptian hacked the site and published a page-long essay with 100 questions to the novel's writer, accusing him of "blasphemy and insulting the Prophet". Meanwhile, Al-Azhar said in a statement that publishing the novel would be an act of "infidelity" against the Prophet Mohamed. "The newspaper couldn't have found a worse way of welcoming the holy month of Ramadan than by insults to the prophet. We demand that all journalists at Al-Yom Al-Sabei announce their position and identify who is involved in publishing this novel," said a statement issued by Al-Azhar Scholar Council. The public apology made did not stop a group of lawyers filing a lawsuit against Al-Yom Al-Sabei, accusing its editor-in-chief and the novelist of insulting Islam. The lawyers demanded that the newspaper be closed. Written by a newcomer, Anis Degheidi, the novel claims to "face some Western lies about the Prophet, by imagining a trail between Muslim and Danish thinkers". The novel is about a Muslim lawyer who travels to Denmark to handle a lawsuit raised by a Danish solicitor demanding the expulsion of all Muslims from the Scandinavian region. Most of the novel defends Islam, seen by some in the West as "ideas leading to terrorism". "The title of the book is very provocative for all Muslims. That is why I refused to publish the novel until it gets the approval of Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy," Salah said. But Salah disagreed that the content insults the Prophet Mohamed, asserting that the "content is very unique... for defending the Prophet against Western lies". Montasser Al-Zayat, an Islamist lawyer, said the writer was "ignorant" and "does not know anything about Islam." "It is a very cheap way to pretend to be defending the Prophet. The writer does not know anything about Islam, or the Prophet. What he wants is public attention and to satisfy Westerners," El-Zayat said. Over the last 10 days, Al-Yom Al-Sabei and most TV shows were working hard to contain public anger, in order not to repeat the Danish cartoon crisis -- after a newspaper in Denmark published a cartoon in 2005 linking the Prophet Mohamed to suicide bombing -- that led to angry protests by Muslims around the world. In Egypt, the demonstrations lasted for more than a month. Earlier, in 2000, the now defunct Al-Shaab newspaper led a campaign against Syrian novelist Haydar Haydar because his novel Walima Laashab Al-Bahr (A Banquet for Seaweed) that allegedly holds Islamic symbols in contempt. At the time, Al-Azhar University students went out in the streets and clashed with Egyptian security forces for more than a week. As part of its containment efforts, Al-Yom Al-Sabei 's editor appeared on some religious channels to calm the public. One such interview was with Al-Nas Islamic channel, which is known as a conservative Salafi media outlet.
