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516dale f. eickelman (1996)provide 1,000 copies, a special order for Oman. D§r al-Ah§lÊkeeps reprinting the book and it has now sold over 10,000 copiesin Syria alone. 11DFE: Riyad al-Rayyes asked for 1,000 copies for Oman?MS: Yes, we printed the books, which al-Rayyes shipped to Oman.Riyad told \usayn that the Sultan wanted this number to distributein Oman. 12DFE: So the first sign you had of interest in the book was that it sold outquickly …?MS: And by December 1990, the preachers began to attack it in themosques of Damascus.DFE: What were the principal arguments against the book?MS: That I was against Islam. I was pleased [laughter]. I was pleasedbecause I knew that my book was controversial. I knew that I wasintroducing a new theory. If it was not criticized, I would havedoubted myself. ‘Dr. Shahrur has done nothing.’ Silence wouldhave been a bad sign. The accusations began that the Zionistsand their agents supported the book. Some religious authoritiesasked [a prominent Syrian religious figure] to request the governmentto withdraw the book. The government refused, saying tomy opponents that it would not ban the book because it waspublished in Syria, but that they had the right to answer thebook’s argument in print. To date, seventeen books, from Syria,Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, have been written againstmy first book.DFE: What was the personal effect of the attacks against you in the Fridaysermons?11There is also an authorized Beirut edition, although Shahrur indicates that theactual print run is considerably higher than the reported figures (Interview, Damascus,March 23, 1996). Sales figures for the pirated Egyptian edition are unavailable.The book is also now available in a CD-ROM version (Interview with MuhammadShahrur, New York, May 22, 1997).12Among the other recipients of the book were members of the Council of Ministers.In distributing the book to his ministers, the sultan indicated only that ministersmight find the book interesting. He makes no statement for or against itsargument (Interview with a member of the Council of Ministers, Muscat, June 26,1996).