In "an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear."

That is why a London-based publishing company plans to publish the controversial novel The Jewel of Medina, despite threats the novel, which tells a fictional account about the relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and A’isha, his youngest bride, would ignite Muslim extremists (threats which pushed U.S. publishers to cancel publication), publishing director Martin Rynja told The New York Times. "As an independent publishing company, we feel strongly that we should not be afraid of the consequences of debate," he said.

Early Saturday morning, Rynja received a serious threat, and is reportedly not backing down.

Rynja’s house in North London, which also serves as Gibson Square’s main office, was set on fire, reports the Times. No one was injured when the small fire bomb was allegedly squeezed through the house’s mail slot. The Times also reports that three men have been arrested on suspicion "of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." A fourth suspect has been identified as a woman.

In August, Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, pulled the novel after the U.S. publisher received information from "credible and unrelated sources" that publication of the book "might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

Earlier this month, Gibson Square’s director, Rynja, announced that they would publish the work because he felt that it was "imperative" to get the word out, according to the Times.

The Jewel of Medina’s author, Sherry Jones, said that she too feels her novel served a public good and envisioned it to be a "bridge-builder," Jones told Reuters. wowOwow reported that Jones was shocked to learn that publication would be postponed indefinitely in the United States. "I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Muhammed."

The editor in chief of Publisher’s Weekly, Sara Nelson, noted in her blog last month that The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie’s novel that sparked violent acts across the globe and was connected to the death of the book’s Japanese translator, notes the Times) was still published in the U.S. in spite of threats.

The Jewel of Medina is scheduled to be released on October 30 in Britain. Spain, Germany, Brazil, Italy and Hungary also plan to publish the novel.