After the house of a British publisher was burned down — presumably in response to its forthcoming publication of a controversial book about the Prophet Muhammad – the U.S. publisher of the same book has changed the release date to Monday.

Sherry Jones’s book, Jewel of Medina, has ignited a firestorm of debate. The original U.S. release date was October 15, but AP reports that Beaufort Books moved the date up after three men were arrested in London last weekend for the firebomb attack on the offices of British publisher Gibson Square.

"By speeding up the publication, we wanted to reduce or eliminate the chance of violence," said Eric Kampmann, president of Beaufort Books. "What had occurred in London, we didn’t want to have occur here. We wanted people to have a chance to read the book. Once they read the book, we thought the violence part of this story would disappear and people would be focusing on the story, and the book and Sherry."

Beaufort Books is the same publishing house that last year took in If I Did It, O. J. Simpson’s controversial hypothetical confessional about the death of his late wife, Nicole, after it had been dropped by its publisher because of public outcry.

Jones, the author of The Jewel of Medina, said she was not concerned about her safety.

"I have spoken to a member of the FBI and have been assured I have not been targeted, so I will continue to go about my life as usual," she said. "I’m excited that the book is coming out Monday because once people read it, any possible threat will be eliminated."

The book is about Aisha, the child-bride of the Prophet Muhammad who later became a political and military leader. Publication of it in the U.K. stalled after the firebombing. It’s still scheduled to be released in more than a dozen countries, including Serbia, Italy and Hungary.

Jones’s début novel was supposed to be released in the United States in August, but publisher Random House changed its mind, saying that "credible and unrelated sources" had warned that the book "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." Commentaries appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times about the publishing house’s apparent self-censorship.

A sequel about Aisha’s adult life will be published by Beaufort next year.