Islam Books

Infidel

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Free Press Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $8.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Political
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 253 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.

One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission.

Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced.

Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant.

The Complete Persepolis: Now a Major Motion Picture

Marjane Satrapi

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pantheon Amazon Marketplace: 68 new & used starting at $14.05

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Here, in one volume: Marjane Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed memoir-in-comic-strips.

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom--Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ballantine Books Amazon Marketplace: 249 new & used starting at $1.20

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> African-American & Black
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 295 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Malcolm X's searing memoir belongs on the small shelf of great autobiographies. The reasons are many: the blistering honesty with which he recounts his transformation from a bitter, self-destructive petty criminal into an articulate political activist, the continued relevance of his militant analysis of white racism, and his emphasis on self-respect and self-help for African Americans. And there's the vividness with which he depicts black popular culture--try as he might to criticize those lindy hops at Boston's Roseland dance hall from the perspective of his Muslim faith, he can't help but make them sound pretty wonderful. These are but a few examples. The Autobiography of Malcolm X limns an archetypal journey from ignorance and despair to knowledge and spiritual awakening. When Malcolm tells coauthor Alex Haley, "People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book," he voices the central belief underpinning every attempt to set down a personal story as an example for others. Although many believe his ethic was directly opposed to Martin Luther King Jr.'s during the civil rights struggle of the '60s, the two were not so different. Malcolm may have displayed a most un-Christian distaste for loving his enemies, but he understood with King that love of God and love of self are the necessary first steps on the road to freedom. --Wendy Smith

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Azar Nafisi

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Trade Paperbacks Amazon Marketplace: 931 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 354 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

An inspired blend of memoir and literary criticism, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a moving testament to the power of art and its ability to change and improve people's lives. In 1995, after resigning from her job as a professor at a university in Tehran due to repressive policies, Azar Nafisi invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly study of great Western literature in her home. Since the books they read were officially banned by the government, the women were forced to meet in secret, often sharing photocopied pages of the illegal novels. For two years they met to talk, share, and "shed their mandatory veils and robes and burst into color." Though most of the women were shy and intimidated at first, they soon became emboldened by the forum and used the meetings as a springboard for debating the social, cultural, and political realities of living under strict Islamic rule. They discussed their harassment at the hands of "morality guards," the daily indignities of living under the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime, the effects of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, love, marriage, and life in general, giving readers a rare inside look at revolutionary Iran. The books were always the primary focus, however, and they became "essential to our lives: they were not a luxury but a necessity," she writes.

Threaded into the memoir are trenchant discussions of the work of Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, and other authors who provided the women with examples of those who successfully asserted their autonomy despite great odds. The great works encouraged them to strike out against authoritarianism and repression in their own ways, both large and small: "There, in that living room, we rediscovered that we were also living, breathing human beings; and no matter how repressive the state became, no matter how intimidated and frightened we were, like Lolita we tried to escape and to create our own little pockets of freedom," she writes. In short, the art helped them to survive. --Shawn Carkonen

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil

Deborah Rodriguez, Kristin Ohlson

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Trade Paperbacks Amazon Marketplace: 76 new & used starting at $5.80

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Women's Studies -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 99 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills–as doctors, nurses, and therapists–seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus an idea was born.

With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Well meaning but sometimes brazen, Rodriguez stumbled through language barriers, overstepped cultural customs, and constantly juggled the challenges of a postwar nation even as she learned how to empower her students to become their families’ breadwinners by learning the fundamentals of coloring techniques, haircutting, and makeup.

Yet within the small haven of the beauty school, the line between teacher and student quickly blurred as these vibrant women shared with Rodriguez their stories and their hearts: the newlywed who faked her virginity on her wedding night, the twelve-year-old bride sold into marriage to pay her family’s debts, the Taliban member’s wife who pursued her training despite her husband’s constant beatings. Through these and other stories, Rodriguez found the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again, Afghan style.

With warmth and humor, Rodriguez details the lushness of a seemingly desolate region and reveals the magnificence behind the burqa. Kabul Beauty School is a remarkable tale of an extraordinary community of women who come together and learn the arts of perms, friendship, and freedom.


From the Hardcover edition.

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

Reza Aslan

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Trade Paperbacks Amazon Marketplace: 79 new & used starting at $7.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Islam -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Islam -> History

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 105 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Though it is the fastest-growing religion in the world, Islam remains shrouded in ignorance and fear for much of the West. In No god but God, Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed scholar of religions, explains this faith in all its beauty and complexity. Beginning with a vivid account of the social and religious milieu in which the Prophet Muhammad forged his message, Aslan paints a portrait of the first Muslim community as a radical experiment in religious pluralism and social egalitarianism. He demonstrates how, after the Prophet’s death, his successors attempted to interpret his message for future generations–an overwhelming task that fractured the Muslim community into competing sects. Finally, Aslan examines how, in the shadow of European colonialism, Muslims developed conflicting strategies to reconcile traditional Islamic values with the realities of the modern world, thus launching what Aslan terms the Islamic Reformation. Timely and persuasive, No god but God is an elegantly written account of a magnificent yet misunderstood faith.

Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)

Karen Armstrong

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Modern Library Amazon Marketplace: 83 new & used starting at $6.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Islam -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 139 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The picture of Islam as a violent, backward, and insular tradition should be laid to rest, says Karen Armstrong, bestselling author of Muhammad and A History of God. Delving deep into Islamic history, Armstrong sketches the arc of a story that begins with the stirring of revelation in an Arab businessman named Muhammad. His concern with the poor who were being left behind in the blush of his society's new prosperity sets the tone for the tale of a culture that values community as a manifestation of God. Muhammad's ideas catch fire, quickly blossoming into a political empire. As the empire expands and the once fractured Arabs subdue and overtake the vast Persian domain, the story of a community becomes a panoramic drama. With great dexterity, Armstrong narrates the Sunni-Shi'ite schism, the rise of Persian influence, the clashes with Western crusaders and Mongolian conquerors, and the spiritual explorations that traced the route to God. Armstrong brings us through the debacle of European colonialism right up to the present day, putting Islamic fundamentalism into context as part of a worldwide phenomenon. Islam: A Short History, like Bruce Lawrence's Shattering the Myth and Mark Huband's Warriors of the Prophet, introduces us to a faith that beckons like a minaret to those who dare to venture beyond the headlines. --Brian Bruya

The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $7.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Bible & Other Sacred Texts -> Quran
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Islam -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of the most influential books in the history of literature, recognized as the greatest literary masterpiece in Arabic, the Qur'an is the supreme authority and living source of all Islamic teaching, the sacred text that sets out the creed, rituals, ethics, and laws of Islam. Yet despite the growing interest in Islamic teachings and culture, there has never been a truly satisfactory English translation of the Qur'an, until now.
This superb new translation of the Qur'an is written in contemporary language that remains faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original, making the text crystal clear while retaining all of this great work's eloquence. The translation is accurate and completely free from the archaisms, incoherence, and alien structures that mar existing translations. Thus, for the first time, English-speaking readers will have a text of the Qur'an which is easy to use and comprehensible. Furthermore, Haleem includes notes that explain geographical, historical, and personal allusions as well as an index in which Qur'anic material is arranged into topics for easy reference. His introduction traces the history of the Qur'an, examines its structure and stylistic features, and considers issues related to militancy, intolerance, and the subjection of women.
Clearly written and filled with helpful information and guidance, this brilliant translation of the Qur'an is the best available introduction to the faith of Moslems around the world.

Essential Rumi

Jalal al-Din Rumi

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperOne Amazon Marketplace: 98 new & used starting at $3.76

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Poetry -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Poetry -> Inspirational & Religious
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Poetry -> Ancient, Classical & Medieval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 67 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

No translator could do greater justice to the gorgeous simplicity of Rumi's poetry than Coleman Barks has done here. These exquisite renderings of the 13th-century Persian mystic's words into American free verse capture all the "inner searching, the delicacy, and simple groundedness" that characterize Rumi's poetry while remaining faithful to the images, tone, and spiritual message of the originals. Barks's introductions to each of the 27 sections (described as "playful palimpsests spread over Rumi's imagination," and "meant to confuse scholars who would divide Rumi's poetry into the accepted categories") are themselves wonderful achievements of a poetic imagination; searching explanations of unfamiliar concepts and funny stories provide colorful background and frame the selections as no dry historical exegesis could.

While Barks's stamp on this collection is clear, it in no way interferes with the poems themselves; Rumi's voice leaps off these pages with an ecstatic energy that leaves readers breathless. There are poems of love, rage, sadness, pleading, and longing; passionate outbursts about the torture of longing for his beloved and the sweet pleasure that comes from their union; amusing stories of sexual exploits or human weakness; and quiet truths about the beauty and variety of human emotion. More than anything, Rumi makes plain the unbridled joy that comes from living life fully, urging us always to put aside our fears and take the risk to do so. As he says: "The way of love is not / a subtle argument. / The door there is devastation. / Birds make great sky-circles / of their freedom. / How do they learn it? / They fall, and falling, / they're given wings." --Uma Kukathas

The Qur'an Translation

Amazon Price: $5.95 List Price: $5.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an Amazon Marketplace: 70 new & used starting at $1.83

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Bible & Other Sacred Texts -> Quran
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Bible & Other Sacred Texts -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Qur'an 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I finally got around to reading this translation of the Qur'an. I gave it five stars to counter act some of the one star reviews. Im a Christian and still am. But I will admit I no longer view Islam as evil, or the Qur'an as a bad book. Quite the contrary I was pleasently surprised with beauty of the poetry, and the core message is very similar to Christianity. I would have a lot more in common with a Muslim than I would with an atheist for example. Taking the time to read through the book, I realize that living for God, regardless if you call Him Jehovah, or Allah, will lead you to live a more righteous life and to a better path on which to travel the hard road of life. The core morals taught by Muhammad line up with those taught by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Of course I disagree with Muslims over the Deity of Christ, I still find their religion agrees with my morals, and is more peaceful than the media frenzy would have someone believe. I believe these terrorists are the exception, and most Muslims are good religious people if they are following the teachings in this book. God bless you.

Editorial Review:

This English translation of the Qur'an is a compilation of the Muslim faith's Final Revelation from God to mankind through the last Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon Him. The Qur'an has a wealth of information--both worldly wisdom and intellectual concepts--providing a code of life for humankind generally and Muslims in particular. Indeed, the Qur'an's miracle lies in its ability to offer something to non-believers and everything to believers. This edition is fully indexed.