MISQUOTING MUHAMMAD: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy Jonathan A.C. Brown Simon and Schuster, 2014ย – 384 pages Few things provoke controversy in the modern world like the religion brought by Prophet Muhammad. Modern media are replete with alarm over jihad, underage marriage and the threat of amputation or stoning under Shariah…
In the social media driven literary stardom, Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikandar remains a mild man-of-letters from mountains. His unassuming pile of paperwork might be speaking for his decadal toil as another prodigious penman from the valley, but his activism equally makes him the face of seminars and conferences. In a candid chat with Mountain…
THE SPARTAN COURTAbdelouahab Aissaoui Dar Min, 2018 โ Fiction โ 388 pages The Spartan Court follows the interconnected lives of five characters in Algiers from 1815 to 1833. The first, Dupond, is a French journalist covering the colonial campaign against Algeria, the second, Caviard, is a former soldier in Napoleonโs army who finds himself a…
GUANTANAMO VOICES:ย True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous PrisonSarah Mirk Comics & Graphic Novelsย –ย 208 pages An anthology of illustrated narratives about the prison and the lives it changed forever.ย In January 2002, the United States sent a group of Muslim men they suspected of terrorism to a prison in Guantรกnamo Bay. They were the first of…
โAzadiโ contains several essays in which Roy gives us a powerful but partial look at the situation in Kashmir. Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction. is a collection of essays written by Arundhati Roy through the eyes of a novelist. These essays were written between 2018 and 2020, two years that in India have felt like two…
FUTURE TENSENitasha KaulHarper Collins, 2020Fiction, General – 308 pages The son of a former militant, Fayaz is an aimless bureaucrat whose marriage to his wife Zeenat has broken down. His nephew Imran is a young student, a misfit in Srinagar, hoping to join a new kind of spectacular resistance. Shireen, the granddaughter of a spy,…
It is not that the meaning cannot be explained. But there are certain meanings that are lost forever the moment they are explained in words. Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 In the beginning, he was my go-to recommendation when people asked for recommendations but over time I realized that Iโm blindly recommending a writer to anyone who…
โThere are some things that canโt be explained in this life,โ Menshiki went on, โand some others that probably shouldnโt be explained. Especially when putting them into words ignores what is most crucial.โ ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย โHaruki Murakami,…
It is not how the world is that is mystical, but that it is.ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ๏ผLudwig Wittgenstein This book is the…