Of the wider issue of global politics, he reasons, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been a side effect. And religious intolerance places the minority communities of the country in a precarious position.They have to come to terms with a rapidly changing situation. A White Trail is an ethnographic study of these communities and the changes they are having to face. At a time when almost all accounts of religious minorities in the country focus on the persecution and discrimination they experience, A White Trail delves deeper into their lives, using the occasion of religious festivals to gain a deeper insight into the psyche of Pakistani Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Zoroastrians and Bahais. It seeks to understand, through the oral testimonies of the members of these communities, larger socio-political issues arising from the situation.A White Trail originally began as a series of newspaper articles written by Lahore - based Haroon Khalid for Pakistans widely - circulated weekly, The Friday Times.

    Regarded as the architect of the Islamic empire, Omar established a model political structure that would hold together the growing empire for centuries. Nomani delves into Omar's reputation as one of history's great conquerors and political geniuses, while also examining his pious and just nature, which earned him the title Al-Farooq ("the one who distinguishes between right and wrong"). Under Omar's leadership, the empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. As a leader, Omar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle. Rather than adopt the pomp and display affected by the rulers of the time, he continued to live much as he had when Muslims were poor and persecuted.The book consists of two parts: the first deals the events embracing the lifetime of Omar as well as his political achievements, while the second is a detailed examination of his system of government, both political and ecclesiastical, as well as his intellectual attainments, personal virtues and habits.Author and renowned Islamic scholar Shibli Nomani undertook an extensive study of the subject through several years of research in many of the great libraries of the day, including Istanbul, Beirut, Alexandria, Paris, Berlin and London. The result is what many consider to be the definitive biography of Omar "The Great".Upon publication, the book was hailed as a major event in the history of Islamic literature. Originally published in India and written in urdu, the book was quickly translated into several other languages. Celebrated Pakistani writer and activist Maulana Zafar Ali Khan published the English translation in 1900.

    This work, originally written in Arabic, represents a synthesis of the Islamic intellectual disciplines authoritative in the 18th century. In order to argue for the rational, ethical, and spiritual basis for the implementation of the hadith injunctions of the Prophet Muhammad, Sh?h Wal? All?h develops a cohesive schema of the metaphysical, psychological, and social knowledge of his time. This work provides an extensive and detailed picture of Muslim theology and interpretive strategies on the eve of the modern period and is still evoked by numerous contemporary Islamic movements.

    The author provides an enlightening and in-depth exploration into an empire's golden age, its downfall and the numerous debates that now surround it.

    The novel gives an insight into the life and times of Isaiah and his wife Bethulah, a prophetess. Their courtship and marriage is depicted sensitively and with humor. Gifted with eagle-like vision Isaiah is able to see the glory who is Jesus. Seer, statesman, evangelist, teacher and preacher, he is called by God to give a message which is often rejected. He lives during the reign of five kings, serving those kings who are men of faith loyally, but scorned by those who have fallen into idolatry. These are turbulent times with wars and rumors of wars and peoples being carried off into exile by the cruel Assyrians. To ensure Jerusalem's water supply in times of siege, wise King Hezekiah has a 1/3 mile tunnel built under Jerusalem, an amazing feat for that era. There are times of joy, with the Passover Feast being re-introduced with great celebrationsSurrounded by a group of disciples in his latter years, Isaiah pens his great work to the glory of God.His words resonate down the centuries: 'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given' and 'He was pierced for our transgressions.'Also in the series: Abigail: a Home for God. The story of David's 3rd Wife.

    This book will help ensure that your faith is built on Christ alone and the assurance of spending eternity with Him, not the sometimes-scary flow of history. You will also get a complete education on Islam and its possible role in the End Times.”Joel RichardsonNew York Times bestselling author and internationally recognized teacherArab Spring, Christian Winter will help you tie newspaper headlines to your scriptural knowledge of the Last Days. Ralph Stice draws a clear link between the Arab Spring and the rise of a worldwide power that appears to be ushering in the coming Antichrist. This book will also show you what you need to watch for in tomorrow’s news and guide you on how to fortify your faith for stormy days ahead. The Western Church has much to learn from Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East. Familiar Scripture passages are unfolding with new clarity to believers everywhere.Learn:•Why the Arab Spring had to happen to fulfill scriptural prophecy•How the Arab Spring led to the unleashing of pure Islam •Which nation could be the crucial link between East and West and produce an Antichrist figure•The responses of Middle Eastern Christians to intense persecution and what we Western believers can learn from themFear not! He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We will discover Jesus in a fresh way when we face true persecution. How will your faith withstand the great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again (Matthew 24:21)? Brothers and sisters in Christ are facing this reality every day, right now. About the Author Ralph Stice has lived in Islamic communities on three continents over 11 years’ time as a witness for Christ. During that time, he has interacted with a wide variety of Muslims at many levels of society. He also has read widely on the subject of Islam and has spoken in nearly 100 churches about the world’s second-largest religion. He has recently founded RWS Ministries, a non-profit organization determined to inform Christians about Islam and inform Muslims about Jesus’s true identity and lordship. He blogs frequently on developments in the Islamic world and is a keen observer of political and spiritual developments in the Middle East.

    For seven years, she has raised her daughter without a father.Scott Lamar never meant to abandon his daughter and pregnant girlfriend, but life happened, and college provided a means of escape. All that changed when he found faith in God, and now he wants to make up for his past mistakes. Is it ever too late to do the right thing?Mistletoe and Mochas by Lynnette BonnerChelsea Tan looks up from the mocha she's making to see Cannon Jones. She nearly drops the cup. He hasn't contacted her once in the past several weeks. She'd gotten his message loud and clear. But now he wants to spend time with her? Well, he'll just see how gullible she is this time! Cannon hopes Chelsea will understand the reasons he hasn't been in contact. But she's as frosty as the Seattle air the week before Christmas. He'd better put on all his charm. Maybe with the help of a few mochas and some mistletoe all will not be lost.Cephalopod Cupid by Kathleen FreemanLacey McDowell has the best job in the world. She's a Marine biologist at the Seattle Aquarium. Her favorite "exhibit," an octopus escape artist named Gabriel, should make the coming Christmas merry enough. But with her friend marrying her ex-boyfriend, it may be time for a change. The N.O.A.A. research vessel in port is looking for a marine biologist. But how can Lacey leave Gabriel? And what about the boy who loves her favorite cephalopod, or his father, a handsome executive who's moving to Seattle?Christmas Bells are Ringing by Lesley Ann McDanielHaving recently relocated to Seattle, Shelby longs for someone special in her life. When a handsome green-eyed stranger walks into the coffee shop where she works, her interest is piqued. Later, she finds a bag containing five beautiful hand-painted Christmas bells on the cream and sugar table. No one comes back to claim it, so she decides to do a little detective work. Does she dare hope that it will lead her to the stranger with the magnetic green eyes?Seattle Rayne by Sylvia StewartLoneliness has hovered over Rayne DeMarco's life. Frequent infusions of coffee have neither enlivened her flagging business as a freelance writer nor her social life. Seattle's gray winter skies seem to mirror her life. Then a mama cat with three rambunctious kittens finds a home in her above-the-garage apartment, and a handsome Montana cowboy, Matt Hayes, walks back into her life. Add a puppy who needs a little love and you have a Seattle romance that is as sure to warm your heart as the hot coffee Seattleites crave.All I Want for Christmas by Janalyn VoigtWhen Corey broke Hailey's heart, her best friend Matt picked up the pieces. If Matt wasn't a cubicle worker moonlighting as a Seattle street musician, this would be easy. But never mind that he stirs her emotions, Hailey can't afford a drag on her ambitions. She needs to climb the career ladder to keep her childhood home. Matt isn't about to tell Hailey that the 'fiddle' he carries is a Stradivarius or that he owns a tuxedo, not after his fiancé ditched him for a man with more money.

    This collection features dozens of newly translated poems interspersed with legends and stories of their lives, presenting an intimate portrait of their communion and allowing readers to eavesdrop on their unique spiritual dialogue.

    The Magic Monastery differs from its predecessors in that it contains not only traditional tales--mostly unpublished--but also stories specially written by Shah to complete the book as 'a course in non-linear thinking.'

    Divides among citizens aren't just about power but are products of fundamental disagreements over the very nature and purpose of the modern nation state—and the vexing problem of religion’s role in public life. Hamid argues for a new understanding of how Islam and Islamism shape politics by examining different models of reckoning with the problem of religion and state, including the terrifying—and alarmingly successful—example of ISIS.With unprecedented access to Islamist activists and leaders across the region, Hamid offers a panoramic and ambitious interpretation of the region's descent into violence. Islamic Exceptionalism is a vital contribution to our understanding of Islam's past and present, and its outsized role in modern politics. We don't have to like it, but we have to understand it—because Islam, as a religion and as an idea, will continue to be a force that shapes not just the region, but the West as well in the decades to come.

     With the slicing wit and piercing insight that have characterized all her work, Pamela Geller here recounts her unlikely journey from New York City career girl to indomitably fearless human rights activist, reviled by the enemies of freedom the world over. 'I assumed my freedom,' she writes. 'Never for one moment did I think that it could be taken from me. But all that changed on one day.' That day was September 11, 2001, when on a beautiful, bright blue sunny morning, the global jihad struck in America with terrifying and murderous force. The United States of America and the free world as a whole would never be the same again. Neither would Pamela Geller. In this book, Geller tells the whole extraordinary story of how she began chronicling her take on news events at her groundbreaking website Atlas Shrugs, then moved into activism, at first on behalf of Muslim girls who were being brutalized and victimized at home for not following the misogynistic rules of Islamic law, and then to stand against the advance of jihad and sharia on numerous fronts -- above all for the freedom of speech, which is increasingly embattled in this age of jihad. It's all here: Geller recounts the battle to defeat the sinister Ground Zero mosque project; the ISIS attack at Geller's Mohammed Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in Garland, Texas; the fatwa issued to her and plot to behead her; and much more including the relentless vilification from a mainstream media hell-bent on defaming and destroying everyone who stands for freedom against jihad terror and sharia oppression. Pamela Geller writes: 'Any lover of freedom would have been tarred the same way I was, and many have been. I am but a proxy in this terrible, long war. What has happened to me is what happens, in small and large ways, to every American who stands for freedom.' Yet, as shown in this book, she has prevailed. Without Pamela Geller, there would be a 16-story mega-mosque at Ground Zero today. Without Pamela Geller, untold numbers of young women who are living free today instead would have been victims of honor killings. Without Pamela Geller, countless numbers of indefatigable fighters for freedom would have been cowed and intimidated into silence by an increasingly violent and authoritarian left-wing agenda. If this book is proof of anything, it's that one person can make a difference. And what a remarkable difference Pamela Geller has made. At last, in Fatwa: Hunted In America, she tells her story.

    The author is a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Bill W. & Dr. Bob. It is the originator of the seminal "twelve-step method" widely used to attempt to treat many addictions, from alcoholism and heroin addiction to marijuana addiction, as well as overeating, sex addiction, gambling addiction, and family members of alcoholics, with a strong spiritual and social emphasis.

    The joyful reflections this beautiful book contains transcend religion and draw from the teachings of renowned mystics from antiquity to the present.Whether you seek knowledge of the great mysteries or answers to the everyday questions of life, delve into Mystic Wisdom. Contemplate the wisdom it offers. Then look within your own being. The answers you seek will be there.Avicenna, Marcus Aurelius, Black Elk, Christian Bernard, William Blake, Catherine of Siena, Meister Eckhart, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hafiz, John of the Cross, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Carl Jung, G.E. Lessing, H.Spencer Lewis, Ralph M. Lewis, Plotinus, Cecil A. Poole, Pythagoras, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Tukaram, Rumi, Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, Thales of Miletus, Validivar

    In the case of Islam, there has been much recent confusion in the Western world centered on distorted portrayals of its core values. Born of ignorance, such confusion feeds the very problem at hand.In The Heart of Islam one of the great intellectual figures in Islamic history offers a timely presentation of the core spiritual and social values of Islam: peace, compassion, social justice, and respect for the other. Seizing this unique moment in history to reflect on the essence of his tradition, Seyyed Hossein Nasr seeks to "open a spiritual and intellectual space for mutual understanding." Exploring Islamic values in scripture, traditional sources, and history, he also shows their clear counterparts in the Jewish and Christian traditions, revealing the common ground of the Abrahamic faiths.Nasr challenges members of the world's civilizations to stop demonizing others while identifying themselves with pure goodness and to turn instead to a deeper understanding of those shared values that can solve the acute problems facing humanity today. "Muslims must ask themselves what went wrong within their own societies," he writes, "but the West must also pose the same question about itself . . . whether we are Muslims, Jews, Christians, or even secularists, whether we live in the Islamic world or in the West, we are in need of meaning in our lives, of ethical norms to guide our actions, of a vision that would allow us to live at peace with each other and with the rest of God's creation." Such help, he believes, lies at the heart of every religion and can lead the followers of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as well as other religious and spiritual traditions to a new future of mutual respect and common global purpose.The Heart of Islam is a landmark presentation of enduring value that offers hope to humanity, and a compelling portrait of the beauty and appeal of the faith of 1.2 billion people.

     Our families have shaped our views on everything from religion to finances to sex, and, whether helpful or harmful, these views are brought to our marriage and can unknowingly affect it. Getting Ready for Marriage Workbook helps engaged couples and newlyweds:learn what "ghosts' they bring to marriageexamine their family backgroundsdetermine guidelines for their own marriageThrough interactive exercises, couples discover the roots of their beliefs, sight potential problem ares, and learn how to successfully through problems.  Couples are then encouraged to make their own covenants in specific areas such as financial matters, resolving conflict, religious orientation,. and family planning & children-essential in building a strong marriage partnership.