Book picks similar to
First Among Sufis: The Life and Thought of Rabia Al-Adawiyya, the Woman Saint of Basra by El Sakkakini Widad
islam
religion
biography
spirituality
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta
Brian Kolodiejchuk - 2007
During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa be
Rosewater: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival
Maziar Bahari - 2011
Little did he know, as he kissed her good-bye, that he would spend the next three months in Iran’s most notorious prison, enduring brutal interrogation sessions at the hands of a man he knew only by his smell: Rosewater.For the Bahari family, wars, coups, and revolutions are not distant concepts but intimate realities they have suffered for generations: Maziar’s father was imprisoned by the shah in the 1950s, and his sister by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s. Alone in his cell at Evin Prison, fearing the worst, Maziar draws strength from his memories of the courage of his father and sister in the face of torture, and hears their voices speaking to him across the years. He dreams of being with Paola in London, and imagines all that she and his rambunctious, resilient eighty-four-year-old mother must be doing to campaign for his release. During the worst of his encounters with Rosewater, he silently repeats the names of his loved ones, calling on their strength and love to protect him and praying he will be released in time for the birth of his first child. A riveting, heart-wrenching memoir, Rosewater offers insight into the past seventy years of regime change in Iran, as well as the future of a country where the democratic impulses of the youth continually clash with a government that becomes more totalitarian with each passing day. An intimate and fascinating account of contemporary Iran, it is also the moving and wonderfully written story of one family’s extraordinary courage in the face of repression.Now a major motion picture directed by Jon Stewart - Previously published as Then They Came for Me.
Markings
Dag Hammarskjöld - 1963
A dramatic account of spiritual struggle, Markings has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers since it was first published in 1964.Markings is distinctive, as W.H. Auden remarks in his foreword, as a record of "the attempt by a professional man of action to unite in one life the via activa and the via contemplativa." It reflects its author's efforts to live his creed, his belief that all men are equally the children of God and that faith and love require of him a life of selfless service to others. For Hammarskjöld, "the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action." Markings is not only a fascinating glimpse of the mind of a great man, but also a moving spiritual classic that has left its mark on generations of readers.
Revelation: The Story of Muhammad
Meraj Mohiuddin - 2015
SIRAH TEXTBOOKDiscover how complex forces shaped the Prophet's life. Each segment of the Sirah is presented in a refreshingly succinct and high yield approach that guarantees mastery of the most authoritative sources of the Prophetic biography.QUR’ANIC VERSESExperience the Qur'an unfold, with 400+ verses that are chronologically woven into an authentic narrative of Prophet Muhammad’s life (pbuh).FIGURES & VISUAL AIDESRetain critical details with the help of 90+ original figures (maps, family trees, and infographics) that simplify complex material and boost retention. COMMENTARY POINTSExamine the very best commentaries on important and challenging topics by a diverse array of respected scholars and authors including Hamza Yusuf, Tariq Ramadan, Karen Armstrong, Adil Salahi, and Reza Aslan.GLOSSARY OF NAMESConnect the dots with an extensive glossary of 400+ entries that highlight each individual, their relationship with others, and the role they played.SIRAH TIMELINEMemorize the Sirah timeline in 10 minutes by gaining access to an innovative system that bypasses years of rote memorization.
On the Road with Joseph Smith: An Author's Diary
Richard L. Bushman - 2007
After delivering the final proofs of his landmark study, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling to Knopf in July 2005, Bushman crisscrossed the country from coast to coast, delivering numerous addresses on Joseph Smith at scholarly conferences, academic symposia, and firesides. This startlingly candid memoir concludes eleven months later with an article written for Common-Place in August 2006. Bushman confesses to hope and humility, an unexpected numbness when he expected moments of triumph, and genuine apprehension as he awaits reviews. He frets at the polarization that dismissed the book as either too hard on Joseph Smith or too easy. He yields to a very human compulsion to check sales figures on amazon.com, but partway through the process stepped back with the recognition, "The book seems to be cutting its own path now, just as [I] hoped." For readers coming to grips with the ongoing puzzle of the Prophet and the troublesome dimensions of their own faith, Richard Bushman, a temple sealer and stake patriarch but also a prize-winning scholar, openly but not insistently presents himself as a believer. "I believe enough to take Joseph Smith seriously," he says. He draws comfort both from what he calls his "mantra" ("Today I will be a follower of Jesus Christ") and also from ongoing engagement with the intellectual challenges of explaining Joseph Smith.