By Carla Power
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • nationwide booklet AWARD FINALIST • Named A most sensible booklet of the yr by way of The Washington submit and The Denver Post • Praised via Fareed Zakaria as “intelligent, compassionate, and revealing,” a strong trip to aid bridge one of many maximum divides shaping our international today.
If the Oceans have been Ink is Carla Power's eye-opening tale of ways she and her longtime good friend Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi stumbled on how to confront grotesque stereotypes and protracted misperceptions that have been cleaving their groups. Their friendship-between a mundane American and a madrasa-trained sheikh-had constantly appeared not going, yet now they have been annoyed and bewildered by means of the battles being fought of their names. either knew shut examine the Quran could exhibit a religion that preached peace and never mass homicide; appreciate for girls and never oppression. they usually launched into a yearlong trip throughout the arguable text.
A journalist who grew up within the Midwest and the center East, energy bargains her distinctive vantage aspect at the Quran's so much provocative verses as she debates with Akram at cafes, relations gatherings, and packed lecture halls, conversations choked with either stable humor and strong insights. Their tale takes them to madrasas in India and pilgrimage websites in Mecca, as they come across politicians and jihadis, feminist activists and conservative students. Armed with a brand new realizing of every other's worldviews, strength and Akram provide eye-opening views, smash long-held myths, and exhibit startling connections among worlds that experience appeared hopelessly divided for much too long.
Praise for If the Oceans have been Ink
“A shiny story of a friendship.... If the Oceans have been Ink is a welcome and nuanced examine Islam [and] is going a ways towards struggling with the dehumanizing stereotypes of Muslims which are all too common…. If the Oceans have been Ink could be vital studying for the fifty two percentage of usa citizens who admit not to understanding adequate approximately Muslims.”―The Washington Post
“Journalist strength writes approximately her 12 months learning the Quran with a Muslim pupil she befriended whereas operating at a imagine tank in London. For a few, this may be a robust advent to Islam. To others, it really is fodder for dialogue at the Sheikh's perspectives, how Westerners (such as strength) interpret these perspectives and the interaction of tradition and religion.” ―The Denver submit
“For all those that ask yourself what Islam says approximately conflict and peace, women and men, Jews and gentiles, this is often the booklet to learn. it's a dialog between well-meaning friends―intelligent, compassionate, and revealing―the type that should be happening round the world.”―Fareed Zakaria, writer of The Post-American World
“Carla Power’s intimate portrait of the Quran, instructed with nuance and nice splendor, captures the extreme, dwelling debate over the Muslim holy book’s very essence. A lively, compelling read.”―Azadeh Moaveni, writer of Lipstick Jihad
“An inspiring tale of 2 [people] from various worlds who refuse to enable spiritual and cultural alterations, prejudice, and lack of understanding get in the best way in their friendship, If the Oceans have been Ink is as thought-provoking because it is elegantly written. It takes a tough, hugely charged subject and places it into phrases that aren't basically comprehensible and eye-opening, yet beautiful.”―Bustle (11 superbly Written Memoirs via Women)
“Unique, masterful, and deeply enticing. Carla strength takes the reader on a unprecedented trip in interfaith knowing as she debates and discovers the Quran’s message, that means, and values on peace and violence, gender and veiling, non secular pluralism and tolerance.”―John L. Esposito, college Professor and Professor of Islamic reviews, Georgetown college, and writer of The way forward for Islam
“A considerate, provocative, clever book.”―Diana Abu-Jaber, writer of Birds Of Paradise and The Language of Baklava
“With a journalist’s brain for the tale, a born traveler’s center for the journey of crossing borders, and a seeker’s yen for the poetry and mysticism of trust, strength creates an excellent list of a undying quest.”―Merritt Tierce, a countrywide ebook origin “5 lower than 35” honoree and writer of Love Me Back
Read or Download If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran PDF
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Additional resources for If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran
Sample text
Until a minute ago, I’d assumed that the sort of person who rereads Tender Is the Night and writes on twentiethcentury intellectual history would deem reading the Quran a worthy pursuit. I finished my monologue, triumphantly forked some kale into my mouth, swallowed, and parried. “Why? ” “They’re living in the medieval ages,” Hans said breezily. ” I’d heard this dozens of times before—from London taxi drivers, on Midwestern talk radio, and even from cultivated types like Hans. Had it not been for the din of kids bickering over whether to watch Peter Pan or Snow White, perhaps I would have retorted that fundamentalists can’t be dismissed as medieval.
Like Hans’s casual denunciations of Islam at lunch, it suggested that prejudice lurked in unlikely places. It disturbed me. Not as a Jew, but as a humanist. Maybe studying the Quran with Akram was too risky, like getting your parents to teach you how to drive. In unpacking the Quran’s first sura, we’d strayed from the carefully pruned list of topics we’d stuck to for twenty years. We’d veered off our own straight path and onto the hard shoulder of the road. So much of my enthusiasm for Islamic society had been born of the pleasure of finding similarities with my own outlooks.
As a scholar, he was incredulous; as a journalist, I wasn’t. Gore and absolutes always grab people’s attention faster than poetry and nuance. Akram smiled conspiratorially. “People are really very shocked when I tell them that the four schools of law aren’t really that important,” he said. ” I wasn’t convinced. More people were reading it, but it still created controversy. Men still used the Quran to legitimize their actions when they beat their wives. Bin Laden had used the Quran to declare war on all those he deemed infidels.