Favorite Quotes: "The Conference of the Birds" by Farid Attar

Image of folio from Metropolitan
Museum of Art

Afkham Darbandi & Dick Davis translated from Persian into English Farid Attar's Mantiq al-Tayr (منطق الطير). The title they chose is The Conference of the Birds. The National Endowment for the Humanities included it in its Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.

There are several translations, and the copy I read included a prologue and an epilogue, which is a revised edition of the first Darbandi & Davis published translation. The ISBN is 9780140444346, and the length is 278 pages. I thought the prologue & epilogue were valuable.

To call Darbandi & Davis translators is quite a misnomer. Their rhyming couplets are so much more than translating.

I also read a picture book version by Rabiah/Alexis York Lumbard, which I hope to write a separate blog entry about.

Review: Minaret by Leila Aboulela

Professor Heather Abdelnur reviewed Minaret by Leila Aboulela.

As the movement goes from late teen’s mini-skirt wearing, callous, and shallow rich girl, to an increasingly religious and conservative working class woman, Aboulela could have made the transformation too fast, too unbelievable, or too cliche.  Instead, the reader believes the changes, comes to understand the transformation of character, and, while wishing for a happy ending that might not come, we do not pity Najwa nor exhault her.  ... read more ...

Dr. Abdelnur has reviewed other books.

Review: The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson

Professor Heather Abdelnur reviewed The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson. I have not yet read it.

After reading it, I’m almost angry.  How could I not have heard of Willow Wilson before?  How had I missed this book? ... read more ...

Review: The Ornament of The World—How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture Of Tolerance In Medieval Spain

The Ornament of The World—How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture Of Tolerance In Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal. Little Brown; 2002.

Reviewed by Dr. Faroque Ahmad Khan in Vol 43, No 1 of the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

YaleNews | In memoriam: María Rosa Menocal - news.yale.edu/2012/10/15/mem… ow.ly/2sLKTx

— Ebadur Rahman (@i_baad) October 19, 2012

Book Review: The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson

The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson. Blackwell Publishing, 2008. ISBN: 9781405122580. 262 pp. Paperback. Find the book in a library near you.

One of the motivations I had for this blog is guiding people to good introductory materials for non-Muslims to learn about Islam. If we can call books like Suzanne Haneef's What Everyone Should Know About Islam and Muslims the first generation of Muslims' attempts to educate non-Muslims about Islam using contemporary English and mass, high-quality publications, Dr. Mattson's book represents a new generation of mass outreach books.