Deep in the heart of seventh-century Arabia, a new prophet named Muhammad has arisen. As his message of enlightenment sweeps through Arabia and unifies the warring tribes, his young wife Aisha recounts Muhammad's astonishing transformation from prophet to warrior to statesman. But just after the moment of her husband's greatest triumph -- the conquest of the holy city of Mecca -- Muhammad falls ill and dies in Aisha's arms. A young widow, Aisha finds herself at the center of the new Muslim empire and becomes by turns a teacher, political leader, and warrior. Written in beautiful prose and meticulously researched, Mother of the Believer is the story of an extraordinary woman who was destined to help usher Islam into the world.
The book opens with a prologue set in mid-sixties London, where Joel Litvinoff, an American civil rights lawyer, meets a young Englishwoman, Audrey. After a brief and apparently casual affair, she decides to go to the United States and marry him. The main narrative then commences in New York in 2002. Joel is 72 and approaching the end of a long and illustrious career as an activist lawyer. He and Audrey live in Greenwich Village and have three adult children: two daughters, Rosa and Karla, and an adopted son, Lenny. Audrey is now an acid-tongued, domineering woman in late middle age who fiercely defends, but never questions, the political stance that has shaped her life. Her most tender feelings appear to be directed towards Lenny, a frequent drug user who is incapable of personal responsibility. Karla, the neglected and under-appreciated oldest child, is a social worker who is married, not very happily, to Mike. They have been trying unsuccessfully to start a family. Rosa works with disadvantaged young girls. She is becoming increasingly interested in Judaism, a faith rejected along with all others by her Jewish parents. For this she is much derided by Audrey. Joel suffers a stroke while in court and is in a coma for most of the time span covered by the book. Audrey is convinced he is not getting proper care in the hospital and creates difficulties for its medical staff. During this time of stress, Karla’s unhappiness with her marriage rises to the surface. She begins an affair with Khaled, originally from Egypt, who runs a newspaper store at the hospital where they both work. Rosa immerses herself in the study of Orthodox Judaism and, though she finds many of its teachings difficult to accept, though she perseveres. A stranger, Berenice Mason, introduces herself to Audrey, claiming that her son is Joel’s illegitimate child. Though Audrey initially dismisses her with contempt, it emerges that her story is true and that Berenice has been receiving regular financial support from Joel. Lenny is persuaded by Audrey’s friend Jean to go to her country home in Pennsylvania for a month in order to get off drugs. He makes great progress there and, when Audrey visits, he proposes settling in Pennsylvania permanently. Appalled by the prospect of losing him, Audrey does her best to discourage the idea. Rosa abandons, and then takes up again, her studies in Orthodox Judaism deciding finally that she must pursue her religious intuitions. Joel dies without regaining consciousness. At his funeral, which is attended by thousands, Audrey gives a eulogy in which she celebrates her 40-year marriage to her husband and makes a public acknowledgment of Berenice and her son. At the reception afterwards, Karla makes a last-minute, momentous decision regarding her own marriage.
This volume contains a collection of studies describing and analyzing stereotypes of women in the religions of Ancient Israel and Mesopotamia, and in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Medieval Christianity, Islam, Indian Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Tibetan religions, and modern Neopaganism. In all these traditions the stereotypes are based on generalizations, which are socially, culturally or religiously legitimized, and which seem to have a lasting influence on society's conceptions of women. They represent oversimplified opinions, which are, however, regularly challenged by the women who are affected by them. In all traditions the stereotypes are ambiguous, either because women have challenged their validity, or because historical developments in society have reshaped them. They influence public opinion by emphasizing dominant views, as a strategy to restrain women and to keep them controlled by the rules and morals of a male-dominated society.
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2018 LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER ALA CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD WINNER Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler • One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “A page turner . . . An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it’s like to live during times of crisis.” —The New York Times Book Review A dazzling novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster. Named a Best Book of 2018 by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, The Seattle Times, Bustle, Newsday, AM New York, BookPage, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Lit Hub, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library and Chicago Public Library
Certainly, the biography of Sayidah A'isha, the Mother of the Believers, has provoked many a topic to occupy historians, students of the Shariah, as well as those who follow their whims and desires, and continues to do so. Truly in her biography is what is worthy to be studied and defended, against those biased ones that bring about doubts and aspersions. Sayidah A'isha (r) had an unparalleled personality. Through which she occupied a special place in the heart of the Messenger of Allah (s) and in his life. It was as if he had prepared her to be one of the preservers of his knowledge. 2210 hadiths have been narrated by her from the Prophet (s). But that is not all, for she was also accomplished in many sciences and in giving legal judgements (ijtihad). Abu Musa Al-Ashari (r) said about her, "Never did a hadith become difficult upon the Companions of the Messenger (s) to understand, except we would ask A'isha and find knowledge of it with her." This book is a response to some of the disconcerting events of her life, accompanied by evidence, proofs and facts.
This book portrays one of the most significant personalities in the history of Islam. Taking the misunderstandings and defamation about her into consideration, Aisha needs to be understood correctly. This study by Dr Resit Haylamaz, an expert on the life of the Prophet and his leading Companions, reflects her life in various aspects based on reliable reports. The book clarifies her critical role at establishing the Islamic teaching, with particular reference to her role in the transmission of private matters concerning women and marital relations, as well as recording the authentic sayings of the Prophet. As her sensitivity at practicing religion is related in a rich variety of examples, much disputed issues like her marriage age and her stance about Ali ibn Abi Talib are covered as separate topics.
The Virtue of the Salaf Over the Khalaf (Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali). These are some brief words about the meaning of knowledge and its classification into that which is beneficial and that which is not; as well as a note regarding the excellence of the knowledge of the Salaf over that of the Khalaf. The way and wisdom of the Salaf, all goodness lies in traversing the way of the Salaf, beneficial Knowledge with regards the ?Inner Sciences?, the foundation of knowledge and many other branches of the beneficial knowledge.
