A searing, beautiful novel meditating on war, violence, memory, and the sufferings of the Palestinian people Finalist for the National Book Award Longlisted for the International Booker Prize Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba—the catastrophe that led to the displacement and exile of some 700,000 people—and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers murder an encampment of Bedouin in the Negev desert, and among their victims they capture a Palestinian teenager and they rape her, kill her, and bury her in the sand. Many years later, in the near-present day, a young woman in Ramallah tries to uncover some of the details surrounding this particular rape and murder, and becomes fascinated to the point of obsession, not only because of the nature of the crime, but because it was committed exactly twenty-five years to the day before she was born. Adania Shibli masterfully overlays these two translucent narratives of exactly the same length to evoke a present forever haunted by the past.

"Scientists have developed a substance that can destroy crops across America. Your mission, Mr. Horani, is to deliver it into the hands of al-Quaida." So begins "Shibli" -- a riveting political thriller by author Paul Brooks. A former Navy SEAL with a sterling record, Shibli Horani returns to civilian life in Texas. In the wake of 9/11, with customers shunning Arab-American businesses, he is struggling to keep the family company afloat while caring for his widowed mother. Shibli's military prowess and fluency in Arabic have come to the attention of the ICTA, a shadowy antiterrorist organization that offers him $1.5 million for a brief job as a courier. Desperate for money and eager to serve his country again, he accepts and soon finds he is in way over his head. His new employers have no respect for the laws of civilized society and no qualms in trampling the U.S. constitution or in killing innocent people. Trapped in a perilous arena of global espionage and political intrigue, Shibli must embark on a dangerous odyssey that takes him halfway around the world. With the CIA, the Israeli MOSSAD, and a band of al-Qaida fanatics all wanting him dead, he must use his quick thinking, linguistic skills, and military training to stay alive. Worse than the physical danger is the psychological conflict that arises when Shibli learns the true extent of the evil he has enabled. Against overwhelming odds and at the risk of everything, including his own life and the life of the woman he has come to love, he must violently oppose it.

Touch centers on a girl, the youngest of nine sisters in a Palestinian family. In the singular world of this novella, this young woman’s everyday experiences resonate until they have become as weighty as any national tragedy. The smallest sensations compel, the events of history only lurk at the edges--the question of Palestine, the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. In a language that feels at once natural and alienated, Shibli breaks with the traditions of modern Arabic fiction, creating a work that has been and will continue to be hailed across literatures. Here every ordinary word, ordinary action is a small stone dropped into water: of inevitable consequence. We find ourselves mesmerized one quiet ripple at a time.

Considers what is known of acclaimed early Sufi master Ab? Bakr al-Shibl? and how he was characterized in various times and places. Early Sufi master Ab? Bakr al-Shibl? (d. 946) is both famous and unknown. One of the pioneers of Islamic mysticism, he left no writings, but his legacy was passed down orally, and he has been acclaimed from his own time to the present. Accounts of Shibl? present a fascinating figure: an eccentric with a showy red beard, a lover of poetry and wit, an ascetic who embraced altered states of consciousness, and, for a time, a disturbed man confined to an insane asylum. Kenneth Avery offers a contemporary interpretation of Shibl?’s thought and his importance in the history of Sufism. This book surveys the major sources for Shibl?’s life and work from both Arabic and Persian traditions, detailing the main facets of his biography and teachings and documenting the evolving figure of a Sufi saint. Shibl?’s relationships with his more famous colleague Junayd and his infamous colleague ?all?j are discussed, along with his Qur’?nic spirituality, his poetry, and the question of his periodic insanity. “A very fine contribution to the history of Sufism.” — John Renard, editor of Fighting Words: Religion, Violence, and the Interpretation of Sacred Texts

This is an exposition of the pre-mode Indian thinker, Shibli Nu'mani, and his religious and political ideas. Originally presented as the author's thesis (M.A.), McGill University, 1973. In this book the learned authoress has studied Shibli Nu'mani at length in relation particularly to his religious and political writings, and has tried to bring to light, or rather to life, certain moribund aspects of Shibli's manifold intellectual personality. In the process she has been able to present a vastly modified picture especially of Shibli's religious thinking, and has generally shown that Shibli had a much more modern mind than he is usually credited with. "The debt of the scholarly community to the author; says Charles J. Adams in his Foreword to the book, is due not only for the first full-length study in English of a compelling personality and for the are and thoroughness with which the work has been done, but also for the liveliness of the style in which the whole is presented. Mrs. Murad has achieved a compact presentation of her subject in language that is clear, forceful and readable, making her book a pleasure to read." About Allama Shibli Nu'mani

institutions who ruled over its body politic.