This high adventure, in loosely metered heroic couplets, follows Abdallah Jones on his quest to capture the ball of disappearing-dust from the mad Sorcerer and stop the destruction of the world. He has been given the task by his Sufi shaykh, which takes him to the SorcererâÂÂs castle, where he meets Marbug the elf, Neptune, the King of the Jinn, and a collection of sweet and evilly dangerous characters along the way with more cliff-hangers and near-deaths than anyone but Abdallah should have to endure â and finally to Madina, the city of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, his shaykh and people from the âÂÂUmma of Islam from all over the world, and a marvelous solution to the whole caper. Black and white illustrations throughout by the author illuminate the text.

The English explorer and author Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-90) began his long and adventurous career in India, where he arrived in 1842 to join the 18th regiment of Bombay infantry as a young commissioned officer. In 1844 Burton's regiment was posted to Sind, the province located in present-day southeastern Pakistan, at that time only recently annexed by the British. Burton lived in Sind for a number of years and published three early books based on his experiences and observations: Scinde, or, The Unhappy Valley (two volumes, 1851), Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus (1851), and Falconry in the Valley of the Indus (1852). The "unhappy valley" of the title of his first book refers to the valley of the Indus, which, along with the Indus River delta, largely defines the geography of Sind. More than two decades later, in 1875-76, Burton and his wife Isabel made a return visit to the province. Sind Revisited, published in London in 1877, is a result of this later journey. The book contains Burton's observations on the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad; the state of the Anglo-Indian army; relations among Muslims and Hindus and, in particular, the relentless pressure on the Hindus to convert to Islam; Sindi men and women; the Indus Valley Railway; and many other topics. Throughout, Burton uses the literary device of a fictitious traveling companion, "Mr. John Bull," to whom he addresses comments and asides. He also includes translations of poems and summaries of colorful local tales and legends, for example, that of "the seven headless prophets." In concluding remarks, Burton judges British rule to have had a positive influence, by bringing improvements in health and access to education for the Sindi people. The book is indexed but has no maps or illustrations.

The important role of the Prophet Muhammad in the everyday lives of Muslims is usually overlooked by Western scholars and has consequently never been understood by the Western world. Using original sources in the various Islamic languages, Annemarie Schimmel explains the central place of Muhammad in Muslim life, mystical thought, and poetry. She sees the veneration of Muhammad as having many parallels in other major religions. In order to understand Muslim piety it is necessary to take into account the long history of the veneration of Muhammad. Schimmel discusses aspects of his life, birth, marriage, miracles, and heavenly journey, all of which became subjects for religious devotions. By using poetic texts and artistic expressions and by examining daily Muslim religious practices, Schimmel shows us the gentler side of Islamic religious culture, providing a much-needed understanding of religion as it is experienced and practiced in the Islamic world. This is the first book in English to deal with all aspects of the veneration of the Prophet Muhammad. It is an expanded version of Schimmel's Und Muhammad Ist Sein Prophet, originally published in German in 1981.

From the two Time correspondents who cracked the story, the definitive book on the Bank of Credit and Commerce International: an explosive, fast-paced expose of one of the largest criminal conspiracies in history. Beaty and Gwynne's riveting first-person account not only puts all the pieces together for the first time, but brings to life the cloak-and-dagger intrigue that surrounded their investigation. 16 pages of photos.

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