SKY OF RED POPPIES – Zohreh Ghahremani – (2010)
FEMALE IMPOWERMENT, in one word describes this novel, by Zohreh Ghahremani. Shireen and Roya are two young women who went to school together and became dear friends.
Like most friendships they are the same, yet different.
It is the differences in their journey through life, that is the storyline behind this novel. Happiness, joy, disappointment and tragedy unfold in the pages.
The author has the ability to hold your attention. Added to this is the use of Iran as a backdrop. Do not think you can guess the ending, but even if you can figure it out, their journey is thought provoking.
Thomas Jefferson’s Qu’ran, Islam and the Founders
Denise A. Spellberg
If you are an historian, especially one who followed Thomas Jefferson, it would not be surprising to discover that he owned and read the Quran. Jefferson used the teachings of the book in determining whether or not the United States would be an exclusive Protestant nation. But it is not that quite that simple and after reading the following review as posted by Amazon, one will feel the urge and need to read the book in its entirety.
In other words one should not, as we so often do, be quick to judge, especially when opinion is based on what we hear and read and not a result of research and comparison.
“Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role.
In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law.
Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country.
Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America.
In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics.
The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done.
As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever.
Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.”
Fanatism
Dr. Samar
AuthorHouse, 2011
This book is about the journey of two men, who by happen chance meet on a ski slope in Switzerland. Both are physicians and their chance meeting is the start of a very interesting relationship, disclosed in the final chapter. This is a true story, directly written by the author. The lack of editing makes the story more inviting as you can truly feel his emotions.