Sufi

A thought-provoking book, The Scientific Sufi takes readers on a journey through the life and experiences of Jagadish Chandra Bose. The title suggests that Bose believed in the coexistence of contrary things and the book itself is a profound exploration of the man’s personal growth, familial bonds, cultural influences, and dogged pursuit of knowledge. Meher Wan’s evocative storytelling leaves a lasting impact and his attention to detail immerses readers in Bose’s world. PREMIUM Jagadish Chandra Bose demonstrating…

I am not a believer, but long ago as a young woman I had somehow felt connected with Jesus. Not the Bible, not the priests and nuns, not the sermons, just the person. The mystique inspired curiosity. What is it about religious icons that makes us want to relate to them as real people even as we know that the world deifies them? How does it, then, make us different from a pop version of Herod who baits Christ to “walk across my swimming pool”? Would a human ‘divinity’ by its very accessibility cease to rise above such…

The Last White Man, your new novel about a white man waking up to find that his skin is dark, has Kafkaesque undertones. It’s unlike anything you have written. And yet, this novel — laced with loss and rediscovery — seems to be in a continuum with your previous novels. Did it spring from the personal like some of your earlier work? This novel sprang from an experience I had myself. Having lived in the US, I had experienced some degree of discrimination, but it had not been particularly pronounced. It was not something…

In ways more than one, Abkar Ali Samandar is chosen: by God, by family, and by faith. In Prodigal, Irshad Abdulkadir presents a microcosm of the eternal struggle - one man, many callings. Akbar is torn between education and dogma, between faith and people, between his duty to god and that to his fellow man. Like the blind seeker, he stumbles in the quest of that which he cannot see. Ricocheting between the classrooms of Cambridge, a madrassa in Karachi and the monastic lessons at Dar-ul Aman, Akbar’s quest is reminiscent…