Middle East/North African Lit discussion

I would like to strongly recommend this UAE book to everyone. Written in the form of letters to a young man by his diplomat/intellectual father, it is a must read.It is impossible to overstate the importance of this book. It offers an extraordinarily different view of Islam and its role in the modern world. Mr Ghobash has the courage to confront head on questions about his religion that have so far been a taboo. He challenges many established views with knowledge and candidness. His solution to Islamic radicalism and jihadism is not the Islamic Ummah (community) but Muslim Individualism. In the current atmosphere of religious distrust and violence, this book is a strong voice of wisdom.

Hi Ewa, thanks for your post. I read this book, and appreciated that it introduced me to the man behind the Banipal Saif Ghobash Prize for literary translation from Arabic to English.

He is also behind the Arabic Man Booker.

I have also read it and thoroughly enjoyed his perspective. It was interesting to see how he sheds light on topics that are rarely touched upon in the GCC society.

Thank you for recommending this book. I am reading it and sending a copy to my college English professor who has a radio show about books.