“Arabic is a subtle and sinuous language. Like all Semitic languages, it plays on words, taking a three-consonant root and building on it to create what sometimes seems an infinite number of meanings. Even the exact same word can have different connotations, depending on the context. Perhaps the best-known example is jihad, struggle, which can be either the inner striving to live the Islamic life and attain a higher level of spiritual consciousness, or the external armed confrontation with those seen as enemies of Islam.”
― After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
― After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
“Man journeys in darkness, and his destiny journeys toward him,” he said, and traveled on.”
― After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
― After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
“Arabia would not exert political power again for more than a thousand years, until the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect emerged from the central highlands in the eighteenth century to carry out violent raids against Shia shrines in Iraq and even against the holy places of Mecca and Medina.”
― After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
― After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
Yousaf’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Yousaf’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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