MSI Press Blog

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Each month, we share near-daily, or as often as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  Road to Damascus  by Elaine Imady. Description: Recommended by US Review of Books and First Runner-Up in the Eric Hoffer Awards legacy competition, Road to Damascus describes the Middle Eastern journey of an American who meets and falls in love with a Syrian when they are both attending school in New York. Giving up her country and her religion to follow her husband back to Syria, Elaine Imady has made a life that has successfully bridged two cultures a...

  Excerpt from Thoughts without a Title , edited by Geri Henderson. The Forest Whispers My Name  by Yousef Belbeisi When my thoughts weigh heavy with the burden of time,  I walk in the dim-lit forest, wasting precious time. I hear my name being whispered in the wind, It’s saying “You are needed here once again.” An eagle cries among the trees. Its scream shivers along my skin, Like raking claws along dead prey. These whispering voices talk of my fate. The howling wolves at midnight day, The dim light of the moon becomes my dead lights. It shines on me wherever I go. It claims my soul never leaving me alone. I raise my hands to the naked dark sky. I feel myself being lifted to far away places,  Now traveling lifetimes, Never being able to stop.  And finally, I see the face of God. ---- Paperback copies available at MSI Press webstore . Use coupon code FF25 for 25% discount. For more posts about this book, click  HERE . For more book excerpts, click  HER...

  MSI Press authors are located all over the world. Getting to know the authors can also mean getting to know a new part of the world. We will be sharing this information on a regular basis. Follow us and map our authors' locations. Elaine Imady, author of Road to Damascus , is in Syria. Here is some information about Damascus.  C Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 2.4 m (8 ft) below the modern level. [ citation needed ]   The   Citadel of Damascus   is in the northwest corner of the Old City. The   Damascus Straight Street   (referred to in the account of the   conversion   of   St. Paul   in   Acts   9:11), also known as the   Via Recta , was the   decumanus   (east–west main street)...

  The Severe Trial During the ninth century, the Abbasid khalifah1 al-Mamun (r. 813-833) set out to convert ahl al-sunnah, or the traditionalists who emphasized the authority of the Qur’an and Prophetic traditions, to a theological doctrine held by the Muc tazilah, or the rationalists who emphasized the authority of reason and philosophical principles. Traditionalist scholars were forced to recant their belief in the non-created nature of the Qur’an in favor of the rationalist doctrine which held that the Qur’an was a creation of God. Those who refused were tortured and, at times, executed. In 848, fifteen years after the beginning of the government sponsored inquisition, termed al-Mihnah, or the Severe Trial, by Muslim historians, al-Mutawakkil (r. 847-861) ordered the end of all government sponsored attempts to enforce the rationalist doctrine. Al-Mutawakkil’s decision reflected his awareness that the inquisition had simply not succeeded and that its continuation might ...

  photo includes Princess Muna of Jordan (mother of King Abdullah) in the center and Dr. Betty Leaver, MSI Press editor, second from the right; others - members of a visiting delegation We are happy tp provide you with a taste of the Middle East. Each of the books below contains nuggets and insights that are hard to find elsewhere -- written by the residents of the Middle East. Follow the links to more information. Damascus amid the War by Muna Imady Written by popular author, Muna Imady, whose book, Syrian Folktales, has delighted an uncountable number of readers outside of Syria, Damascus amid the War tells the very human story of the devolution of a society. The book containts 29 pre-war poins, vibrant with imagery of daily life in a robust Damascus. The 100 war poems that follow show the devastating affect on the people who navigate a daily existence after war came. This is a posthumous publication, containing Muna’s very last works and an introduction by her mother,...

Released today, Damascus amid the War by Muna Imady, author of Syrian Folktales .    For more information about Muna and her books, click HERE .

This book is a collection of short stories, poetry, and dramatic essays, written by students and faculty of the New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan, a rich mix of Arab and American authors, reflecting on experiences in the Middle East and elsewhere. To see other works by Dr. Geri Henderson, click HERE . Available from MSI Press webstore .