MSI Press Blog

  Well, we missed an absolutely fantastic book review of  Road to Damascus  (Elaine Imady) by Kirsten Bardwell, writing in Beloved Syria , a beautiful journal. While it is an older review, coming out in 2017, it is still very worthwhile reading, not just for the review, but for the greater setting described by Bardwell and the relevant photos. Well done, Kirsten! You can read the full review, preserved along with its beautiful photographs HERE . Book Award First Runner-up, Eric Hoffer Award For more posts about Elaine and her book, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow  MSI Press  on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI...

  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 ...

Review on Library Thing: First and foremost, I LOVE his message and I pledged myself to the Giving Pledge. You must read the book to get the true message. In the beginning of the book are listed the ten rules of power. Dr. Husain, M.D. uses stories to show you the way and the light. He even brings up the question "Why am I here?", and he answers it so eloquently. He is a devout Muslim. He quoted Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi. He also took similar quotes from five religions to show that the message is universal. He even said atheists can benefit from the message as well. This is NOT a religious book. It is meant for EVERYONE. It is a book well worth the read. It took me a bit longer to read this book because I wanted to study and ponder Dr. Husain's wisdom. I am so glad I did. My favorite story is about a young lady helping Dr. Husain during the war in Bosnia. She is Elma Dizdar, who risked her life to help save others. She gave a monumental speech regarding ...

Read Omar Imady's new article, "The Weaponization of Syria's Reconstruction" in the latest issue of " Syria Studies ":  Find Omar's MSI Press books at our webstore: