MSI Press Blog

         Congratulations to Dr. Omar Imady on his book, When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism , being selected as the  Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards  lega cy award in the category of religion.   This book contains 29 stories originally articulated in Arabic by Bashir Al-Bani, Orator of the Grand Mosque of Damascus and one of the masters of the Sufi Naqishbandi Order. They have been compiled, rendered in English, and introduced by Dr. Omar Imady, professor of humanities and political science. The stories are often comic but deep in implication. One story may address the motives underlying human interaction; another may address how hidden principles guide the way in which our lives unfold. A delicate concern for the value, indeed the sacredness, of human value permeates all the stories. This concern is explicated through metaphors, the purest vocabulary of Islamic humanism. Rea...

  Bashir Al-Bani, Orator of the Grand Mosque of Damascus ... Al-Bani’s delicate sensibility often surprised me. This quality could be seen not only in the way in which he seemed to be always worried about people who were suffering but also in his concern for animals, cats in particular. For over seven years, I worked as a Program Officer at the Syrian Office of the United Nations Development Program. In this capacity, I was responsible for a number of development projects supported by UNDP in Syria.  One day I was asked by Al-Bani about the feasibility of initiating a domestic waste recycling program in Damascus. I said I would investigate it but that environment was not one of the areas that I supervised. Little did I know that Al-Bani’s request was destined to be repeated with ever increasing momentum until the question, “What have you done about recycling?” became one that was automatically asked upon my arrival at his home.   “Why?” I finally asked,...

We do not publish fiction, but one of our writers, Omar Imady, writes some pretty terrific novels. His newest is The Gospel of Bethany: Mormon Coffee and Sufi Tea. (The link is to a page that contains all his works.) From the description, it will be a roller coaster experience and emotional wringer of a read. Definitely looking forward to a great bedside book. Recommending it to all, based not only on the description but also on Omar's other work of fiction, The Gospel of Damascus , which is an extraordinary book--and available in four languages: English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. The Gospel of Damascu s is published by Villa Magna; the books are available on Amazon. In addition, Omar has written two works that MSI Press has published: When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism , a delightful book that everyone I know who has read it loves. One Catholic priest uses the stories for his homilies--testimony to the fact that the...