MSI Press Blog

  Today's book excerpt comes from When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to the Left   by Omar Imady . THE SHEEP THAT NEVER LOST HOPE There once was a sheep who dreamed of walking in the very front row of her flock, but each time she tried to move towards the front, she was pushed back by her strong and mighty sisters and brothers. “Know your place, sheep,” they would whisper. “Even the very last row is too much for you.” Day after day the sheep would try to move towards the front row, and day after day she was pushed back with sarcasm. A dawn arrived when the shepherd, after having directed his flock towards the usual northern pasture field, suddenly stopped and decided he would try out a pasture field to the south which he had heard about from one of his friends. With his rod, he gestured to his flock to turn towards the opposite direction and suddenly the sheep, who had never lost hope, found herself in the very front row. For more posts by and about Omar and h

  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 well

  Excerpt from When You're Shoved from the Right Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism (Omar Imady) FOR A FEW SILVER COINS Once a man heard about a place where people worshipped a tree. “These people are under a delusion. They have  replaced the glory of the transcendent God, the secret of all that is alive, with a mere tree? I must save them from this path. I must cut down this tree.” And so, the man climbed on his horse and headed toward the tree. When he got there, he picked up his ax and began to strike at it. People ran to him, yelling, “Stop! This is our most sacred tree.” But everyone who tried to push him away from the tree failed. He was simply too strong and too determined. When everyone was about to give up, an old man approached him and said, “Listen, my friend. The truth is that you have severely surprised these people. They are all very devoted to this tree, and they will be very hurt if they see it cut down today. However, if you were to wait just until t

  It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's topic digresses -- into the absurd, perhaps. Today, I sent for the third time, ARC labels to wone of our authors. The first time the labels disappeared. The second time, they were inexplicably directed to an IRS office in another state. Totally insane! Fingers crossed for a safe arrival this time. Today's experience reminded me of other unexpected, funny, and heartwarming experiences that have occurred over the 20 years MSI Press has been publishing. Here are some of my favorite, somewhat inexplicable stories. When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism is a great little book, trul

  Congratulations to MSI Press's many talented authors for a strong showing in the 2020 Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards competition . The books and their awards are listed below. We will present each individual over the next couple of weeks so that readers can get to know the books and their authors. Definitely, each book is deserving (in our admittedly partially biased opinion) of its standing in the competition. Here are the 14 MSI books that placed in the competition. Phoenix Award Best New Voice Health and Fitness: Women, We're Only Old Once by Bertha Cooper. Gold Medal, Education: 10 Quick Homework Tips by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. Silver Medal, Science: Rainstorm of Tomorrow by Renyuan Dong Honorable Mention, Children's Picture Book: Noah's New Puppy by Vincent Rice with Geri Henderson Honorable Mention, Inspiration/Motivation: Weekly Soul by Dr. Frederic Craigie Honorable Mention, Mind, Body, & Spirit: How to Stay Calm in Chaos b

  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 and two con

  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 and two con

  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, “are you so concer

Reissued -- two beloved oldies in the language teaching world. These books have been published continuously since we first published them years back. We transferred them shortly after publication to Villa Magna LLC. Recently, Villa Magna made the decision to focus on the works of Omar Imady (also one of our authors, whose works we will eventually be transferring to Villa Magna) and recently transferred their language books to us. Both books are unique -- and likely foretell the future of language teaching though the focus they suggest is only slowly starting to become part of the profession, on the periphery. We are confident, however, that, in time, they will represent the mainstream of teaching approaches. Communicative Focus   describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as

Wishing all our Islamic friends, fans, and readers Ramadan mubarak wa kareem.  Here are some books that can take your attention away from long days of fasting: Damascus amid the War Poems and stories from before the war in Syria and during the war by a Damascene experiencing the war first-hand. The pre-war poetry reflects the rich and joyful life that existed then, and the poems and stories written later reflect the starkness and fearfulness of life that now surrounds Damascus and its inhabitants. Introductory Lectures on Religious Philosophy This series of lectures is an overview of five ancient philosophical traditions, focusing on the following questions: More than a series of lectures, this collection of dialogues addresses the following questions: What is the relationship between religion and philosophy? What social and psychological functions do religions serve? What does it mean to be educated? Professor Sabzevary's intellectual nuance is matched only by his clarity, not onl

  Today's fortune cookie is associated with The Rise and Fall of Muslim Civil Society by Omar Imady. Read more about this book and its author  HERE .  Get a paperback copy at  MSI Press webstore . If not on sale at the time, use code FF25 to get 25% discount. (Note: the code does not work on books that are already on sale att discounted prices.) 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 . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' P