When You're Shoved from the Right, Look to Your Left: Metaphors of Islamic Humanism

by Omar Imady

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 often deep in implication. While one story may address the motives underlying human interaction, another story 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.

148 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2005

About the author

Omar Imady is an uncommon collection of many things – poet, historian, novelist, Syrian, American, exile, Sufi, ‘Alan Wattsian’, cat lover, avid coffee drinker, insatiable gastronome – all of which find expression in his growing repertoire of eclectic fiction. He is the author of multiple novels, including Erasures (Literary Titan Gold Award), Catfishing Caitlyn (Literary Titan Silver Award), The Celeste Experiment (Literary Titan Silver Award), When Her Hand Moves, a collection of three controversial, thought-provoking novellas, and The Gospel of Damascus (2012 Book of the Year Award finalist). His forthcoming books dig ever deeper into the human experience of alienation and the quest for meaning in a world increasingly hostile to answers.

www.oimady.com

Reviews

[Ema · Rating 5 out of 5]

The short stories are simple enough to be told to little children, important enough to engage and teach an adult, and deep enough to give a scholar something to ponder. I loved it.