Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys (National Endowment for the Humanities Award): Literary Reflections

Translation of: Manṭiq al-ṭayr.

Prologue: the story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad, His Vizier's Daughter -- The story of the merchant and the demon -- The story of the fisherman and the demon -- The story of the porter and the three ladies -- The story of the three apples -- The story of the hunchback -- The story of the Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar and the slave-girl Shams al-Nahar -- The story of the slave-girl Anis al Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan -- The story of Jullanar of the sea.

"I was born in a harem in 1940 in Fez, Morocco..." So begins Fatima Mernissi in the exotic and rich narrative of a childhood behind the iron gates of a domestic harem. In Dreams of Trespass, Mernissi weaves her own memories with the dreams and memories of the women who surrounded her in the courtyard of her youth--women who, deprived of access to the world outside, recreated it from sheer imagination. This book is the provocative story of a girl confronting the mysteries of time and place, gender and sex in the recent Muslim world.--Back cover.

"Returning to Turkey from exile in the West, Ka is driven by curiosity to investigate a surprising wave of suicides among religious girls forbidden to wear their head scarves in school. But the epicenter of the suicides, the eastern border city of Kars, is also home to the radiant and newly divorced Ipek, a friend of Ka's youth, whom he has never forgotten and whose spirited younger sister is a leader of the rebellious schoolgirls. As a fierce snowstorm descends on Kars, violence between the military and local Islamic radicals begins to explode, and Ka finds his sympathies drawn in unexpected and dramatic directions."--P. [2] of jacket.

In her Muslim hijab, with her downturned gaze, Najwa is invisible to most eyes, especially to the rich families whose houses she cleans." "Twenty years ago, Najwa then at university in Khartoum, would never have imagined that one day she would be a maid. An upper-class, westernised Sudanese, her dreams were to marry well and raise a family. But Najwa's days of innocence ended when a military coup forced the young woman and her family into political exile in London." "The years that follow hold more trials for Najwa and she must face the fact that she has come down in the world. But she finds solace in her visits to the Regent's Park Mosque, companionship among the Muslims she meets there and strength in the hijab she adopts. Her dreams of love may have shattered but her awakening to Islam has brought her a different peace." "Then Najwa meets Tamer, the intense, lonely younger brother of her employer. They find a common bond in faith and slowly, silently, begin to fall in love." "Minaret is a portrait of a woman given a second chance at life, and a unique look at the life of a devout Muslim woman in England.