Pres. Obama gave a shout out to Naif al-Mutawa, creator of the comic book series The 99, during the Entrepreneurship Summit this week. It’s a great series, and Naif is a great guy. If you haven’t seen the comics yet, you must read them.
Related Posts
The Qur’an and Mysticism: A Review of Craig Thompson’s “Habibi”
The Qur'an and Mysticism: A Review of Craig Thompson's "Habibi". It is this esoteric use of language to reveal hidden truths that has captured Craig Thompson's imagination in his long-awaited graphic novel, Habibi. An ambitious, surreal tale of the love between a young Arab girl sold into marriage and the orphan boy she adopts, Habibi spans multiple eras of conflict and change, stretching the lifetimes of its two protagonists over many centuries. The Qur'an is central to Thompson's narrative, though oddly enough the religion of Islam is not. Instead of retreading the usual unpleasant arguments over Islamic law, Thompson ventures…
A Good Essay
Unfortunately, the monography Islamic History as Global History by Richard Eaton seems to be out of print. However, if you can get a used copy, I highly recommend it a good, short (46 pages) introduction to Islamic civilizations as part of global historical processes. While not a true introduction to Islam, it is not meant for a specialized reading audience either. Two passages that leapt out at me are below. Thanks to miamvi for the introduction.
Cambridge Digital Library – University of Cambridge
Cambridge Digital Library – University of Cambridge. Cambridge University Library's collection of Islamic manuscripts dates from the origins of Arabic scholarship in Cambridge in the 1630s when the University founded a Professorship in Arabic and William Bedwell donated a Qur'an to the Library. Since that time the collection has grown in size and diversity to over 5,000 works, including the collections of Thomas Erpenius, J.L.Burckhardt, E.H.Palmer and E.G. Browne. These manuscripts shed light on many aspects of the Islamic world, its beliefs and learning. h/t Gary Bunt