BOOK
REVIEWS
The
Saddlebag, Bahiyyih Nakhjavani Published by
Bloomsbury
This magical novel takes
as its starting point the theft of a saddlebag from a merchant
on the Mecca-Medina pilgrimage route. The saddlebag contains
rolls of parchment covered with holy texts - and it begins
to weave a spell on a caravan of characters who come into
contact with it.
This is a Canterbury Tales
in middle-eastern guise. Each character is on a journey towards
knowledge and self-realisation, and is known only by their
occupation. And in each, the saddlebag's secrets uproot and
transform their perceptions of self and truth.
Through the personal stories
of each of the characters whom the theft of the saddlebag
touches, one sees the truth unfolding in various ways, each
story gives a different angle on the event, each character
interprets the events from his or her own viewpoint of experience,
belief or peculiar fatalism. The language of the book is as
rich and interwoven as an intricately-patterned Persian carpet.
And the characters are so well drawn that in some cases their
various odours leap out of the page to perfume or revolt the
readers nostrils.
This is a finely spun spider's
web of a novel, courageous in conception, captivating in its
story telling, filled with a dark and at times, disturbing
wit. Highly recommended.
Religious
Studies Islam and the Baha'i Faith, Moojan
Momen, Published by George Ronald, Oxford
This is an introduction
to the Baha'i religion and its history, written for Muslims.
Many Muslims do not have accurate
information about this fast-growing religion, despite its
birth within a nineteenth century Islamic milieu. Here Dr
Moojan Momen, widely-published author in the field of world
religions, draws on the Qur'an, and authoritative Sunni collections
of traditions and Islamic prophecies
to explain the Baha'i Faith from a Muslim perspective.
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