New Releases

Muslims and Christians Debate Justice and Love

David L. Johnston 2020. Pp. 202. HB. $100.00. PB. $32.00. eBook. $32.00 Equinox Publishing (U.K.), Bristol, Conn.

Johnston explains the concept of primary justice — what it means and how it can be grounded in the inalienable rights that each human being possesses.

In writing this, he drew inspiration from philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff and the Common Word Letter, a groundbreaking Islamic initiative of 2007 addressed by 138 eminent Muslim scholars and clerics to Pope Benedict XVI and all Christian leaders. This document affirmed that both Judaism and Christianity’s two highest commandments are also at the heart of the Islamic tradition — love of God and love of neighbor.

Each of his seven chapters begins with a case study, thereby emphasizing that justice must be embodied in righteous social, political and economic practices. Along the way, leading contemporary scholars and activists from both traditions urge the reader — Muslim, Christian, or whatever — to look afresh at an age-old conundrum: How do justice and love interact so as to create a world in which everyone finds his or her rightful place?

The Humanity of Muhammad: A Christian View

Craig Considine 2020. Pp. 165. HB. $16.75 Blue Dome Books, Clifton, N.J.

Rice University professor Craig Considine, an American Catholic, provides a sociological analysis of the Prophet’s teachings and example. He shows how the Prophet embraced religious pluralism, envisioned a civic nation, opposed racism, advocated the search for knowledge, initiated women’s rights in his region and followed the Golden Rule. Considine, who wrote this book to build stronger bridges of understanding between Christians and Muslims, discusses an aspect of the Prophet that is often overlooked and forgotten in mainstream depictions and media narratives.

This book adds to the ever-growing body of literature on one of history’s most important human beings.

Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India

Seema Mustafa, ed. 2020. Pp. 288. Kindle. $5.99 Speaking Tiger Books LLP

On Dec. 15, 2019, Indian police in riot gear stormed Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University and attacked students protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which makes religion a factor in obtaining citizenship.

In neighboring Shaheen Bagh, their mothers, relatives and friends rallied to demand its repeal. The CAA, when twinned with the National Register of Citizens, could make India’s Muslims aliens in their own homeland. Within days, similar protests broke out nationwide. Modern India had never seen anything like it.

This book examines how the sit-in by a small group of Muslim women — many of whom had gone outside unaccompanied for the first time ever — united millions of Indians of all faiths and ideologies to defend their constitutionally granted rights of liberty, equality and secularism.

It also raises many important questions: Can the protests reverse the damage done to Indian democracy in recent years? How did this nonviolent movement sustain itself despite the Modi regime’s vilification, threats and persecution? Is this the beginning of new solidarities within Indian society? Will it survive the aftermath of the communal violence that devastated northeast Delhi in February 2020 and the witch-hunt launched under cover of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown?

This necessary collection comprises interviews with some of the brave women at the core of the protests, on-the-ground reports and photographs by journalists.

Students of India’s democracy and its future are strongly advised to read this publication, the first one to deal with one of modern India’s most important civil rights movements.

City Schools and the American Dream 2: The Enduring Promise of Public Education

Pedro A. Noguera and Esa Syeed 2020. Pp. 192. HB. $84.00. PN. $27.95. Kindle $15.37 Teachers College Press, New York, N.Y.

Despite the rhetoric and many reform initiatives, urban schools continue to struggle under the weight of serious challenges. What went wrong and is there hope for future change? More than a new edition, this sequel to the original bestseller has been substantially revised to include insights from new research, recent demographic trends and emerging political realities. In addition to surveying the various limitations that urban schools face, the book also highlights programs, communities and schools that are making good on public education’s promise of equity. It provides a clear-eyed vision of what it will take to ensure the success of city schools and their students.

Book Features: surveys persistent and emerging challenges in urban education; synthesizes the latest education research in a way that is accessible to a wide audience, including teachers, students, administrators, parents, and community partners; and focuses on solutions, highlighting new developm ents and opportunities for achieving educational equity despite ongoing political challenges.

Growing Up an American Muslim Army Brat

Julde Ball 2019. Pp. 523. PB. $19.99. Kindle. $9.99 Self-published

“Go back to your country! You do not belong here in the United States because you’re a terrorist!” Harsh statements like these have been directed toward Julde (Jul-DAY), a former U.S. Army brat. These statements began only after she began wearing the hijab in 2014. Her family, just like many other American families, suffered the aftermath of 9/11, especially because her father joined a continual war for six-months every year.

Many people do not view Muslims as being equally threatened by 9/11, provided that the ongoing “war on terror” is understood as a war against Islam. However, this view is mistaken, because during the late 1990s Julde joined other Muslim military families on base to pray, eat iftar dinners and attend jumah services.

The women in her family gradually stopped wearing their hijabs. At that moment, it seemed that being Muslim at heart was good enough. Julde acquired some of her basic knowledge of Islam from military wives who taught her to read Arabic, explained various Quranic narratives and offered valuable words of advice.

Fitting in as a child was difficult, for she evidently didn’t celebrate the regular holidays. After classmates questioned this, she made an unexpected discovery: She is Muslim. This often led her to feel lonely as a U.S. Army brat — as if they didn’t already have enough obstacles, like changing their neighborhood, schools and friends every few years.

As an adult and despite being cursed out, pushed, kicked or ignored, Julde continues to wear her hijab on the grounds that this is her country as well as that of the many other Muslim Americans who look like her. She hopes that her story can help change existing negative realities.

Wisdom from the Quran: Essays in a Contemporary Context

Nilofar Ahmed 2020. Pp. 355. Amazon PB. $18.00. Kindle. $9.99 Independently Published.

Earlier, shorter versions of the essays contained in “Wisdom from the Quran” were published in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, which helped it acquire a wider international readership. Readers found answers to difficult questions, as the author makes serious scholarship easily accessible. Each section touches upon controversial themes and brings many of Islam’s spiritual and theological concepts, legal arguments, social and gender ethics to the fore. It also serves as a good reference book, for Quran and Hadith citations are given for each topic discussed.

This collection would be of interest to Muslim as well as non-Muslim readers of all ages. ih