In The Niche of Lights, al-Ghazali, “The Alchemist of Happiness,” gives an exegesis of the Qur’anic Lights Verse (Q. 24:35) and the “Veils Hadith.” In doing so, he posits a metaphysics of light, including an ontology and epistemology, from a Sufi perspective. I enjoyed reading al-Ghazali’s The Niche of Lights as much as his autobiographical work, Deliverance from Error, and look forward to reading The Incoherence of the Philosophers. I also enjoyed The film Al-Ghazali: The Alchemist of Happiness by Ovidio Salazar.

A short summary of Aristotle’s life and works. Includes a brief synopsis of the influence of Aristotelianism on Islamic philosophy and Christian theology, mentioning Neoplatonism, Averroes, Avicenna, and Aquinas.

Truth or fiction? You be the judge! The word “memoir” is printed on the back of the book. It is well written and says a lot between the lines. It is well worth reading for the questions is raises, if not the answers it proposes. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it too.

If like me, and Dictionary Days author, Ilan Stavans, you collect and read dictionaries and are passionate about language, this book is for you. It is a well written, entertaining, and informative meditation on dictionaries. I look forward to Ilan Stavan’s and Veronica Albin’s Love and Language due out October 28, 2008.

I learned the Arabic script using Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds.

Required reading for anyone serious about understanding Arabs. Forget what you think you know about Arabs and find out what you didn’t know you didn’t know. This is the book on this subject.

I’ve decided to put studying Chinese on hold while learning Arabic.

I learned the Arabic script using Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds.

I learned the Arabic script using Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds.

In his foreword to this biography by BYU professor Daniel C. Peterson, Khaleel Mohammed states that Muhammad founded “not only a world religion but also and empire and a civilization,” and “was undoubtedly one of the most influential men in history.” He adds that “amid the swirl of current judgments regarding Muslims and their religion, this book … offers a concise, objective, accessible biography of the first Muslim. I am inclined to agree. In the end, however, as the author states in the last paragraph of the last chapter, “Muhammad remains today, a challenge for interpretation, a complex but commanding figure—much as he was for his own contemporaries.”