Saturday, Oct 30: Islam and Authors welcomes Sumbul Ali-Karamali, author of "The Muslim Next Door:
the Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing," in conversation with Wajahat Ali and Jason van Boom. Join us for our onstage conversation, audience Q-and-A and book signing.
Sumbul Ali-Karamali combines scholarship and storytelling in "The Muslim
Next Door." This book responds to the questions Muslims get in daily
life from friends, co-workers, and strangers. It makes scholarship about
the real principles of Islam, and the history of Islamophobia,
accessible to everyone.
"This book is basically what you wish you can give to those people who ask you all
those
questions that you have to answer over and over again. Now you can just
hand them this book and trust that it’ll answer their questions."
- Muslimah Media Watch
Tickets: $10 general, $5 students.
Date and Time: Saturday, October 30, at 6 pm
Location: Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California
1433 Madison Street (between 14th and 15th streets), Oakland, 94612
Email: islamandauthors@iccnc.org
Phone: (510) 832-7600
Sumbul Ali-Karamali grew up in Southern California in an ethnically
South Asian family. She earned her undergraduate degree in English, with
Distinction, from Stanford University. After working as an editor in a
publishing company, she attended law school and graduated with her J.D.
from the University of California at Davis. She practiced corporate law
in San Francisco for several years.
Although always a practicing Muslim, Sumbul began the formal study of
Islam when she attended the University of London’s School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS). She graduated from SOAS with her L.L.M. in
Islamic Law, with Distinction. She has taught Islamic law as a teaching
assistant at the University of London, worked as a research associate
at the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law in London, and lectured
on Islam and Islamic law. She has had many articles published, both in
mainstream news publications and legal journals. Her first book, an
accessible yet scholarly, anecdote-filled introduction to Islam and
Islamic law written for the lay reader, was published by White Cloud
Press in September of 2008 and is called The Muslim Next Door: the Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing.
"Sumbul Ali-Karamali has a gift for explaining the ins and outs of Islam
in a language understandable by all. As a practicing Muslim, she puts a
human face on a religion that is grossly misunderstood and often feared
in America. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more
about Islam from someone who lives it"
- Firoozeh Dumas author of "Funny in Farsi" and "Laughing Without an Accent"
“I wish I could send a copy of The Muslim Next Door not just to every
Muslim extremist, including Bin Laden and his likes, but also to the
President of the United States and his staff, to all policy makers, and
also to every single Islamophobe or self-hating Muslim in the world. If
they read and understood this book, most certainly our world would
become a much better place to live. Since the terrorist attacks of
9/11, the publishing world has generated a virtual flood of books on
Islam and Muslims, and the vast majority of what has been published is
no better than pseudo-intellectual drivel. In my view, however, The
Muslim Next Door is solid intellectual gold! This book easily ranks as
one of the best three books published on the Islamic faith in the
English language since the tragedy of 9/11. It is a profoundly
eloquent, consistently reliable, comprehensive, insightful, and often
brilliant testament of what it means to be a Muslim and what the
religion of Islam is all about. Refreshing in its honesty,
accessibility, and humility, and truly impressive in scope and depth,
this is an indispensable book. Indeed this book is a necessary read not
just for those who are interested in learning about Islam, but even
more so for those who believe that they have learned all there is to
know about Islam.”
-- Khaled Abou El Fadl, J.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Immigration, Middle Eastern, and Islamic Law
UCLA School of Law
Author of numerous books, including
The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists.
“Post 9/11 has seen an explosion of publishing on Islam. For many, the
question is who do I read if I only have a limited amount of time and
want to know what and why Muslims believe what they believe. The Muslim
Next Door is an excellent place to start. Sumbul Ali-Karamali presents
Islam as a living and lived faith. She combines scholarship with an
engaging and accessible style and frank self-criticism that crystallizes
the faith and commitment of a majority of mainstream Muslims in its
unity and diversity".
-- John L. Esposito, Ph.D.
Professor of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University;
Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown;
Author of many publications, including
What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam and
Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.
"There are few books that I would genuinely recommend to everybody I
know, and you are holding one of them. Sumbul Ali-Karamali has written a
lovely, lyrical and learned book about living Islam. Whether you are
an expert in the subject or a novice, a skeptic or a believer, you will
find this book a treasure."
-- Eboo Patel, Ph.D. in the sociology of religion
Author of
Acts of Faith: the Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation;
Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
"A beautiful book. At a time when most Americans are bombarded with
misinformation about Islam and, in particular American Muslims,
Ali-Karamali has written an elegant corrective -- a paean to the faith,
practice, values, and beliefs of the world's second largest religious
community. For anyone who truly wants to know what Muslims believe, this
is the perfect book.”
-- Reza Aslan
Author of
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.
The Muslim Next Door should be required reading in the West at this
time. Ali-Karamali clearly knows her subject both on a personal and
professional level....Just as important, Ali-Karamali writes lucidly on
every imaginable aspect of her topic.
--Book review in January Magazine
This
Islam and Authors event is
co-sponsored by Center for Islamic Studies at Graduate Theological
Union, California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS), Islamic
Scholarship Fund, Islamic Networks Group, ILLUME Magazine, Council for
American-Islamic Relations- San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, and the UC
Berkeley Islamophobia Documentation and Research Project.
