• The Leaf of the Neem Tree

    “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” Reviewed by: Abdul Hai Before starting the review of Jamal Mehmood’s The Leaf of the Neem Tree, I would like to share what Imaam Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya Al- Suli (d.947) stated in his biography of the poet  Abu Tammam Ḥabib Ibn Aws …

  • The Road to Mecca

    Vol. 1 of 2 Asad, Muhammad. The Road to Mecca. USA. Fons Vitae. 375 pp. £7.63 (PB) ISBN 188-775-237-4 Reviewed by: Abdul Hai. Classic rihla (travel) literature like the journey of Ibn Battuta (1307-1369) or Marco Polo (1254-1324) is no doubt an exceptional narrative of events, experiences, and landscapes. The readers are fascinated by the…

  • From Rebels to Rulers, Writing Legitimacy in the early Sokoto State

    “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” Naylor, Paul. From Rebels to Rulers, Writing Legitimacy in the early Sokoto State. Great Britain. James Currey, 2021. pp. xxii,199. £60.00 (Hardcover). ISBN: 978-1847012708. Reviewed by: Abdul Hai. “There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their historians, the history of…

  • Culture and Imperialism

    By  Edward W. Saïd Reviewed by Abdul Hai “They weren’t like us and for that reason deserved to be ruled.”   Edward Said Edward W. Said is a well-known Palestinian-American academic and literary critic. His book, Orientalism, published in 1978, was a ground-breaking study. Orientalism tries to understand how the colonisers studied and analysed their…

  • In the Hands of the Taliban

    “[The Taliban soldiers] showing more courtesy than British police”.  Yvonne Ridley. Reviewed by Abdul Hai Some may say the narrative by the British journalist Yvonne Ridley presented in “In the Hands of the Taliban” is merely a classical manifestation of Stockholm Syndrome.  A superficial reading of the book may lead one to believe this claim…

  • The Travels of Ibn Al-Tayyib

    “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” The Travels of Ibn Al-Tayyib Ibn Al-Tayyib Translator:  El Mustapha Lahlali et al. Reviewed by Abdul Hai Travellers have always been major contributors in understanding the world; their experiences of other cultures, description of the landscape and their eyewitnessing of the events and rituals…

  • Orientalism

        “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” Orientalism Edward W. Said, Reviewed by Abdul Hai “Arabs, for example, are thought of as camel-riding, terroristic, hook-nosed, venal lechers whose undeserved wealth is an affront to real civilization. Always there lurks the assumption that although the Western consumer belongs to a numerical…

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    Things Fall Apart

        “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” ‘Things fall Apart Chinua Achebe Reviewed by Abdul Hai “Your new-caught, sullen peoples,    Half devil and half child..” The White man’s  Burden Rudyard Kipling “With bullets, blood or death, Better by far defend it” Black man’  Burden H. T. Johnson Rudyard Kipling’s poem The…

  • On the Muslim Question

    “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” On the Muslim Question Anne Norton Reviewed by Abdul Hai In the fourteenth episode of the tenth season of ‘The Simpsons’ Apu, the owner of the Kwik-E-Market celebrates Valentine’s Day with his  new wife  Manjula. He presents her with lavish gifts and suffocates her with…