Muslim Poetry

In these two poems, Iqbal discusses the fall of the Muslim ummah, probes into its causes, shows his bereavement and offers a solution along with a message of hope. In the first poem, Iqbal complaints to God about the deplorable condition of the Muslim world and society and prays for divine help. In the second poem, which he wrote a few years later, he relays a response to the complaints on behalf of God. In elaborating the causes of the rise and fall of the Muslim ummah, Iqbal hoped that Muslims would use them as a springboard for reviving their former status of prestige and glory. Iqbal's ...

What if the longing you cannot explain is not emptiness—but a call? For centuries, Sufi seekers have described the spiritual life as a love story: the human heart searching for the Beloved, losing itself in devotion, and discovering freedom through surrender. The Sufi Path of Love for Beginners offers a clear, welcoming introduction to one of the world’s richest mystical traditions. Without burying you beneath technical language, this book explains how Sufism transforms faith from something merely believed into something deeply lived. You will discover: Why spiritual longing may be the ...

Traditional cultures in many parts of the world have displayed a profound appreciation for the unity of all human spirit in its quest for knowledge of the Divine. Here a medieval Muslim handbook for right living is interpreted in modern English verse. When I am come above these things of earth, I find a heaven in my contemplation: Eternal Beauty, nameless, featureless, No longer masked nor hid by folds of flesh. Two hundred years later, Rumi paid Ghazzali the compliment of incorporating several of his allegories into his own epic work, the Masnavi. Jabez L. Van Cleef takes foundational ...

A middle grade novel in verse about Samira, an eleven-year-old Rohingya refugee living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, who finds strength and sisterhood in a local surf club for girls. Samira thinks of her life as before and after: before the burning and violence in her village in Burma, when she...

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of the Islamic world through its religion, thinkers, poetry, empire and rulers 'An ever-growing library of wisdom' The Economist Since 1998, In Our Time has been the go-to radio programme for knowledge seekers and inquiring minds. Tackling big topics...

“A debut poetry collection showcasing both a fierce and tender new voice.”—Booklist “Elegant and playful . . . The poet invents new forms and updates classic ones.”—Elle “[Fatimah] Asghar interrogates divisions along lines of nationality, age, and gender, illuminating the forces by...

She lost her words but found her voice. All My Rage meets The Poet X in this electric debut that explores a Muslim teen finding her voice in a post-9/11 America. Nida has always been known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece - the poet who will fill her uncle’s shoes after he was wrongfully...

After spending her life fantasizing about her dream husband, Ana believes she has finally found the one when she meets Alec Coleman. He is charming, witty, and has looks to die for. The two feel an instant attraction, and it seems that Ana’s dreams have finally come true. But when Alec rekindles a relationship with his former ex-girlfriend, Ana’s perfect life soon spirals into chaos. As a convert to Islam, Ana discovers her new religion allows men to take multiple wives. She thinks nothing much of it until Alec uses force and influence to draw her into a polygamous marriage.

Bloomsbury presents History's Angel by Anjum Hasan, read by Sagar Arya. From the Man Asian Literary Prize-longlisted author, the story of a middle-aged man in contemporary India discovering that neither his life nor his country are as stable as he thought. Alif is a middle-aged, mild-mannered...

What if you were named for love before you had done anything to earn it? Before Sultan Bahu could speak, his mother had already given him a name that was not a plan for his life but a claim on it. Ba Hu. With Him. She had been told it in a vision, three nights running, and she never once let the world talk her out of it. This is the story of what that boy did with a name like that. It is a narrative biography of the seventeenth-century Punjabi saint and poet whose verses are still sung at wells and looms three and a half centuries later, told as a life rather than a doctrine: a soldier's ...

Bloomsbury presents I cannot be good until you say it written and read by Sanah Ahsan. The much-anticipated debut collection by the winner of the Outspoken Performance Poetry Prize: a tender meditation on queerness and Islam 'Dissolving whatever boundaries would wall us off from love, Ahsan...

Bloomsbury presents Girls that Never Die written and read by Safia Elhillo. Incredibly moving ... Every single poem is stellar' Roxane Gay, author of Difficult Women and Hunger ____________________________________________ In Girls That Never Die, award-winning poet Safia Elhillo reinvents the...

One’s initial impression might be a kindly, generous, encouraging, positive, wise spiritual leader offering guidance to those looking for a bit of light in the world around us. But then, to our surprise, we realize that the map he provides us in these poems takes us deep inside God, Islam, and the love of God, where we need to go. He has not only done so, but in a language that is accessible to even children.