Ardallah .. the land of God .. I really don't know if it exists... but it is where our story takes place in Palestine. The book describes the events that preceded the war of 1948, how the Jewish people settled by force, how the Palestinians reacted and what the Arabs did.. if anything!! It illustrates their humiliating and appalling exodus from their country.
I have heard a lot about it and studied history books, but nothing is compared to the telling of its own people ... to go back in time ... hear and see their miseries ... nothing I can say will express the feelings and confusion of a country... the feelings of entrapment and loss!

A 17 year old Yousif, who like any boy of his age is looking forward to graduate and declare his love to Salwa, is totally crushed and transferred to another world of harsh reality and bloodshed. He fights with everything he has to get his love back and tries to do the same for his country. His vision and the future he foresees is a path of peace to return to his motherland! Hope and optimism penetrate through the clouds of war and death .. of a people who still sacrifices and survives under more than 50 years of violence and oppression.

Fawal describes his country in the most beautiful way ..you can imagine it in front of your eyes even if you haven't been there..portraying its green vast hills, the valleys, the olive and pine trees, the orange orchards and Jerusalem .. a tragic holy land!

The Arab-Christian voice is no longer silent On The Hills Of God. Finally, one can read about al-Nakba, the Great Catastrophe, from the viewpoint of an Arab Christian. This first novel by Dr. Ibrahim Fawal, a native Palestinian and professor of film and literature, is one step towards lessening the dearth of literature written from the Palestinian perspective in general and from the Arab Christian perspective in particular. Fawal has produced a thought-provoking book that is basically a first-person account of events that forever changed global politics, told by one of 3 friends, (a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim) who relates the role each of them plays in the uprooting of their multi-religious, multi-ethnic society. The author gives a very personal, human face to the main characters (drawn as composites of his contemporaries) as he describes the destruction of a centuries-old way of life by a virtually 100% foreign-born army in its relentless push for control of land, water and economic resources. One can read the first-hand account of the mass exodus of frightened people from Haifa and Tel-Aviv, and the beginning of more than 50 years of exile and dispersion. These events set the stage for the dramatic drop in Christian population from 60% to 2% of Palestinian society. This is an excellent starting point for a more balanced understanding of Middle Eastern politics without hype or extremism, and led me to investigate related works, like Dr. Edward Said's "The Politics of Dispossession," Thomas Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem, " etc. Also check out Dr. Fawal's latest offering, "Youssef Chahine," examining the filmography of one of the Arab world's greatest movie directors.

One way to deepen your understanding of what happened toward the end of the 30 year period during which England occupied the power vacuum left by the pullout of the Ottoman Turks (or perhaps we can call it a blast-out, in deference to English motorcyclist and honorary Bedouin Lawrence of Arabia), and as the ancient Arab peoples re-packaged into a league of new Arab states interacted with the ancient Jewish diaspora newly energized by WWII and supported by the new American world power, would be to read this book.

The stages of disengagement between indigenous Jews and Arabs, which precede the reverse-Exodus of the diaspora (or at least the portion of the diaspora classifying itself as Zionist), and which co-incides with the Arab expulsion from this ancient and perpetually famous territory, is documented in the lives of Fawal's fictional characters with intricate detail and with constant imagery of the surrounding geography and references to the distant and near-past history of the places.

I don't know enough to say if the New York Times articles and radio addresses wrapped into the story are accurate depictions. Using them this way gives the story a realistic feel.

Having read some of the dramatic founding of modern Israel, and with a working knowledge of Biblical Israel's history, this caught my attention and brought some modern light to bear on the peoples previously categorized in my mind as modern Philistines, many of whom are actually now Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and of course Muslim. As the liberals always tell us, there is a great deal of complexity to this particular area of the world, and this novel deliberately reflects a cross section of it.

This book highlights and details to you Anwar Ibrahim's visions for his country. Anwar also mentions the problems he had with his government and country. There are many issues that he has brought up in this book, but some of them may not be so obvious. You have to read between the lines. Afterall, when he wrote the book, Anwar was still the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

I suppose he may not have wanted to jeopardise his position. But, I guess now that Anwar is a prisoner of conscience and no longer in power, you would definitely better understand his thoughts if you have been following the political developments in Malaysia ever since Anwar's sacking and arrest in September 1998.

Anwar explains his aspirations for his beloved country Malaysia and the immediate Asian region in implementing a sound government with strong principles of social justice, good governance, zero-corruption, zero-cronism, zero-nepotism, and cultural and religious tolerance.

Anwar is currently incarcerated beyond his will in the prison of Malaysia. This is caused by a deep political conspiracy initiated by Mahathir (Prime Minister of Malaysia) and some of his [associates]. He has been behind bars since 20 September 1998. But, the struggle for reform and justice continues in his beloved country. But, I strongly believe that the Truth shall prevail and Anwar shall be a free man in not too distant a future. Mark my word!

...

Having read The Asian Renaissance, I could not help but be consumed with excitement and optimism about the future of Malaysian society, and that of Southeast Asia and Asia. At last, someone has so clearly and eloquently shown us the best way forward.

Guided by his own religious convictions, drawing upon universal values of other faiths, and from the wisdom of great thinkers, leaders and philosophers of the past, coupled with his wealth of experience in public life, Anwar exhibits a profound understanding of the confusion and weaknesses that has held Asian societies back.

Incarcerated though he may be, the spirit of reform which he advocates remains very much alive. Anwar's thoughts, ideals and courage has inspired millions in Malaysia, and millions more throughout the region and continent.

Malaysia, and indeed Southeast Asia and Asia, has in its midst, a man so uniquely gifted, as a thinker and reformer. That Anwar is already a prominent and dynamic politician, and a leader of international repute, lends even greater hope that his thoughts, ideas and convictions, will not, God willing, remain a dream.

Anwar shines a bright light on the future of Asian societies. Truly inspirational!

Once one has read the articles in this book it becomes clear that meta-heuristics are intelligently designed methods to provide decision makers with tools for decision support. Each chapter is self-contained and provides different insights into specific methods (especially genetic algorithms, neural networks, tabu search, simulated annealing). These methods are well explored and explained by means of theoretical as well as practical results, e.g., for vehicle routing or mail delivery or generalized assignment. Ideas on how to implement the methods are also provided. Most papers are easy to read with only some preliminaries in mathematics (or combinatorial optimization). The chapters are carefully collected and could have been accepted for high-quality journals as well. Well done.

i have no idea what it is avbout, but it looks really cool from the name and totally confusing nature of it.

The book covers many projects using the C Language. The book was almost-essential for my Undergraduate Studies, and I recommend it without doubt.

The style and flair of D. Ibrahim is also excellent, as common cliches and examples are avoided, leaving useful raw information which is not only helpful to the undergraduate but also to professionals and teachers.

The book starts good with basic stuff and slowly gets hard. There is lots of usefull infermation and handy tips. The stuff really gets yuo lerning, and I think its well worth reading even if like me you dont known much about microcontrollers.

I have been studying Turkic languages on and off (mostly off) since 1981, have managed language programs for a number of years, and now teach and course direct in a Russian language program. I have also been a regular visitor to Central Asia. So I can say with some authority - these CD's are great! They are so much better than any other Kazakh materials (or those for any of the Turkic languages that I am familiar with), that I am sure the Dr. Ibrahim's course will quickly become a standard for anyone with a fairly serious interest in the language. As a teacher, I am sure this material could, with a bit of work, easily become the primary text for a good basic course in the language. Someone with only a passing interest in Kazakh should probably save their money and buy the Lonely Planet Central Asia phrasebook, but ex-pats, FSO's or students who would like to actually be able to say something in Kazakh should definitely cough up the money for this. On a personal note, I was pleasantly surprised to realize, upon receiving my CD's, that Ablahat Ibrahim was a TA at UW when I was a grad student there in the late 80's. I'm sure he has long forgotten me, but I still fondly remember this kind and patient teacher, and am glad to see he is still in the business of education. Kudos to him, the U. of Arizona, and anyone involved in funding this project.

Iraqi chilled with the best of 'em.
a dervish that wandered into the same konya that was home to Rumi. a student of Rumi's friend Sadruddin Qunyawi(disciple to Ibn Arabi). Iraqi's Flashes are the synthesis of Ibn Arabi's metaphysics and the love theory from Ahmed Ghazali's Sawanih(the oldest persian work on sacred love by Abu Hamid Ghazali's younger and more mystical bro). while Chittick's great prose translations may never compare to the beauty of the persian originals, the powerful ideas expressed in the poetry trigger enlightening thoughts and awaken the soul.
so...while Muslim philosophers say technical things like:"GOD IS THE NECESARRY EXISTANT" or "ALL EXISTANCE IS a Manifestation of DIVINE ATTRIBUTES". the poet Iraqi says NOTHING EXISTS BUT LOVE.
You are a LOVER, you just don't know it YET.
The book is smack in the face of all who say Islam is a religion of Hate that believes God as a distant vengeful one to obey out of fear.
peace.

I love books, and this is one of the few I have read and re-read many times. I stumbled across "Happiness Without Death" at a seminar three years ago, drawn by its unusual title. Once I read two of Assad Ali's poems, I was hooked.

Each of the poems in this volume was inspired by a surah (book) of the Qur'an, and each poem gives a rare glance into the type of deep worship that many people crave these days, though they don't realize it. Ali blends his utter devotion to God with his finely honed intellect and his ability to listen so deeply that his heart transcends ordinary reality. The resulting prayers/poems calm me when I'm crabby, pep me up when I awaken still tired from not enough sleep, and have inspired many of my own poems and essays.

If you want contemporary freeform verse that captures the essence of the Essence, this is it. As an added gift, the last portion of this volume contains fresh translations of the first thirty chapters of the Qur'an as they were revealed to the prophet Muhammad, with brief commentaries that make them accessible to Western readers.

Buy this book for someone you love, for someone curious about the true heart of Islam beyond the politics that dominate the media, for an aspiring poet, or simply as a well deserved gift for yourself. Enjoy!

Ibrahim Karawan is a first-rate professor of international relations at the University of Utah, and this work confirms his balanced and scholarly approach to the subject. In "The Islamist Impasse," Karawan effectively shows how, far from sweeping the Middle East, political Islam is now on the defensive, due to effective state strategies, lack of success in nations where it has taken root, and lack of overall control. This is a superbly-written and invaluable reference that belongs in the library of anyone with an interest in international relations and/or the politics of the Middle East.

This is a history book on the evolution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The book is packed with intersting facts on how the country has developed to be the Major oil and refining country in the world. The book is very intersting. It explains how the country was united and how the country grew with the wealth from oil.

This book is a concise introduction to the Islamic tradition of "Hadith", or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad regarding Islam. The book is suitable for the reader unfamiliar with Islam as well as the more informed reader. My only criticism is that without explanatory footnotes, some of the more allegorical sayings may not convey much to the lay reader. Still, if you would like an insight to some of the basic teachings of Islam and if you are willing to reflect for a moment on the sayings included, I'm sure you will enjoy this book