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PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • Named A Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and The Denver Post • Praised by Fareed Zakaria as “intelligent, compassionate, and revealing,” a powerful journey to help bridge one of the greatest divides shaping our world today.
If the Oceans Were Ink is Carla Power's eye-opening story of how she and her longtime friend Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi found a way to confront ugly stereotypes and persistent misperceptions that were cleaving their communities. Their friendship-between a secular American and a madrasa-trained sheikh-had always seemed unlikely, but now they were frustrated and bewildered by the battles being fought in their names. Both knew that a close look at the Quran would reveal a faith that preached peace and not mass murder; respect for women and not oppression. And so they embarked on a yearlong journey through the controversial text.
A journalist who grew up in the Midwest and the Middle East, Power offers her unique vantage point on the Quran's most provocative verses as she debates with Akram at cafes, family gatherings, and packed lecture halls, conversations filled with both good humor and powerful insights. Their story takes them to madrasas in India and pilgrimage sites in Mecca, as they encounter politicians and jihadis, feminist activists and conservative scholars. Armed with a new understanding of each other's worldviews, Power and Akram offer eye-opening perspectives, destroy long-held myths, and reveal startling connections between worlds that have seemed hopelessly divided for far too long.
Praise for If the Oceans Were Ink
“A vibrant tale of a friendship.... If the Oceans Were Ink is a welcome and nuanced look at Islam [and] goes a long way toward combating the dehumanizing stereotypes of Muslims that are all too common…. If the Oceans Were Ink should be mandatory reading for the 52 percent of Americans who admit to not knowing enough about Muslims.”―The Washington Post
“Journalist Power writes about her year studying the Quran with a Muslim scholar she befriended while working at a think tank in London. For some, this will be a strong introduction to Islam. To others, it's fodder for discussion on the Sheikh's views, how Westerners (such as Power) interpret those views and the interplay of culture and religion.” ―The Denver Post
“For all those who wonder what Islam says about war and peace, men and women, Jews and gentiles, this is the book to read. It is a conversation among well-meaning friends―intelligent, compassionate, and revealing―the kind that needs to be taking place around the world.”―Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World
“Carla Power’s intimate portrait of the Quran, told with nuance and great elegance, captures the extraordinary, living debate over the Muslim holy book’s very essence. A spirited, compelling read.”―Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick Jihad
“An inspiring story of two [people] from different worlds who refuse to let religious and cultural differences, prejudice, and ignorance get in the way of their friendship, If the Oceans Were Ink is as thought-provoking as it is elegantly written. It takes a difficult, highly charged topic and puts it into terms that are not only understandable and eye-opening, but beautiful.”―Bustle (11 Beautifully Written Memoirs by Women)
“Unique, masterful, and deeply engaging. Carla Power takes the reader on an extraordinary journey in interfaith understanding as she debates and discovers the Quran’s message, meaning, and values on peace and violence, gender and veiling, religious pluralism and tolerance.”―John L. Esposito, University Professor and Professor of Islamic Studies, Georgetown University, and author of The Future of Islam
“A thoughtful, provocative, intelligent book.”―Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Birds Of Paradise and The Language of Baklava
“With a journalist’s mind for the story, a born traveler’s heart for the adventure of crossing borders, and a seeker’s yen for the poetry and mysticism of belief, Power creates an exceptional record of a timeless quest.”―Merritt Tierce, a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree and author of Love Me Back
- Sales Rank: #53810 in Books
- Published on: 2015-04-07
- Released on: 2015-04-07
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.18" h x .98" w x 5.53" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 352 pages
Review
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
Named A Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and The Denver Post
“A vibrant tale of a friendship.... If the Oceans Were Ink is a welcome and nuanced look at Islam [and] goes a long way toward combating the dehumanizing stereotypes of Muslims that are all too common.... If the Oceans Were Ink should be mandatory reading for the 52 percent of Americans who admit to not knowing enough about Muslims.” ―The Washington Post
“Journalist Power writes about her year studying the Quran with a Muslim scholar she befriended while working at a think tank in London. For some, this will be a strong introduction to Islam. To others, it's fodder for discussion on the Sheikh's views, how Westerners (such as Power) interpret those views and the interplay of culture and religion.” ―The Denver Post
“For all those who wonder what Islam says about war and peace, men and women, Jews and gentiles, this is the book to read. It is a conversation among well-meaning friends--intelligent, compassionate, and revealing--the kind that needs to be taking place around the world.” ―Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World
“With a journalist’s mind for the story, a born traveler’s heart for the adventure of crossing borders, and a seeker’s yen for the poetry and mysticism of belief, Power creates an exceptional record of a timeless quest.”― Merritt Tierce, a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree and author of Love Me Back
“An inspiring story of two [people] from different worlds who refuse to let religious and cultural differences, prejudice, and ignorance get in the way of their friendship, If the Oceans Were Ink is as thought-provoking as it is elegantly written. It takes a difficult, highly charged topic and puts it into terms that are not only understandable and eye-opening, but beautiful.”―Bustle (11 Beautifully Written Memoirs by Women)
“[Carla Power and Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi's] conversations break down stereotypes.... Power displays the diversity and intellectual richness of the practicing Muslim world, and shows how much we have to gain from mutual understanding.” ―Shelf Awareness
“Carla Power's intimate portrait of the Quran, told with nuance and great elegance, captures the extraordinary, living debate over the Muslim holy book's very essence. A spirited, compelling read.” ―Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick Jihad
“Engaging … Together [Carla Power and the Sheikh] explore … the significance of veiling and unveiling, the struggle against unjust rulers and jihad, and contemporary wars. Power's narrative offers an accessible and enlightening route into a topic fraught with misunderstanding.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Unique, masterful, and deeply engaging. Carla Power takes the reader on an extraordinary journey in interfaith understanding as she debates and discovers the Quran's message, meaning, and values on peace and violence, gender and veiling, religious pluralism and tolerance.” ―John L. Esposito, University Professor and Professor of Islamic Studies, Georgetown University, and author of The Future of Islam
“Lively … Intelligent and exceptionally informative.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“A thoughtful, provocative, intelligent book.” ―Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Birds Of Paradise and The Language of Baklava
“Their yearlong debates on issues ranging from the veiling of women to calls for fatwas challenged their own understandings of religion, culture, politics, and friendship and offer powerful new insights into Islam.” ―Booklist
“If the Oceans Were Ink opens a door to the power of the Quran's lyrical and complex prose to inspire, comfort, and ignite hearts everywhere. A must read for anyone wishing to understand a global community's central spiritual source.” ―Dalia Mogahed, Director of Research, The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and co-author of Who Speaks for Islam?
“A former foreign correspondent for Newsweek raised partly in the Middle East and boasting a graduate degree in Middle Eastern studies from Oxford, Power spent a year reading the Quran with a longtime friend, Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi. Their experience led them beyond stereotypes to a constructive understanding for the text's call for peace and equality. Great for book clubs.” ―Library Journal
“There are many intriguing books that trace the encounter of Westerners with Muslims from traditional backgrounds. Some of these books are love stories, others are clashes. Carla Power's If the Oceans Were Ink is something more radical, magical, and much more relevant: a religious encounter mediated through a gentle friendship, one that is committed to a dialogue and a search for truth. In a world characterized by so much tension and polemic, Power offers what might be our best hope for a better tomorrow: an intelligent friendship. Most enthusiastically recommended.” ―Omid Safi, Director, Duke Islamic Studies Center
About the Author
Carla Power writes for TIME and was a foreign correspondent for Newsweek. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, Glamour, The New York Times Magazine, and Foreign Policy. Her work has been recognized with an Overseas Press Club award, a Women in Media Award, and the National Women's Political Caucus's EMMA Award. She holds a graduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Oxford, as well as degrees from Yale and Columbia.
Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
If the Oceans...
By A reader
In this book, Carla Powers does exactly what the title promises: she tells about her studies of the Quran with Sheikh Mohammed Akram Nadwi, a scholar of Islam, "extremist quietist," and longtime friend. Some of the topics covered include some history of Islam; the meaning of the titles, "Islam" "Muslim," the wide range of interpretations of the Quran and other texts; distinguishing between customs defined by local tradition vs. those dictated by the Prophet in the Quran; the issue of identity; true piety vs. going through the motions of religious observance; the meaning of "jihad" and other words that we hear in the news; Islam's relationship with other religions; salvation after death; extremist groups and their beliefs; and so on. Women's issues are discussed at great length, as Powers draws distinctions between what customs are practiced today and what the sheikh believes was done in earlier days, perhaps by the Prophet himself. A chapter is devoted to the sheikh's research on nine thousand women who were highly respected for their knowledge and wisdom through the ages. Other issues covered include education for women, veiling, separation from men in religious observances and other events, family relationships, and child marriage. Powers shares her own complex feelings about these subjects with us, and writes with sensitivity and candor. I really appreciate the glossary she provides, as well as the end notes and bibliography that suggest more fascinating books than one could ever get to.
My one disappointment was that the the title led me to expect more verse by verse discussion of the Quran. However, other books listed in the bibliography seem to fulfill that need.
I recognize that this book really centers around the work of one Islamic scholar. Still, I found the book engrossing, informative, very readable, and hard to put down. Highly recommended.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
The Islamic and the Unknown
By L. Jonsson
Carla Power's unlikely friendship with Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a madrasa-trained Sheikh has spawned a book that has many answers, but also leaves many questions, and begs for a sequel. The premise is simple-Power and Nadwi have been friends, and neither like the perseption that the Islamic religion has been shown by the press and by popular thought (all are fundamentals, all oppress women and children, they must study Islamic studies before all else in education, etc.). The result is a book that is very easy to read, but the concepts beg at times for more interpretation and for more study.
Powers dives into questions a lot of people have about the Islamic faith, but are afraid or unable to ask. What does the Koran say about how education and women, compared to popular Islamic thought on how women are treated and what the education of a moderate is really like? Her writing style is easy to follow and covered many fascinating trains of thought. All Islamics are not Isis or part of the Taliban. Their are moderates, but the Muslims that get the most attention are the terrorists. The parallelisms between fundamental Christianity, Judaism and the Islamic faith are many, much to my surprise. They all have similar concepts concerning nonbelievers (other religions are not the true one) and have a history of not treating women well and not having sex outside of marriage. But the author emphasizes concerning terrorists acts and what the Koran says is very different. The beliefs of certain Islamics, such as killing people who do not convert or who are other religions, is discussed (and that part of the book is scary).
I had difficulty with many concepts. When the author covers Mohammad and his child marriage to a nine year old, it is never clear if Nadwi is for or against child marriages, which are still practiced in India and in Iran, but are supposed to be illegal. I admit I have never read anything on the Islamic religion before. When the author quotes the Koran, I was enthralled by the poetry and the concepts they introduced. I can see how it is the second fastest growing religion. But the people she profiled are scary-the people that want to convert the entire world to the Islamic religion, and kill people who don't convert are creepy. They remind me of the Nazis who wanted to kill all the Jews during WW II. The way women are actually treated in these fundamentally Islamic countries and the way they should be treated are two entirely different things.
In other words, this read will encourage you to think about how you see the Islamic religion. Hopefully, it will broaden your perspective. The Koran says things very differently than what the thought and the law is in many of the Islamic religion dominated countries, like Egypt and Iran. An excellent read for those of us who are interested in knowing more about other religions, and what makes them work.
68 of 85 people found the following review helpful.
Two books, both ultimately disappointing
By J. A Magill
“If the Oceans were Ink” weaves together two narrative threads, either of which could have made for an interesting read. Unfortunately, neither narrative proves very satisfying. Carla Power, the author, decides to seek to understand the Quran. Given our world, one can hardly imagine a more useful intellectual pursuit. She forms a close relationship with an Islamic scholar, Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi, with whom she can study the text. Here then are those two threads: one, the friendship between an erudite Islamic scholar and a western secular woman journalist and the other an exploration of the Quran. And Islam. Neither story, however, ever develops sufficient power to become compelling. The story of the friendship lacks any tension whatsoever. As for the Quran, far from oceans of ink, Power offers an understanding of the text that is instead a narrow swimming lane.
No doubt Sheikh Akram is an engaging and erudite man of extraordinary learning. I would be eager to read more of his work. Islam is a rich tradition and it is interesting how he reaches back into that tradition in order to argue, for example, for gender equality. When it comes to learning with Akram, however, Power takes on the role of the empty vessel to be filled. Instead of offering any challenge to Akram’s understanding of Islam, she continually accepts his interpretation as if it were the “right” one. Yes, she more than once pays lip service to the diversity of Islam. As she correctly points out, there simply can’t be one reading of the Quran – or any sacred text with a group of believers --that is valid for 1.6 billion people. Yet time and again she circles back into the same paradigm: that Akram’s views, because she can without much difficulty square them with her western secular and liberal views are in some sense “right.” On the page, her passivity and acceptance makes for relationship that I can only describe as dull.
As you can imagine, this acceptance of Akramin turn runs into the book’s second shortcoming. Her exploration of the Quran never runs very deep. Nor does she seriously engage the inherent contradictions of the text. In reality, there are Muslims who read the Quran as a text advocating peaceful coexistence AND those who read it as requiring terrible violence. Both can make arguments from the text. Nor is the latter argument as easily dismissed as Power tries to assert, simply a failing to read the second half of a particular sentence. No they read the text. They read the whole text. Their conclusions arise out of differences of interpretation not a shortness of attention.
As it happens, Power’s approach is curiously ironic. Power at one point explains the influence of the late Edward Said’s paradigm of Orientalism on her understanding of Islam. Her approach to Islam, however, resembles nothing so much as the liberal side of the Orientalist coin (if you’re unfamiliar with Said’s thesis, you can find a synopsis on Wikipedia). Instead of applying any analytical method to Akram’s narrative, she simply accepts it as true. Consider for example her presentation of the life of Mohammed and the Companions: Power merely accepts it as a historical truth, rather than as a source that would likely exhibit an obvious bias. There are no shortage of scholars who might have helped Power unpack the traditional narrative, but for her these are of little interest. Imagine if instead she had decided to study either the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Scripture with a rabbi or priest. It is almost impossible to imagine she would simply accept the narrative of Moses or Jesus as, you’ll pardon the pun, Gospel. Yet here she does just that. In so doing, she fails her reader on multiple levels.
On the textual level, her approach misses the Quran’s complexity. Really, it is almost impossible to explain why the Quran is a text like no other. Unlike other religious texts, the Quran follows no particular narrative thread. Instead, the Quran collects the Surahs without regard for sequential order. If you know the Bible, imagine Chapter 1 as Israel at Sinai and Chapter 2 being the rules of property and chapter 3 being the story of King Saul and chapter 4 as the rules of sacrifices and you’ll get an inkling of what this might look like. Oh, and also sprinkle the psalms through the text as well.
Further complicating Quranic study, the text itself is written in an extremely esoteric Arabic. Crucial aspects of the Quran contain language so obscure that it can only be understood through analogy, often tortured analogy. Consider for example the famed notion of the virgins of paradise. The word understood as virgin, “hur,” isn’t a noun at all, but an adjective meaning “white.” While it has come to be understood as meaning “virgins,” that isn’t at all clear in the text. (Indeed, one recent scholar, writing under the pseudonym Christoph Luxenberg, went so far as to argue that Syriac, not Arabic is the original language of the Quran, and that “hur” actually refers to white raisins. Fascinating to scholars, the idea went over in Islamic quarters about as well as you’d expect). Power’s belief in the supremacy of Akram’s understanding, however, denudes the Quran of such complexity. If the Quran contains much that conflicts with Power’s ideas of ethics or proper living, it doesn’t get much play here.
In the end, Power’s accepting of one view of Islam as true – and the one of which she can most easily approve – does a grave disservice to the faith she expresses a desire to understand. In some Christian quarters it has become fashionable to assert that events like the Crusades or the Blood Libel pogroms were “unchristian” and that therefore the perpetrators weren’t “real” Christians, and thus absolve Christianity of any responsibility. In the same vein, one hears great Islamic scholars like George Bush and Barak Obama opine that ISIS doesn’t represent “true Islam.” This of course if nothing more than prettifying hogwash. Muslims who engage in actions that we might find reprehensible draw from the same well as Power’s teacher. I may find some communities of my faith tradition wholly deplorable but writing them out would be intellectually dishonest. That she finds Sheikh Akram’s reading more attractive doesn’t make them any more true. Those who murdered Anwar Sadat and behead people in Iraq read from the same Quran Akram reads in Britain.
For the most part, westerners remain painfully ignorant about Islam. Power does a real service pointing out the depth of that ignorance. Whether one accepts or rejects the “clash of civilizations” narrative, there are countless reasons – practical, intellectual, aesthetic – for people to seek a deep understanding of Islam in all its richness. Clinging to ignorance should be unforgivable. Unfortunately, Power doesn’t so much as bring in the sun of understanding to banish this ignorance as use a candle to offer a tunnel of light to a destination she prefers. Rather than presenting Islam, she presents the Islam she as western intellectual happens to prefer.
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