Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
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This is a very poetic book. It’s a series of 26 philosophical essays tackling lots of different issues. It’s about the chosen one, called Al-mustafa, and people come to him and ask him questions about love, marriage, and children – really the whole spectrum of life’s issues. It doesn’t really matter what your religious background is when you are reading this. What it shows is that, despite religion, we all have a lot in common and there are basic human truths that we should all aspire to.
Your first choice is The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
This is a very poetic book. It’s a series of 26 philosophical essays tackling lots of different issues. It’s basically about the chosen one, called Al-mustafa, and people come to him and ask him questions about love, marriage, and children – really the whole spectrum of life’s issues. And he shares his pearls of wisdom with these people. It is a really fascinating, beautifully written book. It is very profound and transcends religion.
It doesn’t really matter what your religious background is when you are reading this. In a way, what it shows is that, despite religion, we all have a lot in common and there are basic human truths that we should all aspire to.
All sorts of people, from teachers to hermits to poets, ask him different questions. So, for example, someone asks him about marriage, and I remember this in particular, because when I got married I was looking for a reading that I could use at one of my ceremonies and I found this from The Prophet.
But what he says is based on Islamic teachings?
Yes, it is a very Sufi-inspired book, so this is the esoteric, mystical side of Islam. But, I wouldn’t say that the book is specifically Islamic, even though it is set against that background. It transcends that.
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Shazia Khan is a radio and TV reporter. She reports for the BBC World Service and Radio 4. Her background and training is in news but now she specialises in reporting on faith and culture. She has presented numerous documentaries on subjects such as women and beauty, sacred music and gay Muslims.
