The Alachua County Library District is one of 840 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to receive the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA). The program aims to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world.
The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf includes the following titles, organized by theme:
American Stories
• A Quiet Revolution by Leila Ahmed
• Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford
• The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States, edited by Edward E. Curtis IV
• Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel
• The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson
Connected Histories
• The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance by Jim Al-Khalili
• In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh
• When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the “Riches of the East” by Stewart Gordon
• Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf, translated by Peter Sluglett
• The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal
Literary Reflections
• Minaret by Leila Aboulela
• The Arabian Nights (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy
• The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi
• Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
• Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely
Pathways of Faith
• Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan A. C. Brown
• The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson
• The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam by F. E. Peters
• The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
• Rumi: Poet and Mystic, edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson
Points of View
• In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
• Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• House of Stone by Anthony Shadid
• Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie
Art Architecture and Film
• The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
• Islamic Arts by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair
• Islamic Art Spots (short films designed, written, and presented by D. Fairchild Ruggles, and produced by Twin Cities Public Television)
• Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (2011)
• Prince Among Slaves (2007)
• Koran by Heart (2011)
For one year we will also have access to the Oxford Islamic Studies Online (OISO). This extensive database includes two distinctive versions of the Qur'an and a full concordance "linking English words and corresponding transliterations of the Arabic text to chapter and verse citations." A timeline of Muslim and world events is also included. In addition, there are many biographies, subject headings, maps and images. Everyone from Muslim scholars to those simply curious about the world's second-largest religion will find a wealth of resources on OISO.
Our scholar for library programs is Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Florida. On Sunday, March 17, at 2pm, Dr. Simmons will be discussing the history of "the veil" and other aspects of Muslim culture. The talk is open to everyone and we encourage the community to learn more about Islam in a family-friendly atmosphere. The lecture will also highlight the recently published book The Quiet Revolution by Leila Ahmed.
Stay tuned for further details.
