The Qur'an: A Biography (Books That Changed the World)

by Bruce Lawrence



ISBN13: 9780871139511
ISBN10: 0871139510

Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:

 A distinguished historian of religion shows precisely how the Qur'an is Islam. He describes the origins of the faith and assesses its tremendous influence on today's societies and politics.
Review:

 "As part of this press's series on Books That Changed the World, Lawrence, a professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University, offers an unusual 'biography' of the Qur'an, the Islamic holy book. He describes in each chapter how the Qur'an has been experienced throughout its 1,400-year history, as it has fascinated, intrigued and guided millions of Muslims and non-Muslims. Lawrence gracefully describes the Qur'an's interpretation and use — by individuals, leaders, poets and even on building walls. Throughout, Lawrence emphasizes the wide diversity of Qur'anic interpretations around the world and through the ages. The same verses that appear on the walls of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, for example, are written inside drinking glasses in Indonesia, sipped by women seeking the healing powers of the Qur'an. Some Sufis have even claimed that the Qur'an can heal AIDS when people chant its verses. In his boldest analysis, Lawrence examines Osama bin Laden's manipulative citation of the Qur'an. In contrast, Lawrence profiles W.D. Mohammed, the spiritual leader of approximately two million African-American Muslims, who sees the Qur'an as unifying peoples beyond race and culture. This book, like the book it studies, is meditative and unique, a lovely read for any spiritual person, Muslim or not." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)


Book News Annotation:

 Examining the core Islamic scripture, Lawrence (Islamic studies, Duke U.) begins with core features such as the Prophet Muhammad as merchant and messenger and organizer and strategist. Then he considers early commentaries, later interpreters, echoes in other Asian religious, the the use of the Qur'an by various factions in the modern world. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


Synopsis:

 Few books in history have been as poorly understood as the Quran. Sent down in a series of revelations to the Prophet Muhammad, the Quran is the unmediated word of Allah, a ritual, political, and legal authority, an ethical and spiritual guide, and a literary masterpiece. In this book, one of the launch titles in Atlantic Monthly Press “Books That Changed the World” series, the distinguished historian of religion Bruce Lawrence shows precisely how the Quran is Islam. He describes the origins of the faith and assesses its tremendous influence on todays societies and politics. Above all, Lawrence emphasizes that the Quran is a sacred book of signs that has no single message. It is a book that demands interpretation and one that can be properly understood only through its history. Bruce Lawrences work is a beautifully written and, in these increasingly troubled times, invaluable introduction to and exploration of the core sacred text of Islam.

King's Counsel: A Memoir of War, Espionage, and Diplomacy in the Middle East

by Jack O' Connell

Back cover says: "I arrived at Cairo International Airport at 11p.m. on a weeknight and went directly to my hotel. There was no one in the lobby and one reception clerk on duty. I showed him my passport and he found reservation. Then out of the blue he looked up and asked.'Did you come from CIA?' My mind went blank. I looked down at the front of my jacket to see if I'd put my agency badge on by mistake. Nothing. I thought of grabbing my only bag and running out of the hotel, but was literally too paralyzed to move or answer him. He just stood there looking at me e quizzically. How did he know? Was he tipped off by the Egyptian Security Service? If so, where were they? As my mind raced in senseless circles, I heard him repeat the question: 'Did you come from CIA?'

I paid no attention. My career was probably ruined before it had even begun. Should I finish the mission or get in touch with my emergency contact? Not if I was already a marked man. Obviously irritated that I did not respond to his question, the clerk repeated in a louder voice: 'Mister, did you come from CIA - from Cairo International Airport?' I almost fainted from the shock - and a relief - as I blurted out, 'Ofcourse! How else could I have gotten here?' " - From Introduction

A CIA station chief, later Jordan's lawyer in Washington, reveals the secret history of a lost peace.

Jack O'Connell possessed an uncanny ability to be at the center of things. On his arrival in Jordan in 1958, he unraveled a coup aimed at the young King Hussein, who would become America's most reliable Middle East ally. Over time, their bond of trust and friendship deepened.

His narrative contains secrets that will revise our understanding of the Middle East. In 1967, O'Connell tipped off Hussein that Israel would invade Egypt the next morning. Later, as Hussein's Washington counselor, O'Connell learned of Henry Kissinger's surprising role in the Yom Kippur War.

Kansas libraries lead way in e-book access

http://www.kansan.com/news/2011/nov/01/kansas-libraries-lead-way-e-book-access/?news

By Ian Cummings

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

More e-books are available in libraries this year than ever before, and Kansas libraries are leading an effort to keep them there.

Nationwide, 82 percent of public libraries across the country offered e-books in 2011, up 10 percent from last year, according to a survey published by Library Journal. Academic libraries saw a more modest increase of one percent, with 95 percent in the nation offering e-books.

But with that increase, some libraries have seen the terms of their contracts with publishers change radically, raising the question of whether the libraries are purchasing ownership of the books, or merely renting them for the period of the contract. The State Library of Kansas recently decided to change vendors when prices spiked and the terms of ownership changed in a proposed contract renewal with OverDrive, a national e-book distributor. Jo Budler, the state librarian, balked at those changes and decided to let that contract expire in December. From then on, the state library will contract with 3M for its e-books and with Recorded Books for audio books.

“We’ve had a contract with OverDrive since 2005, and pricing was pretty steady up until a year ago,” Budler said. “There were two things in the renewal that were pretty problematic.”

The first problem, according to Budler, was a price increase of 700 percent. The state library currently pays OverDrive $10,800, but that cost would have increased each year under the new contract, reaching $75,000 in the third and final year.

The second problem was that the new contract left ownership of the content with OverDrive. The current contract gives the state library permanent access to all of the content it purchases. Under the new contract, the library would have lost all of the content if and when it left OverDrive.

“We said ‘no,’” Budler said. “We’re challenging that we lease rather than own.”

She said Kansas was, in some ways, a leader among libraries negotiating terms with publishers in the emerging e-book market.

Kansas was one of the first states to organize its libraries into a state-wide consortium to negotiate with publishers. Budler said that, at a conference last week, she spoke with librarians from other states who said they didn’t think their libraries had ownership of the digital content they were purchasing. Budler advised them to look closely at their contracts.

“You have to negotiate that,” she said.

The Kansas state library currently offers at least 2,447 e-books and 7,732 downloadable audiobooks, among other digital content.

The current contract with OverDrive ends December 5. Butler said the new contract with 3M provides for the libraries ownership of content, and other state libraries may not have reached such favorable terms. The state library will start testing 3M’s system in December. Budler said 3M was a little behind in its development of the state library’s platform, but that she didn’t think there would be any gap in downloadable availability between the end of the current contract and the beginning of the new one. More than half of the library’s e-books, and 40% of the audio books are currently moving over to the new 3M platform.

The e-books that patrons download from the library work on most electronic readers. Budler said the Amazon Kindle does not support some of those, but that Amazon was working with publishers to make the content and the readers compatible.

The Lawrence Public Library participates in the state library program, and patrons can download those e-books using their local library card, according to Sherri Turner, assistant director of the library. The state library provides its own card, which can also be used to download e-books and audio books from the state’s website. Turner said the local platform would accept those as well, in the future. She said the Lawrence library will adapt as the state library changes digital platforms.

“We’re still waiting for training and information to know exactly how that’s going to work for us,” Turner said. She said the state and local library websites also steered patrons toward sources of free downloadable content, such as Project Gutenberg, which provides classic literature and other works that are out of copyright.

KU Libraries has participated in the state-wide e-book program in the past, but now purchases digital content from various vendors and publishers, according to Lea Currie, head of collection development at KU Libraries.

“Most of the e-books provided by the state consortium are not appropriate for a research library,” Currie wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, KU selects e-books that support the teaching and research of students and faculty at the research university level.”

Currie said the University will not be affected by changes at the state library, and will continue to purchase e-books at the same level or higher, depending on demand. Students can access the University’s collection through KU Libraries’ website.

— Edited by Jonathan Shorman

Resurrecting Empire

by Rashid Khalidi



After searching and reading about 'Neocolonialism' I came to a conclusion that what is going on right now all over the world especially Muslim World is not coming under 'Neocolonialism' but we need to create new terminology 'Re-colonialism'. Neocolonialism - USA and Western Countries control other worlds indirectly influencing in their economical and social activities. Re-colonialism - It is like colonial power. Conquer other nations and occupy them (Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq etc) - Ismail

Passage from this book:

Page 26

Palestine was almost as hard for Great Britain to conquer in World War I as Iraq, obliging it to wage a hard campaign that took even longer than that in Iraq. After a series of disturbances and riots, the country erupted into a lengthy and bloody nationwide popular revolt against the British from 1936 until 1939. This revolt eventually succeeded in the rebels' taking over several urban centers, and could only be mastered by means of the largest single pre-World War II colonial deployment of British Forces. The Syrians resisted the French in similarly stubborn fashion, obliging them to bombard and subjugate Damascus three times in the course of major military efforts, in 1920, during the nationwide Syrian revolt of 1925-26, and again in 1945.

The numbers of people killed by colonial forces as they suppressed this resistance were so high. In the most lethal of the French bombardment of Damascus in 1925 in revenge for having been driven out of much if the city, French forces killed over 1,400 people, almost all of them civilians. Earlier in 1925, after a similar humiliation in Hama, the French had killed 344 people, again mainly civilians, during a punitive aerial bombardment of the town. french forces later to kill a mans as 1,000 in a similar attack in May 1926 after they once again lost control of the Damascus neighborhood of the Maydan. The number of those killed in the Syrian country side, especially in the Jabal Druze regioen where the revolt began, are much harder to determine, but were also undoubtedly very high.

Iraq, Morroco, Libya, and Syria were the laboratory where the military high-technology of the post-World War II era was first tried out, and where the textbook on the aerial bombardment of civilians were written. One Royal Air Force officer wrote of the 1920 Iraq campaign that after "the most prominent tribe which it is desired to punish" had been chosen, "the attack with bombs and machine guns must be unrelenting and unremitting and carried our continuously by day and night, on houses, inhabitants, corps, and cattle. The RAF's "Notes on he Method of Employment of the Air Arm in Iraq" stated of this air campaign that "within 45 minutes a full sized village...can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed and injured by four or five planes which offer them no real target and no opportunity for glory or avarice. Not surprisingly, at least six thousand and perhaps as many as eighty five hundred or even ten thousand Iraqis were killed during the suppression of the 1920 revolt, many of them civilians. The casualities in Morocco and Syria among civilains during the French military campaigns were similarly high.

Overview

Begun as the United States moved its armed forces into Iraq, Rashid Khalidi's powerful and thoughtful new book examines the record of Western involvement in the region and analyzes the likely outcome of our most recent Middle East incursions. Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the political and cultural history of the entire region as well as interviews and documents, Khalidi paints a chilling scenario of our present situation and yet offers a tangible alternative that can help us find the path to peace rather than Empire.

We all know that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly, as Khalidi reveals with clarity and surety, America's leaders seem blindly committed to an ahistorical path of conflict, occupation, and colonial rule. Our current policies ignore rather than incorporate the lessons of experience. American troops in Iraq have seen first hand the consequences of U.S. led "democratization" in the region. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict seems intractable, and U.S. efforts in recent years have only inflamed the situation. The footprints America follows have led us into the same quagmire that swallowed our European forerunners. Peace and prosperity for the region are nowhere in sight.

This cogent and highly accessible book provides the historical and cultural perspective so vital to understanding our present situation and to finding and pursuing a more effective and just foreign policy.

Meet The Author

Rashid Khalidi, author of three previous books about the Middle East - Origins of Arab Nationalism, Under Siege, and the award-winning Palestinian Identity-is the Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies and director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. He has written more than seventy-five articles on aspects of Middle East history and politics including pieces in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and many journals. Professor Khalidi has received fellowships and grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the American Research Center in Egypt, and the Rockefeller Foundation; he was also the recipient of a Fulbright research award. Professor Khalidi has been a regular guest on numerous radio and TV shows, including All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Morning Edition, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and Nightline.

Table Of Contents: 

Introduction : the perils of ignoring history
Ch. 1 The legacy of the Western encounter with the Middle East 1

Ch. 2 America, the West, and democracy in the Middle East  37
Ch. 3 The Middle East : geostrategy and oil 74

Ch. 4 The United States and Palestine 118
Ch. 5 Raising the ghosts of empire 152

In the Shade of Qur'an

In the Shade of Qur'an

By Sayyid Qutb

Forward to ‘ In the Shade of the Qur'an’

By

Professor Muhammed Qutb

It gives me great pleasure to write this Forward to In the Shade of the Qur’an in its English version. The book is the fruit of the most productive years of its author’s intellectual life and, at that same time, a vivid expression of the sacred battle which he fought and which culminated in his martyrdom in 1966.

The larger part of this work was written when the author was in jail in the period 1954 -1964. This was a period of complete solitude, when writing was the main preoccupation of the author and during which he lived totally ‘in the shade of the Quran’.

The author’s vigorous struggle, for which he was imprisoned, then killed, was, at the practical level, an attempt to achieve the implementation of Islam in the shape of community which practises Islam in its life and preaches the need for its realization until it becomes the actual code of practice for the society as a whole. At the intellectual level, however, the author’s life struggle is embodied in a collection of books devoted to explaining the true nature of Islam, its fundamentals, values and laws. The largest and most important of these works is undoubtedly In the Shade of the Qur’an.

  

   The book is a ‘campaign of struggle’ because it is, indeed, much more than a commentary on the Qur’an.

   The Qur’an is the book of Islam. Hardly a generation has passed since the dawn of Islam without the appearance of one or more commentaries which explain the meaning of the Qur’an. Having spent a considerable part of his life ‘in the shade of Qura’n’and, having joined the struggle for the sake of Islam, the author of this work did not intend to write just another commentary. He had a different objective which he felt could be attained through writing his commentary.

   Our present age has its own features which, perhaps, have never existed in any period of history. They are the ones which gives this commentary its own colouring and determine its points of emphasis.

  

   Muslims, for their part, are now far removed in their practical life from the true nature of Islam. The image of Islam they present by their way of life is nothing more than the indistinguishable negative of the true image of  Islam as it was practiced by the early Islamic generations, who perfectly fulfilled God’s (Allaah’s) own description of them:

            “You are the best community that has ever been raised up for mankind: You enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid what is wrong, and you believe in God.” (3:110) Hence they were able to write that incomparable page in human history. They established truth and justice on earth and raised for mankind an inimitable civilization which builds up its structure in the material and spiritual worlds at the same time. It is a civilization which unites the two worlds and achieves harmony between body and soul, religion and politics, faith and science, the present life and the hereafter, the practical and the ideal.

   Non-Muslims, on the other hand, confront humanity which a host of philosophical, social, political and economic doctrines which banish religion from practical life. At best, such doctrines restrict religion to a tiny corner of man’s conscience so that it may become purely a relationship between the individual and his Lord that has no bearing whatsoever on society and its active life, or, at worst, fight it tooth and nail and bar its very existence. As a result, human life is full of many sorts of political, social, and economic injustice which know no limits. It witnesses various types of intellectual and moral perversion unknown in history. The advocates of such perversion and deviation try nevertheless to dress their erring ways in a scientific garment and they hold to them as if they were truth itself or the ideal sought after. This they do despite all that they suffer in consequence of nervous and psychological diseases – worry and restlessness, madness and suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction and crime.

   What is worse is that these deviant philosophical, social, political and economic doctrines now dominate the lives of contemporary Muslims, wearing the false disguise of a ‘modern’ human civilization. Thus they poison the lives of the Muslim peoples to a larger degree that they do the life of the West because the Muslims of today have deserted Islam and are unaware of its true nature and fundamental value.

   Hence the vigorous intellectual and practical ‘campaign of struggle’ to which the author devoted himself was an attempt to explain to contemporary Muslims the true nature of Islam. His driving objective was that the Muslims of today should be able to live and practice true Islam in the same way as the early Islamic generations. They would then rescue themselves and would be able to show all mankind the road to salvation.

...to read more buy the books (The Qur'an)

  

IN THE SHADE OF THE QUR'AN

                 We went to return a book that we picked it wrongly. we found more useful books. I was passing by Religion section in Book World (Dubai Mall), I stopped in a minute once I saw books with author name Syed Qutb. MaashaAllaah! WOW!!! I found that Fee Lilalil Quran (In the Shade of the Quran) in English all volumes (18 Volumes). I just bought all of them. If anybody wants to read, you are always welcome to my home. No lending by the way. I have been waiting for this translation for 14 to 15 years. (28th September 2011)

                         Today I have started reading it. Introduction to this tafseer by Sayyid Qutb is fascinating. Just find one paragraph from the introduction : To Live "in the shade of the Quran" is a great blessing which can only be fully appreciated by those who experience it. It is a rich experience that gives meaning and blessing to life and makes it worth living. I am deeply thankful to Allaah Almighty for blessing me with this uplifting experience over a considerable time, which was the happiest and most fruitful period of my life - a privilege for which I am eternally grateful.

About the Author
Sayyid Qutb was jailed by the late President Nasser for his links with the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt and was executed in 1966. He started his career as a literary writer and critic, and some people have ascribed to his inspiration the elevation of Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz from obscurity to Nobel Prize Winner. He progressed to become one of the most original and independent Muslim thinkers.

gulftoday.ae | ‘Poetry is soul of life’

gulftoday.ae | ‘Poetry is soul of life’

Poetry is soul of life’

By Mariecar Jara-Puyod September 27, 2011

SHARJAH: Poetry lingers on even in this modern age. What is more gratifying is, amid the continuous technological innovations and the seemingly busier life everyone has each day, not only families and friends, but strangers as well, are around for the ear and the hand, even for the simplest of poems by children. This was the scene inside the white-painted walls of the Barjeel Gallery at the Maraya Art Centre in Al Qasba, Sharjah on the evening of the second Federal National Council elections on Saturday. As Emiratis let their voice be heard through the ballot, various nationalities, including the UAE’s distinguished poets Rashid Sharar and Rayanat Al Oud let their creativity be part of the “100 Thousand Poets for Change.” The event simultaneously took place in Australasia, United States and the UAE throughout the day on Saturday. They read their own compositions or others’ poems in Arabic, English, Urdu and Malayalam either from a hardbound book, loose leaves of white paper, a small spiral notebook, from a yellow gold mobile phone or from their memory. A poet since 18 years of age, Sharar told The Gulf Today that poetry is the soul of life. “Without poetry and poems, there would be no songs,” said Sharar. He read six poems from his collection, including two about Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, one about the wife of the Ruler of Sharjah Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, and three about love relations. At 58, Sharar still continues expressing how he observes and feels life “through the heart.” Shy at first, Aayisha Nur Bint Mohammad Ismail, 8, received a thunderous applause when she delivered her own English piece about her experience of home schooling. “It is sometimes hard to write but I love the rhyming stuff,” said Ismail, whose first foray into poetry reading was through the Abu Dhabi Book Fair last March. Her sister Khadijah said that Ismail’s first poetry was about butterflies at the age of four, which she discovered when she was rummaging through their belongings. Their mother, Maryam, acknowledged that her daughter’s introduction to the art of poetry was through the home schooling curriculum, which delves into its appreciation for writing. Asma Mohammad, 16, from Egypt, is another example among the youth that this literature will still be very much around. At first she delivered in Arabic a melancholic poem she had written about the early 2011 turbulence in her homeland as well as a soulful poetry of unrequited love, Mohammad volunteered for the third one from her collection of over 20 personal poems when Arabic Book Club member Marwa Yehia, a fellow Egyptian, recited with much gusto Syrian poet and diplomat Nizzar Qabbani’s “Prostitution.” Retired banker-poet Kariman Zulfo and her daughter Hiba Rasheed demonstrated that writing was in their genes. A poet since she was a student 48 years ago, Zulfo, who said that some of her compositions had been published in Al Khaleej two decades back, recited her very own classical Sudanese Arabic language poems namely “Ya Laitani As Mayatoho Nizara” (I wish I gave my son the name of Nizzar), an elegy for the Syrian “well-known literary genius”, and “Omdurman,” her hometown back in Sudan, she sorely misses. It is only by writing in classical Arabic that she could help preserve Arabic poetry, which she described as “so rich and colourful,” Zulfo said. Rasheed said her forte is the free-flowing lyrical English language, an example of which is her own “Mad Musings”: “I like complex, fancy vocabulary. How people interpret my poems is mind-enriching.” Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) director Ahmed Al Ameri said the first time event at Al Qasba last Saturday was in line with the campaign of the SIBF “in the love of the written word.” “The Arabic literature is so rich and dates back to 2,000 years. There have been a lot of poetry recitals both in classic Arabic and the slang UAE Arabic since 1996,” Al Ameri said. It is through poetry reading sessions that cultures could be valued, he added. Emirati poet Al Oud, who wrote her first poem 22 years ago, and Al Ameri believe the art of poetry writing and poetry reading sessions are the avenues through which people could inter-connect and empathise with one another. Al Ameri and Yehia agreed that reading vis-à-vis the television prompts and fertilises the mind with imagery. Claiming she “could not grasp and understand” why society allows prostitution to exist, Yehia chose to read Qabbani’s “Prostitution” as “the poet draws a very powerful image of this phenomena and shows how women are judged and criticised while men are never blamed.” Emirates Publishers Association chairman, Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, who graced the occasion, said: “The event provided a good opportunity for people from across the UAE to come together, share their passion and express their opinions through poetry. While globally celebrated to promote serious social, environmental and political change, it showcases the positive that comes out of expressing ideas in a creative way, essentially proving that the pen is, indeed, mightier than the sword.”

என்னை கவர்ந்த புத்தகம்

சாதியிலிருந்து சகோதரத்துவம் வரை

ஆசிரியர் : சிராஜிதீன்

அருமையான புத்தகம், இன்றைக்கு சாதி விடுதலை எதில் என்பதை ஆசிரியர் புட்டு புட்டு வைக்கிறார்.

தலித் அரசியலிலா, கிறிஸ்தவத்திலா, தனி ஈழத்திலா, கம்யூனிஸத்திலா, எதில் என்பதை ஆசிரியர் தெளிவாக விளக்குகிறார்.

சமீபத்தில் இதுபோன்றதொரு புத்தகத்தை நாம் வாசித்ததில்லை.

அனைவரும் அவசியம் படிக்க, அன்பளிப்பாக கொடுக்க சிறந்த புத்தகம் இது.

Shafiq

Kashmir - Broken Promises

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20110826281708100.htm

Broken promises

SHUJAAT BUKHARI

A.G. Noorani opens a window of understanding on Article 370 and the constitutional history of Jammu and Kashmir.

ARTICLE 370 of the Constitution is undoubtedly the most-discussed article in the constitutional history of India as it is about Jammu and Kashmir, which is at the centre of trouble between India and Pakistan. It gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir State within the ambit of India's constitutional framework. Over a period of time, the subject of discussion has been the erosion of its potential to ensure the special distinction of the State.

All Prime Ministers of India to date have vowed to protect it to give the people of Jammu and Kashmir a feeling that theirs is a State that is different from other States in India. However, all of them have failed to do so. When Kashmir plunged into an armed rebellion in late 1989 following “large-scale” rigging in the Assembly elections of 1987, there was not even the faintest idea that it would be back in the Indian fold. In early 1990, a high-level parliamentary delegation led by the then Leader of the Opposition, Rajiv Gandhi, visited Srinagar, only to get confined to a fortress-like Centaur Hotel. On their return to Delhi, the members of the delegation were candid enough to tell the V.P. Singh government that “Kashmir is lost”.

However, things started turning around by the end of 1995, with New Delhi crushing the “popular rebellion” with an iron hand. Militants, mostly Kashmiris, were killed. Civilians who took to the streets demanding “azadi” (freedom) in unequivocal terms met the same fate. With a new composite policy, the government, through the then Governor G.C. Saxena, adopted a multipronged strategy to isolate militants from the Kashmiri social fabric. This was done mainly by bringing “renegades” under the banner of Ikhwanul Muslimoon, a breakaway group of the Ikhwanul Muslimeen militant outfit, the name derived from a popular pro-Islamic movement in Egypt. It surely did break the backbone of the pro-Pakistan militancy, but at a heavy cost.

Electoral process

This paved the way for the political reinforcement in Kashmir, making New Delhi confident enough to announce parliamentary elections in May 1996, the first in the State since 1989. There was hardly a genuine political party to join the electoral process. The influence of the militants had not waned and the people were yet to reconcile with “Indian rule”. Even National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, “the undisputed Indian character” in Kashmir, refused to take the plunge. The Congress was the only prominent party in the fray. Coercion became the hallmark of the process, but New Delhi “sailed through”.

By then the National Conference had opened negotiations with New Delhi around constitutional guarantees that emanated from Article 370. Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's announcement in Burkina Faso in 1995 that the “sky is the limit” with respect to the quantum of autonomy that Jammu and Kashmir could get within the framework of the Constitution had encouraged it. The pivot in this whole process was Article 370.

THE HINDU ARCHIVES 

Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.The original draft of Article 370 was amended without taking him into confidence. His ouster in 1953 would not have been possible without this amendment.

The National Conference submitted a detailed memorandum to Narasimha Rao in November 1995. Not only that, Farooq Abdullah represented India at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meet in Geneva in 1994 to save New Delhi from economic sanctions being imposed on it in view of the alleged “gross human rights violations” in Kashmir. He says in private that he was promised the restoration of the pre-1953 constitutional status to Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1996, Farooq Abdullah was persuaded by Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to take part in the Assembly elections on the assurance that the government would support his demand if he chose to take the legislative route. It took the National Conference four years to bring a resolution in the Assembly to demand greater autonomy and get it passed on June 26, 2000. But the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee summarily rejected it, thus adding another leaf in the history of betrayal.

This rejection was not new in the history of the “battered” relations between Srinagar and New Delhi. Such “breaches” have pushed the State into a turmoil, which refuses to die down even after pumping in billions of rupees for economic development. The alienation of Kashmiris stems from this process of “deceit” by successive governments in New Delhi.

Comprehensive picture

Against this backdrop, the recently launched book by the noted constitutional expert and author A.G. Noorani gives a comprehensive picture of how this history of broken promises has unfolded. The book, Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir (Oxford University Press), is well-researched and documented, and contains agreements, documents and letters that show how power has prevailed over a cohesive fight against these breaches. He not only exposes many Central leaders but also puts Kashmiri leaders in the dock for not rising up against the “injustice” meted out to their people.

This is the first comprehensive work on Article 370. It dwells explicitly on the contours of greater autonomy the Jammu and Kashmir State would enjoy. Supported with rare material, memoranda and White Papers, it gives an entirely different view of how the original draft of Article 370 was amended without taking Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah into confidence. The arrest of Sheikh Abdullah by New Delhi in August 1953, a watershed in the history of the State, would not have been possible without this amendment.

According to Noorani, Sheikh Abdullah and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had serious differences on the original draft, and it was unilaterally altered by N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar without the consent of the Sheikh and his colleagues. He states that Sheikh Abdullah, along with Mirza Afzal Beg, was in the lobby at that time and when they learnt of the changes, they rushed to the House. But the changes had been passed. If the originally agreed draft had been approved, the ouster of the Sheikh later in 1953 would have been impossible. “It was an unfortunate breach that created distrust.”

Noorani has unravelled many potential issues in the book and has cornered the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on its stance in favour of the abrogation of Article 370. He shows how BJP ideologue Shyamaprasad Mookerjee supported the article at the time of its formulation. The book says this constitutional provision also had the complete approval of Sardar Patel whom the BJP invokes as a strong man who was opposed to Jawaharlal Nehru's move to grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

THE HINDU ARCHIVES 

Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel at the latter's residence in Delhi in April 1949. The book says Article 370 had the complete approval of Patel, then Home Minister, whom the BJP invokes as a strong man who was opposed to Nehru's move to grant a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

What is interesting is that until 1960, it was a provisional clause as India had seemingly kept the option of a plebiscite open. Accordingly, the White Paper by Sardar Patel on Jammu and Kashmir, published by the Government of India in 1948, recorded: “In accepting the accession, the Government of India made it clear that they would regard it as purely provisional until such time as the will of the people of the State could be ascertained.”

The most significant revelation in Noorani's book is how Jawaharlal Nehru “ditched” his “friend” Sheikh Abdullah, the tallest leader of Kashmir. Sheikh had too much faith in Nehru, who had off and on assured him that the special status to Jammu and Kashmir would not be tampered with. But going by his speeches and the communications, the rift over this “breach” was obvious.

Nehru and Article 370

Noorani's research clearly shows Nehru's intention on Jammu and Kashmir. He reveals that Nehru was for the abrogation of Article 370. In spite of being an architect of Article 370, Nehru told the Lok Sabha on November 27, 1963, that “it has been eroded, if I may use the word, and many things have been done in the last few years which have made the relationship of Kashmir with the Union of India very close. There is no doubt that Kashmir is fully integrated…. We feel this process of gradual erosion of Article 370 is going on. Some fresh steps are being taken and in the next month or two they will be completed. We should allow it to go on.”

Union Home Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda said in the Lok Sabha on December 4, 1964, that the “only way to take the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir is through the application of Article 370. It is a tunnel. It is through this tunnel that a good deal of traffic has already passed and more will.” According to Noorani, Nanda concluded: “What happens is that only the shell is there. Article 370, whether you keep it or not, has been completely emptied of its contents. Nothing has been left in it.”

The book makes a strong case for restoring full autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. With 92 historical documents reproduced in it, the book suggests revisiting Article 370 with a draft proposal. Noorani believes that with political will, sincerity of purpose and a spirit of compromise, it is not difficult to retrieve from the wreckage of Article 370 a constitutional settlement that will satisfy the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

He says that Jammu and Kashmir was the only State in India that negotiated its relations with New Delhi following Partition, and it took five months to complete this process. He believes that Article 370 was a solemn compact, with neither side mandated to amend or abrogate it unilaterally, except in accordance with the terms of that provision. The author has revisited Article 370 and presented it as a “solution” to address the political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, though the separatists are demanding something diametrically opposite to it. But given the current situation, he makes it clear that the restoration of greater autonomy can be an alternative to what “is not possible”.

Noorani's work comes at a time when the National Conference is pursuing its autonomy agenda as an “honourable solution” to the Kashmir problem and when the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) sees self-rule as a solution. Though their approaches are different, there seems to be no disagreement between them on the protection of Article 370. The PDP considers Article 370 as a permanent feature of the Constitution and believes that its abrogation will have serious consequences even for the accession of the State to the Union of India.

The National Conference also is a strong votary of the protection of the article, and its autonomy document mainly revolves around that provision of the Constitution. It believes that the crisis around this article can be resolved only by returning to the pre-1953 constitutional position the State enjoyed, with its own Prime Minister and Sadr-e-Riyasat besides the limited powers the Centre had. The vision document of October 2008, prepared by the National Conference, gives a comprehensive road map to the resolution of the issue.

Against this backdrop, Noorani's book becomes the bedrock of any negotiation between New Delhi and Srinagar to find a solution to the problem and remove the mistrust emanating from the history of betrayals since 1947. The Centre's team of interlocutors can also benefit a lot from this to formulate a plan for New Delhi to address the political problem and ward off the threat of disruption in Kashmir. Though the involvement of Pakistan in any settlement is imperative, the internal dimension can be addressed with a strong political will. Noorani has made a tremendous contribution by opening a window of understanding on this crucial subject.

An independent bookstore that is surviving

As big box stores close, Park Road Books thrives in a rapidly changing industry

By Pam Kelley

Reading Life Editor

Posted: Saturday, Jul. 23, 2011

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/23/2477619/an-independent-bookstore-that.html

Joseph-Beth Booksellers has left town. Borders is liquidating. The number of bookstores in Charlotte continues to shrink.

If you believe conventional wisdom, Park Road Books' demise must be right around the corner. It is, after all, an independent bookstore, a bricks-and-mortar retailer in the age of online booksellers and e-books.

Even the nation's second-largest chain couldn't make it in this fast-changing industry. Last week, Borders Group Inc. announced it would liquidate its 399 bookstores. As a result, Charlotte will lose Borders stores at Northlake Mall and StoneCrest.

Park Road Books can't compete with giant retailers' prices. With about 4,000 square feet, it's less than a fifth the size of the city's largest Barnes & Noble. It doesn't serve coffee.

The store is also up against an online market, led by Amazon and Barnes & Noble, that keeps growing. Last year, for the first time, online spending on books surpassed spending in bookstore chains, according to Bowker, a bibliographic research firm. This year's online spending will likely eclipse spending in all bookstores.

But Park Road Books, it turns out, isn't going anywhere.

With a business plan that includes frequent author readings, a knowledgeable staff and a dog, Yola, who serves as store greeter, owners Sally Brewster and Frazer Dobson are standing strong.

They have weathered the recession. They have outlasted competition from numerous chain stores. They recently signed a five-year lease.

"We're in excellent shape," Brewster said.

Incubator for bestsellers

Independent bookstores accounted for 5 percent of last year's $1.5 billion in U.S. book spending, but they wield an influence larger than their sales numbers.

"Anybody in the publishing industry will say they're the most important market segment in the book industry. They're the incubator for bestsellers," said Craig Popelars, marketing director for Chapel Hill's Algonquin Books. "When we put an author on a 20-city tour, 18 of those stops are going to be at independent booksellers."

Publishers rely on indie booksellers to tell customers about promising new authors. Hand selling, as it's called, can mean the difference between a success and a flop.

It's what propelled Algonquin's "Water for Elephants" to bestseller lists in 2006, Popelars said. Independent bookstores were the first to embrace the novel, by newcomer Sara Gruen. Then national media, chains and Amazon jumped on the bandwagon.

The process is hard to replicate in chain stores, Popelars said, because the book buyer isn't the same person who's doing the selling.

In the tight world of indie bookstores, one bookseller tells another about a great new book. Word spreads. "Sally's reach within the independent bookselling community," he said, "is throughout the country."

'Just for the love of it'

Park Road Books was founded by John Barringer as Little Professor Books. It opened in Park Road Shopping Center in 1977 and became a well-loved fixture in the community.

Then, in the early 1990s, megastores arrived in town.

"The family-owned bookstore isn't going to be there five years from now," the president of Publishers Warehouse, a discount bookseller, predicted in a 1992 Observer story. "I wouldn't want to be a single bookstore owner selling at full price operating in a little strip shopping center somewhere."

Over the next several years, eight independent Charlotte bookstores closed, including three Intimate Bookshops and Brandywine Books on Selwyn Avenue.

The few that survived included Little Professor and The BookMark in Founder's Hall, now Charlotte's only other independent bookstore.

In 1999, Little Professor was still holding its own, but Barringer was ready to retire. He asked Brewster, a former Random House sales representative, if she would consider buying the store.

"I said, 'You'd be crazy to buy a store now,' " Brewster recalled.

She bought it anyway.

"I wasn't expecting to make a lot of money," she said. "It was just for the love of it."

Regular customers

Today, Park Road Books is a family-owned bookstore in a shopping center - the exact kind of store whose extinction was predicted by the Publishers Warehouse president in 1992.

Brewster, 47, has lived in Charlotte most of her life. Her retired dad comes in regularly to deal with incoming inventory. Her mom helps out during the holidays.

Brewster's husband, Frazer Dobson, became co-owner after the couple married in 2003. He's a sales representative for Workman Publishing, and he writes the store's email newsletter.

Park Road does about $1 million in annual sales, making it slightly larger than the average independent bookstore. Its clientele comes from all over town and beyond. A few customers even make a vacation stop each year while driving through Charlotte on Interstate 77.

"We're grateful," Brewster said. "A little bewildered, but grateful."

There are also many regulars, including Sue Richards, who walked into the store one recent morning with a list of books.

Indie booksellers often complain about customers who use their store as Amazon's showroom - browsing, requesting recommendations, then ordering online. Richards does the opposite. She reads about books online, and then buys them at Park Road Books.

Park Road staffers know her taste and her husband's taste. They even recognize her voice on the phone.

"They're my favorite people in the world," Richards said. "I just think independent bookstores are vital to the community."

That day, she purchased a gift card and four books, including "Butterfly's Child," by Raleigh's Angela Davis-Gardner. It's a staff favorite.

Later, Bob Thomason arrived with dog Sadie, a Chihuahua mix. While Thomason bought a Wall Street Journal, Sadie met Brewster behind the counter to collect a treat from the dog biscuit jar.

"She looks forward to coming in every day," Thomason said.

Threat posed by Kindle

In the bookstore business, Brewster has learned, there always seems to be a new threat.

In 2005, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, a small chain based in Lexington, Ky., opened a store in SouthPark Mall, joining a nearby Borders and Barnes & Noble. All three were within 4 miles of her store.

Joseph-Beth was a lovely store with a nice bistro. It competed with Park Road for book signings. And it hurt Park Road's business.

Then, in November 2007, a new threat: Amazon released the Kindle electronic reader and sold out in less than four hours.

Brewster stayed the course, giving free talks about books to any group that would have her, hosting book signings in the store for any author who inquired. Sometimes, signings featured big names - Kathryn Stockett, Chelsea Handler, Pat Conroy. Sometimes, they brought in self-published local authors. Both groups are welcome. The goal is to get customers into the store.

But sales tumbled when the recession hit in 2008 and stayed down in 2009.

"Those were probably the scariest" months, she said. "I stopped looking at previous years' sales. What matters is if you have enough money to pay the bills."

She reduced inventory, cut advertising, scaled back employee hours. She also beefed up the store's popular puzzle section. She ended some months in the red, but refused to lay off any of her 13 employees.

Then last November, the bookstore finally caught a break. Both Joseph-Beth and Borders at Morrocroft Village announced they were shutting down. Since they closed, Brewster said, Park Road Books' sales, though still not back to pre-recession levels, have climbed more than 20 percent.

Supporting local business

In the world of indie bookselling, some people are using the R word: Resurgence.

Membership in the American Booksellers Association, which represents independent stores, was up 7 percent from May 2010 to May 2011 - the first significant jump after years of decline.

Meg Smith, the ABA's marketing officer, believes independent bookstores are benefiting from shoppers' growing desire to support local businesses. A prominent sign in Park Road's window urges customers to "Cultivate Community. Shop Indie." In promotional materials, the store points out that $68 of every $100 spent there stays in the community. At chain stores, $43 stays in the community. And when you order from Amazon, nothing does.

Indie booksellers, including Park Road, have also begun competing against Amazon in the e-book market, selling Google eBooks on their websites.

Still, some store owners worry about the future.

David and Kathy Friese opened The BookMark in Charlotte's Founder's Hall in 1992 to cater to the hundreds of uptown workers, especially Bank of America employees, who pass by each weekday. In recent years, the store has suffered because of layoffs and construction that diverted foot traffic.

"We see ourselves in business in the near future," David Friese said, but he wonders about the viability of the industry five years out.

When Charlotte's two remaining Borders stores close in coming weeks, the county will have nine full-service booksellers. Four are Barnes & Noble stores - Sharon Road, The Arboretum, Carolina Place Mall and Birkdale Village. Two are Books-A-Million, in Cotswold Mall and on Steele Creek Road in southwest Charlotte.

The remaining three are independents - The BookMark and Park Road Books, plus Main Street Books in Davidson.

Attention to customer service

These days, Brewster doesn't fret over competition from Barnes & Noble, the nation's biggest chain. She and many others believe the biggest threat to indies is Amazon, which accounted for 19 percent of all book dollars spent last year.

Amazon undercuts competitors in part by not collecting sales tax.

"They give people unrealistic expectations of price and cost," she said.

Her business plan is to offer what Amazon can't: Smart book recommendations, a chance to meet authors, face-to-face customer service.

"I'm optimistic," Brewster said. "You just have to find reasons to be relevant."

That means hosting store events, like the recent launch of John Hart's thriller, "Iron House." About 75 people attended. Brewster served watermelon and boiled peanuts.

It means gift-wrapping copies of "Blueberries for Sal" and "Arthur's Family Vacation" separately, so a customer's granddaughter will have two presents to open.

It means offering treats to dogs, greeting everyone who walks in, suggesting a novel that will make a customer return and announce: "I loved it."

It means surviving, one book at a time.

Pam Kelley: 704-358-5271; pkelley@charlotteobserver.com

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/23/2477619/an-independent-bookstore-that.html#ixzz1T0wkvRJq