Author:Sadakat Kadri
This book is important because it is:
Unique. Heaven on Earth offers a critique of extremism that is human rights-based and entertaining – combining the comparative approach of Karen Armstrong and the immediacy of Ed Husain (The Islamist) with storytelling.
Timely. At a time of veil bans, Qur’an burnings and English Defence League protests, Kadri voices a liberal view of Islamic history and shows Muslims working against repression. This book explains up-to-the-minute brutalities.
Epic. Interviews, anecdotes, personal reflection and analysis are set against a narrative that sweeps from seventh-century Mecca to the war in Afghanistan. Civilisations are evoked via the vivid lives of caliphs, mystics, and travellers. Legal changes are described through the feuds, courtroom dramas, conquests and cataclysms that have left their mark on modern Islamic law.
First-hand. On the road for five months, Kadri travelled through Iran just before the June 2009 election protests, and took part in a human rights conference there with ayatollahs and academics.
Eye-opening. This book goes beyond the explosive headline issues (criminal justice, women, jihad, religious freedom) to reveal the stranger ones: genie exorcisms; the legal consequences of premature ejaculation; online fatwa advice; the sharia approach to Facebook and Qur’anic mobile phone ringtones, etc.
Bold. Heaven on Earth primarily targets religious extremism, but also cuts anti-Muslim panic down to size.
Brilliant and illuminating
—— Boris Johnson , Mail on SundayGreatly enriches our understanding of a much misunderstood subject
—— Sunday TimesErudite and instructive
—— The TimesFirst-rate
—— Guardian[A] lively, yet scholarly, book... Kadri is an ideally positioned guide
—— Daily TelegraphIntellectually nimble and rigorously researched . . . admirably clear-eyed . . . Kadri is a precise and stylish writer, as good at explicating abstruse arguments as he is at conjuring vivid scenes . . . this brave and sane book could not be more timely
—— ScotsmanTruly penetrating and provocative
—— ObserverLearned, level-headed, engaging, Kadri's [book] deserves praise on every front
—— Boyd Tonkin , IndependentThoughtful
—— Independent on Sunday[An] erudite and instructive book... Captivating
—— The Times[A] fascinating journey . . . Kadri approaches his themes with unstinting humanity and intelligence, as well as great fluency
—— SpectatorYou will come across...a fresh eye, and a clear perspective, in Sadakat Kadri's new book, Heaven on Earth. Learned, level-headed, engaging, Kadri's "journey through Shari'a law" deserves praise on every front
—— IndependentThis is an extremely valuable book...Knowing this stuff is important, and Kadri takes us through it wonderfully well. He has a great grasp of the facts and – this is my favourite thing – a good, dry sense of humour
—— Nick Lezzard , GuardianSuperb… So much discussion of sharia is marred by misinformation and paranoia: this level-headed book provides a timely corrective
—— David Evans , Independent on SundayThe most gripping, moving and entertaining literary memoir I have ever read.
—— Amanda Craig , Independent on SundayThe story Rushdie tells is never less than gripping.
—— Colin McCabe , New StatesmanA magnificent new memoir.
—— Matthew d’Ancona , Evening StandardThis moving, sometimes irritating, often beautiful and blissfully funny memoir is also a resounding manifesto, reminding us that novelists have a right and duty to tackle the most controversial subjects.
—— Jake Kerridge , Sunday ExpressHis big, bold, controversial memoir…matches Rushdie’s confident personality.
—— Ian Finlayson , The Times[A book that] rattles with the terror of the moment.
—— Graeme Wood , Barnes & Noble ReviewThe big book of the week was Salman Rushdie's memoir Joseph Anton
—— GuardianIt’s an extraordinary document.
—— Anthony Cummins , MetroRushdie says art outlasts persecution, but artists may not. A look at how this dichotomy has played out in his life.
—— Salil Tripathi , Live MintJoseph Anton is as riveting for the small vignettes as the big, historical sweep.
—— Ginny Dougary , Financial TimesReads like a thriller...painfully true.
—— Robert McCrum , ObserverHe is compelling here...grippingly reconstructing his long years in hiding.
—— Robert Collins , Sunday Times[N]ot many Americans had heard of Rushdie until Valentines Day, 1989, when the dying Ayatollah Khomeni of Iran issued the infamous fatwa calling for Rushdie’s head... Rushdie spent most of the next decade in hiding, accompanied by armed British agents. He’s now published his account of that stranger-than-fiction time: Joseph Anton: A Memoir.
—— Kurt Andersen , Studio 360Aside from the vivid, splendidly told account of his childhood and family background, Rushdie's book charts in, fascinating, grimly humourous detail, the shadowy half-life he lived until that fatwah was lifted on March 27, 2002.
—— Paddy Kehoe , RTE Ten