Eid Mubarak
We are back with more ideas
Eid Mubarak to you all. Hope you enjoyed the holy month of Ramadan. Hussein and I will be back with our weekly post to continue our discussion. I want thank you for your messages. Most of the comments we have received were positive and almost all are encouraging us to continue. There were some who asked about our motivation and the purpose of publicly sharing ideas, etc. We hear you, in brief, the weekly post generally covers issues related to Somalia’s foreign affairs policies, more specifically about our embassies and what we termed our diplomatic deficit. No politicking or personal damaging comments.
Hussein and I were thinking about the content of the upcoming articles. We will also like to know if there are any particular period or topic you would like us to cover and discuss. We will focus on our current and past embassies in the Asia Pacific over the next weeks. However, we will also intersperse with book reviews and other articles of interest. But not this week. We are taking it easy as we celebrate the Eid.
During Ramadan I don’t engage the Social media and even activities that may distract me from the essence of the holy month. However, I read new and in some cases re-read some of my favorite books that are not related to my professional and academic life. This year was no exception and the book that I enjoyed most was Mohamad Jebara’s Muhammad, the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait which was published by St. Martin’s Press / St. Martin’s Essentials on November 16, 2021.
I can attempt to provide a short review of this book, but I feel that will not be fair as I am biased and may not do justice, therefore please visit your local library or buy if you can and share with us your thoughts and reflections. Some of the reviews I read claim that it is a book that’s concerned about the prophet (pbuh) as more of a historical figure than a religious one. I like books that provide sources, and Jebara provided a detailed and exhaustive list of sources, that takes up almost 10 percent of the book’s size.
You may refreshingly learn that prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was against slavery and did much on the social justice front. In that sense, the book seems to be very well-rounded in ticking off the boxes of what prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stood for. I will not go any further and will encourage to read this book. I could not help but notice the different spelling of the prophet’s, the author’s and my name; Muhammad, Mohamad and Mohamed respectively. Another discussion point in another future post.
I guess I would be remiss if I don’t mention the goings-on in Mogadishu over the last two weeks. Personally I feel sad, but it is step forward, all things considered. More on this after the dust settles, so to speak.
Comments, feedback welcome. Enjoy the Eid.