AIF Library
AIF Book Highlight
Butterfly Mosque
G. Willow Wilson
Twenty-seven-year-old G. Willow Wilson has already established herself as an accomplished writer on modern religion and the Middle East in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine. In her memoir, the Colorado-raised journalist tells her remarkable story of converting to Islam and falling in love with an Egyptian man in a turbulent post–9/11 world. When Willow leaves her atheist parents in Denver to study at Boston University, she enrolls in an Islamic Studies course, hopeful that it will help her to understand her inchoate spirituality. As she reads through the teachings and events of the Quran, Willow is astounded and comforted by how deeply this fourteen-hundred-year-old document speaks to who she is, and decides to risk everything to convert to Islam and embark on a fated journey across continents and into an uncertain future. She settles in Cairo where she teaches English and attempts to submerge herself in a culture based on her adopted religion. And then she meets Omar, a passionate young man with a mild resentment of the Western influences in his homeland. They fall in love, entering into a daring relationship that calls into question the very nature of family, belief, and tradition. Torn between the secular West and Muslim East, Willow—identifiably Western with her shock of red hair, shaky Arabic, and candor—records her intensely personal struggle to forge a “third culture” that might accommodate her own values without compromising them or the friends and family on both sides of the divide. Part travelogue, love story, and memoir, The Butterfly Mosque is a brave, inspiring story of faith—in God, in each other, in ourselves, and in the ability of relationships to transcend cultural barriers and exist above the evils that threaten to keep us apart.
Read more about G. Willow Wilson
In the Library
Islam in Focus - Hammudah Abdalati (Available Free Online)
Unimagined - Imran Ahmad - Excerpts Free Online
The Soul of a Butterfly - Muhammed Ali
The 99 - Naif Al-Mutawa and Fabian Nicieza (1st Issue Available Free Online)
Islam: A Short History, Muhammed: A Biography of the Prophet, The Battle for God - Karen Armstrong
Islam at the Crossroads - Muhammad Asad
Merton and Sufism: The Untold Story - Edited by Rob Baker and Gray Henry
A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings, The Essential Rumi - Coleman Barks
Nine Parts of Desire, People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
A Thousand and One Egyptian Nights: An American Christian's Life Among Muslims - Jennifer Drago
Middle Eastern Women Speak - Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
Silent No More: Confronting America's False Images of Islam - Paul Findley
Living Islam Out Loud - Edited by Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur (AIF Advisory Board)
American Muslims: The New Generation, Why I am Muslim: An American Odyssey - Asma Gull Hasan
Women of Sufism: A Hidden Treasure - Camille Adams Helminski
A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran - Fatemeh Kesharvaz-Karamustafa
Liberal Islam - A Sourcebook - Edited by Charles Kurzman
Wives of the Holy Prophet - Fida Husain Malik
Muhammed: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources - Martin Lings
The Trouble with Islam Today - Irshad Manji
War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims - Melody Moezzi (AIF Board)
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
Little Mosque on the Prairie - Season 1 - Zarqa Nawaz
Standing Alone in Mecca: A Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam - Azra Nomani (AIF Advisory Board)
The Truths of Love: Sufi Poetry - Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh
What's Right with Islam - Feisal Abdul Rauf
The Satanic Verses: A Novel - Salman Rushdie
Progressive Muslims: On Gender, Justice and Plurality - Edited by Omid Safi (AIF Scholar Board)
Persepolis 1, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi
And Muhammed is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety - Annemarie Schimmel
A Woman of Egypt - Jehan Sedat
Poetic Parenting - D. Hamima Shabazz
Qu'ran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective - Amina Wadud
Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim Their Faith - Michael Wolfe
Important LInks
AIF Library
AIF Audio Links
AIF Visual Art Links
AIF Bookstore
AIF Wishlist Store
Visit this link to find a wealth of resources for Islamic and Religious Studies.
All proceeds from the purchase of books from the AIF Wishlist Store benefit the American Islamic Fellowship.
To donate books to the AIF Library, please contact us at info@americanislamicfellowship.com.
references ONline
Please add to our references by e-mailing us here
4 Basic Qur'anic Terms
Al-Tafsir - Quran Commentary (English, الْعَرَبيّة)
Compendium of Muslim Texts - University of Southern California - MSA
El Mensaje del Qur'an - Muhammed Asad (español)
Global Quran (30 Languages)
Message of the Quran - Muhammed Asad
Quranix - Kitabun Markum Society (English, Türkçe, الْعَرَبيّة)
Qur'an Explorer (English, الْعَرَبيّة)
Tanzil: Quran Navigator (29 Languages)
The Koran - University of Michigan
The Quran as it Explains Itself - Quran Commentary
World of Reading - Foreign Language Study
Zekr Qur'an (18 Languages) - Downloadable for Windows, Mac, Linux
Classes
Please add to our class list by e-mailing us here
Emory Center for Lifetime Learning - Atlanta, GA (Campus)
Alif Institute - Atlanta, GA (Campus)
Studying Islam - Affiliate of Al-Mawrid (Online, Free)
Al-Huda Institute - Canada (Online, Fee Based)
North American Religious Studies Programs - (Various)
Asking good questions is half of learning
~Muhammed (p.b.u.h.)
aif proudly supports
