A New (Old) Meaning for Jihad
New book celebrates 19th Century Muslim hero who still unites today
Rhinebeck, NY November 20, 2008: Though the history of the Emir Abd el-Kader is virtually unknown today in the United States, it wasn't always the case. When the Muslim warrior-saint died in 1883 the New York Times, in their obituary, hailed him as "one of the few great men of the century." Abd el-Kader had been a world figure for fifty years. He had skillfully resisted the French occupation of Algeria for seventeen of those, had finally gracefully surrendered and stoically endured years in a French prison, and had gone on to save the lives of thousands of Christians and Europeans by intervening in a Turkish instigated pogrom in Damascus. He was admired and revered around the world for his moral authority, keen intelligence and natural warrior abilities. But it was the independence of his spirit that particularly spoke to Americans at that time; President Abraham Lincoln sent him a gift of Colt pistols and the newly formed town of Elkader, Iowa was named after him. It will sound hard to some ears today but Abd el-Kader earned his place on the world stage by following the dictates of Jihad as he understood them.
Americans saw a kindred spirit in Abd el-Kader's defiance of European imperialism. They also understood his kind of Jihad. They could recognize its merits in the person and deeds of Abd el-Kader and they intuitively understood that its religious underpinnings, though Islamic, had much in common with their own Christian and American ideals. Jihad, as embodied by Abd el-Kader, showed the way of a just war. It preached religious tolerance, the protection of minorities and the humane treatment of political prisoners.
Monkfish Book Publishing Company is proud to announce the publication of Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader: A Story of True Jihad by John W. Kiser. The book has received wide prepublication praise. Susan Eisenhower said "Commander of the Faithful is one of those dazzling biographies that inform our modern life." Prince of Jordan, Hassan bin Talal, hailed it as a book which "provides Muslims with a much needed antidote to the toxic false jihads of today, dominated by anger violence and politics."
Press Contact:
Monkfish Book Publishing Co
Paul Cohen
845-876-4861
http://www.monkfishpublishing.com
http://www.truejihad.com
Published on: 2008-11-21
Limited copyright is granted for you to use and/or republish any story on this site for
any legitimate media purpose as long as you reference 7thSpace and any source mentioned in the story above. Please
make sure to read our disclaimer prior to contacting 7thSpace Interactive. To contact our editors, visit our online helpdesk. If you wish submit your own press release, click here. Media releases on this web site are also distributed to thousands of international journalists via OTS Alert service.
Social Bookmarking
RETWEET This! | Digg this! | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Furl | Add to Netscape | Add to Yahoo! | Rojo
|
|
