Maszlee Malik

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • OVER 80 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE “Translated into 80 languages, the allegory teaches us about dreams, destiny, and the reason we are all here.”—Oprah Daily, “Best Self-Help Books of a Generation” “It’s a brilliant, magical, life-changing book that continues to blow my mind with its lessons. [...] A remarkable tome.”—Neil Patrick Harris, actor A special 25th anniversary edition of the extraordinary international bestseller, including a new foreword by Paulo Coelho. Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom, and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations. Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams. “A magical little volume.”—San Francisco Chronicle “[This] Brazilian wizard makes books disappear from stores.”—The New York Times “A sweetly exotic tale for young and old alike.”—Publishers Weekly

What makes an American Catholic of Irish and Italian descent one of the leading global voices in admiration of Prophet Muhammad? In this overview of Muhammad's life and legacy, prominent scholar Craig Considine provides a sociological analysis of Muhammad's teachings and example. Considine shows how the Prophet embraced religious pluralism, envisioned a civic nation, stood for anti-racism, advocated for seeking knowledge, initiated women's rights, and followed the Golden Rule. Considine sheds light on the side of Prophet Muhammad that is often forgotten in mainstream depictions and media narratives. The Humanity of Muhammad is Considine's contribution to the growing body of literature on one of history's most important human beings.

Ibn Hazm's Tawq al-Hamama ('The Ring of the Dove') The famous Arabic book on love and lovers, Tawq al-hamâma ('the Ring of the Dove'), is a splendid witness to the high age of Islamic culture in Spain. The book was written in or around 1022 CE in Játiva, south of Valencia, by Abu Muhammad `Ali Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi (Córdoba, 994-1064 CE). It is a youth work by this famous Andalusian poet, philosopher, jurist and scholar of comparative religion. In thirty chapters Ibn Hazm treats thirty moments or personages that are of relevance to love relationships, such as the signs of love, love at first sight, amorous allusions, correpondence between lovers, the messenger between the lovers, being together, fidelity and unfidelity, separation, death. Ibn Hazm alternates from theoritical observations to anecdotes of daily life and he ornates his essays with an abundance of appropriate poetry. The anecdotes are often very peronal and they give the reader a enthralling view on life and love in Islamic Córdoba. All poetry in the Ring of the Dove is Ibn Hazm's own. The Ring of the Dove has been preserved in only one manuscript, which is, since 1665, part of the Oriental collections of Leiden University Library (where it is registered as Or. 927). It was copied in 1338 CE, most probably in Egypt or Syria, from an original that is now lost. The manuscript was first acquired in Istanbul in the middle of the 17th century by the learned and bibliophile Dutch ambassador to the Sublime Porte, Levinus Warner (1619-1665). After his death his entire collection of books and manuscripts came to Leiden. The first edition of the Arabic text was made by the Russian D.K. Pétrof and was published in Leiden in 1914. Before that R.P.A. Dozy (1820-1883) had already published several fragments. All later editions and the numerous translations of the book are directly, or, mostly, indirectly based on the Leiden manuscript. Together they are proof to the fact that Ibn Hazm in his book on love and lovers treats themes that are for all humans in all times.

European history of the past century is full of examples of philosophers, writers, and scholars who supported or excused the worst tyrannies of the age. How was this possible? How could intellectuals whose work depends on freedom defend those who would deny it? In profiles of six leading twentieth-century thinkers—Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Alexandre Kojève, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida—Mark Lilla explores the psychology of political commitment. As continental Europe gave birth to two great ideological systems in the twentieth century, communism and fascism, it also gave birth to a new social type, the philotyrannical intellectual. Lilla shows how these thinkers were not only grappling with enduring philosophical questions, they were also writing out of their own experiences and passions. These profiles demonstrate how intellectuals can be driven into a political sphere they scarcely understand, with momentous results. In a new afterword, Lilla traces how the intellectual world has changed since the end of the cold war. The ideological passions of the past have been replaced in the West, he argues, by a dogma of individual autonomy and freedom that both obscures the historical forces at work in the present and sanctions ignorance about them, leaving us ill-equipped to understand those who are inflamed by the new global ideologies of our time.

As Mary Ann Glendon writes in this fascinating new book, the relationship between politics and the academy has been fraught with tension and regret-and the occasional brilliant success-since Plato himself. In The Forum and the Tower, Glendon examines thinkers who have collaborated with leaders, from ancient Syracuse to the modern White House, in a series of brisk portraits that explore the meeting of theory and reality. Glendon discusses a roster of great names, from Edmund Burke to Alexis de Tocqueville, Machiavelli to Rousseau, John Locke to Max Weber, down to Charles Malik, who helped Eleanor Roosevelt draft the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With each, she explores the eternal questions they faced, including: Is politics such a dirty business that I shouldn't get involved? Will I betray my principles by pursuing public office? Can I make a difference, or will my efforts be wasted? Even the most politically successful intellectuals, she notes, did not all end happily. The brilliant Marcus Tullius Cicero, for example, reached the height of power in the late Roman Republic, then fell victim to intrigue, assassinated at Mark Antony's order. Yet others had a lasting impact. The legal scholar Tribonian helped Byzantine Emperor Justinian I craft the Corpus Juris Civilis, which became a bedrock of Western law. Portalis and Napoleon emulated them, creating the civil code that the French emperor regarded as his greatest legacy. Formerly ambassador to the Vatican and an eminent legal scholar, Glendon knows these questions personally. Here she brings experience and expertise to bear in a timely, and timeless, study.