Why Reading 27 Books is better than a Hundreth!
At an initial stage I never took record of my life, the development and progress been made. Thus then, now I am not Going back to 2016, or 2017, in which I devoured 41 books and countless articles. Being in Africa after Berlin Conference tells more about us, than we do of us; do imagine the misinterpretation, stereotyped corrections this marginalized folks need to do for themselves. Steve Biko would have us to digested Stoney nuggets, “Africans We are on our own.” I studied hard and the word “studious” became my middle name.
I’ve spent ambled time to Study Self (Higher & Lower), Knowledge of Self, True Religion of Islam and what principles all religions are founded upon. Why we trample? What our moral settings are? What is right or might be wrong, and the maxims for such measurement.?
The list is straightforward with quotes, analogies and references. This is My best, I cannot propose otherwise.
1.Shadows On Our Skin by Jennifer Johnston (LITERATURE)
To eat from your words is really a great task..since everyone can read and write; the writings of a Writer is differently. Jennifer captures the life of Ireland at a time of mishaps, the poetic expression and many more.
2.The Prince by Niccolō Machiavelli (STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP).
A wonderful read on Strategic leadership.
3. The Art of War by Sun Tzu (STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP)
"When the basic mind is firm, fresh energy is Victorious." ~The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
The mind is the man. Master your mind.
4. Faith of Our Fathers by 12 essayist and Writers on Afrocentricity (ACTIVISM)
Delfeayo Marsalis, among others, Dr. Cornel West, Delfeayo Marsalis, said: “Anybody can make a baby, but it takes a man to be a father.’’ this words does not only sound true but clear in all settings, I read it whiles single…It had readied me now that I’m married.
5. Ways Unto Heaven by Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba (SPIRITUALITY)
“It is easy to know God than a Saintly Man (Waliyu’Allāh).” The Servant of the Messenger, Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba pinpoints us to the virtues and values of each and everyone of us, being an integral part of the Divine. Yet we walk, talk, even trample upon another, without realizing how precious beings we are. The Nonviolent activist and leader puts off flames of fire to cold blocks. You need to read to digest lessons therein.
Despite his Thirty-three years of exile, imprisonment and house arrest only strengthened his faith. Poetical expressed through His writings unreservedly, no wonder it is seen as a live sacred texts that made forever like now than before.
6. No longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe (AFRICAN STUDIES)
Required Reading!
7. The Prophet of Mercy MUHAMMAD; Scenes from Life by Osman Nuri Topbas (BIOGRAPHY)
The Author sets pace from Qur’anic verses, Prophet narrations and Islamic History (Tarikh). Filled with light upon light, one will be awe from the start to 192th page.
"One who is deprived of Mercy is deprived of all sorts of Goodness. " ~Prophet Muhammad
"I was not sent to this world for condemnation; I have been sent as a Prophet of Mercy. " ~Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
8. Man, Woman and Child by Eric Segal (LITERATURE)
A heart wrenching novel on love from distance land. You must read this to understand how. Great work of fiction❗️
9. Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu Edition by Brain Walker (SPIRITUALITY)
This simple Path leads to peace, virtue, and abundance.
The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who are deserving; also, and equally, take care of those who are not.\
/ Words can never convey the beauty of a tree;
to understand it, you must see it with your own eyes.
Language cannot capture the melody of a song;
to understand it, you must hear it with your own ears.
So it is with the Tao: the only way to understand it is to directly experience it.
The subtle truth of the universe is unsayable and unthinkable.
Therefore the highest teachings are wordless.
My own words are not the medicine, but a prescription; not the destination, but a map to help you reach it.
When you get there, quiet your mind and close your mouth.
Don’t analyze the Tao (Path).
Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly, with your whole harmonious being.
~
This is the profound, simple truth:
You are the master of your life and death.
What you do is what you are.
10. Tooba’s Anger by Abubakari Ahmed Kumburwah (Blakk Rasta) (AFRICAN STUDIES)
Blakk Rasta journeys readers through the Gonjaland. Pointing and making plain how a community could breed warriors and the disenfranchised were the lost treasured stone. Peace to the light workers and those martyred on the course of righteousness.
11. Stokely Speaks by Stokely Carmichael (ACTIVISM)
We learn to be fearless and unapologetic when it comes to truth — telling. Whatever one defines you, you can decide to respond or let it alone, the latter is the best. Be Your dictionary on the right cause. Fight hard, organize and learn to organize even when those who have no fullest or truest understanding of Liberation.
12. Mingled Waters: Sufism & the Mystical Unity of Religion by Pir Zia Inayat Khan (INTERFAITH )
“Beware of limiting yourself to a particular belief and denying all else, for much good would elude you; indeed the knowledge of reality would elude. Be in yourself a substance for all forms of belief, for God is too vast and tremendous to be confined by one belief rather than another.’’
—Muhyi ad-Din Ibn ‘Arabi: The Greatest Shaykh | Bezels of Wisdom.
‘’If you seek the secret of love
pass beyond unbelief and faith’
For in the space where love is found, unbelief and faith have no place.’’
—‘Attar | Differentiation from the right and wrong doctrine.
‘Ayn al-Quzat, the Martyr of Hamadan, said, ‘’If you too could see what the Christians see in Jesus, you would become Christian: and if you too could see what the Jews see in Moses, you would become a Jew.’’ All of the ‘’seventy-two paths,’’ he said, are way stations on the road to God.
To cut the long short, The Holy Quran says, ‘’ If God had willed, He would have made you one nation.’’ (5:48).
13. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Harley (AUTOBIOGRAPHY)
I love this book for many reason, it has been the reason why we have many concerts to Islam, what gulped down my ass at Success Book Club, a reading club in the Zongo (Innercity).
Malcolm is man of His time, where there’s time Malcolm is present. He is oft known as a person who upsets a person strapped in a time who gives time the duely. To succeed we must apply the mantra of, El-Hadj Abdul Malik Shabazz: “By any means necessary. “
And his entry into mainstream Islam in the final year of his life used to whitewash the influence of the still active “Nation Of Islam” and the message he spent 98% of his public life representing.
2nd Feb, enthrilled by the news, a Sister sworn to office with the Autobiography of Malcolm, Emphatically I know she’s in the work for good and no jokes. She gotta get it right by any means necessary
14. Discovering the Essence of Religion by Ellington Omoro Bakumor (ECUMENISM/INTERFAITH)
The Writer, a community and Interfaith activist pipes religion from ancient to modern times. Connecting us spiritually in the deepest sense. A well researched book on ecumenism. Grab yourself one, “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop.”
15. Take Another Look by Dr. Wesley Muhammad (GNOSIS)
“We don’t see Him in this life because our eyes are incapable of that, not because He cannot be seen. If someone tries to see the sun, he cannot because or cannot be seen but because our eyes are too weak. “Qadi Ibn Abi al-’Izz/ Sharh al-’aqida al-Tahawiya
16. The Ben Carson Story: Gifted Hands by Ben Carson, M.D (BIOGRAPHY)
When you read, your mind must work by taking in letters and connecting them to form words. Therefore, Read to learn about anything you want to know. respect is earned. Early marriage has its up and downs. Clothes do not make a man but his brain does. We don’t always get what we want. Put first things first. On Page 95; We are taught to see, caught and understand love. His wife, Candy, became inseparable with him hence. Always together. If you’re honest, you don’t have to remember what you said the lasttime.
17. The Transcendent Unity of Religions by Frithjof Schuon (ECUMENISM/INTERFAITH)
Aside being a universal book that intersect, purges the pipes in the compound of Religions, it’s a must read book for Artists. We are shown the interconnections between Nabi al — Ummi (The Unlettered Prophet) and Ummī Issāh (Virgin/Untouched Mother). The importance of Art, the artist and artisans.
18. All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulgham (PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT)
I surfed on the blog of Robert Fulgham to sip from his articles, He meant “Life is all about USEFULNESS. No other ways about that. “ You can read on: http://www.robertleefulghum.com/.
19. King of Kings: The triumph and tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia by Asfa-Wossen Asserate (BIOGRAPHY)
Rulership of His imperial Majesty, It is through the ancient tradition, “Whenever a king, the shepherd of his flock, dies, another shall succeed him. “
HIM, “Merchants, trade! Farmers, plough! I will rule over you in keeping with the law.
Quoting from the book, “The nose is right next to the eyes, but we cannot see it.”
“The greatness of a Leader only becomes clear in the light of the regime and the rulers than come after him or her.”
Whiles reading this book, I had embedded in me certain traits and adopted humility, meekness and inculcated the habit of serving others ahead of me. The critics of The King of Kings hated him because he was downearthed person and they had no space of pulling his string.
21. What the Knowers of Allah Have said about the knowledge of Allah by Imam Shaykh Tijani Cisse. Trans. By Professor Zachary Wright and Sidi Muhammad Hassiem Abdullahi (GNOSIS)
“It has been said that the quickest way to enter the Divine Presence is through the remembrance of Allāh (dhikr), because is the Name is inseparable from the One named. Since the one engaged in remembrance ceaselessly mentions the Name of Allāh, the veils are torn to shreds bit by bit, until the hearts comes to witness Allah directly. When this happens, the spiritual aspirant dispenses with the remembrance due to his witnessing the One remembered. So this is what the Sufi people mean by entering the Divine Presence of Allāh: The removal of veils so that you enter the Divine Presence while you remain sitting in your place” Shaykh Ibrahim Niāsse Quoting, Sidi Muhammad al-Yadali from his Sharh khatimat al-tasawwuf.
“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is a niche wherein is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass, the glass, is as it were a glittering star, lighted from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east, nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow forth, even if no fire touched it. It is light upon light. Allāh guides whom He will to His light; and Allāh sets forth parables to mankind, for Allāh is knower of all things.” Qur’an, 24:35–38 (The Glorious Qur’an, trans. By Ali Özek).
The Prophet said on the Authority of Aisha’ (May Allah be pleased with her) said, “The support of the house is its foundation. The support of the religion is the knowledge (Ma’rifa) of Allāh the Most High, certainly, and the restrained mind.” He said, the cessation from the disobedience to Allāh, and guarding the obedience to Allāh. “
Correct comportment (adab)
A gnostic said:
I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart
So I said, there is no doubt You are You.
20. The Road to Character by David Brooks (PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT)
Dealing with Adam I (The Innerself) & Adam II (The Outerself).
God deals the cards and we play them, Sink or swim, survive or perish.
If you can’t smile when you get up from a knockdown, you’re never going to lick an opponent. (Boxing tactics)
Life without plan is tedious, “The plans are nothing, but the planning is everything.” When I started writing my review of the road read last year it took me 3 days to fix the 10 idle days before January expires. I had among other things more to him, if this work sees the light of the day (I hope it would help a person or two!)
Fox Conner, “Always take your job seriously, never yourself.”
To associate with people who are better to help us get better. A core lesson from, Samuel Johnson lies therein, “It is always a Writer’s duty to make the world better.”
22. Questions. And Damn Questions by Frederick W. Awudey (AUTOBIOGRAPHY)
I liked the book not because belong to the same Poetry Group (NyasaPoets) and the cover art of his book is lucidical. A picture speak in thousand and many ways but artwork sparkles million interpretation based on how you viewed it. We learn from Frederick’s how he struggled for Self acceptance amidst death, suicidal call and the rampant hate(ism). From his mouth, “I’ve worked on my craft. .at this stage it’s hard to fail.” I bare witness and his courage and take on uncommon themes is real. He talks about death, hate, suicide and many other things.
WHAT’S THE CURE FOR SUICIDE?
I want to die the perfect death
No pain, no suicide notes
No regrets at the moment of death
I just want to lie down,
Let the weight of the world crush my chest gently
Whiles the beauty of the world takes my breath away.
23. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (SPIRITUALITY)
Everyone gives what he has. At the end, we give what we’ve become. The story-line is great and relatable. Each chapter standalone; engrossed, paragraphed and it’s sentences are self-explanatory, elucidate and Poetically prosed.
“Your soul is the whole World.” “Wisdom is not communicable.’’ The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish. “ Time is not real. What is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another.
The Path is spiral, Govinda, Siddhartha’s traveling mate said, “He learned from the secret of the river, time is nothing like it. …Nothing was nothing will be, everything had reality and presence. The flame did nor extinguish itself. Our really is an excellent book for those seeking self knowledge.
24. The Forty rules of love by Elif Shafak (MYSTICISM)
Meeting of Jalaluddin Rumi and Shams Tabrizi. And Rumi after meeting Shams-i Tabriz, exclaimed, "The one I have worshipped all my life as God appeared to me today in the form of man."
‘’The Sufi’s religion is God.’’ is a saying of the shaykhs. The Shaykh of Rum explains, ‘’The religion of love is distinct from all creeds; / God is the religion in which lovers believe.’’
If we can embrace the universe add a whole, with all it’s difference and contradictions, everything will melt into One. -Sufi Golden Rules.
We are taught by the, Sufis, that: “The Universe is turning, constantly and relentlessly, and so are the earth and the moon, but it is nothing other than a secret embedded within us humans beings that makes it all move.
The 40th rules of Love: “Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple.
25. Apaches by Lorenzo Carcaterra (DETECTIVE)
I had learned a dozen lessons and strategies of detectives that only flows through the TV screen CSI Vegas of 24hrs. If you’ve ever wondered if good cops ever exist, I think you should grab this book and read. Very informative.
26. A Flag above any other by GG. Sheik Heru Ranesi — EL (IDENTIFICATION)
Moorish flag, a red flag with green five pointed star in the center. Proclaim name and national descent: EL and BEY through a constituted organized body politic.
Through the Author, The Grand Governor of Temple #19 of MSToA, from Noble Drew Ali, We are taught to “Have a deeper appreciation for womanhood.” Five point starts represents:
*Love *Truth *Peace *Freedom and Justice.
Law of Nations: System of law governing nation-state relations between Nations, through which all mundane laws framed must be in conjunction with Natural Law or Universal Law.
27. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (SCIENTIFIC FICTION)
Her education was neglected yet she found much in her attitude in reading and reasoning.
One man’s life of death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sight, for the Dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race.
Thanks for reading, what books inspired you, how are you sharing the knowledge to the World. Leave a comment.
Book Reviews by Nasiru Wonder| © 6th April, 2019.
