If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran Kindle Edition

In her yearlong study under the guidance of renowned Islamic scholar Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi, journalist Clara Power gained profound insight and clarity of the Quran’s humane message of peace and inclusiveness. Her memoir is a remarkably moving tribute to the great knowledge and compassion that echo forth from the true teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Through her experiences, we can gain a deep appreciation for the beauty, complexity, and humanity of the Quranic verses. Power highlights how the Sheikh’s studies bear testament to the manifold contributions and significant influences women have made throughout the history of Islam. In fact, no religion has women playing so vital a role in its development than Islam. Too often over the centuries, it has been radicals and extremists who have polluted the true message of the Quran. In doing so, they have chosen to exploit laws and customs to carry out oppression, violence, and terror.Power learned from the Sheikh how to return to a close examination of the Prophet’s sage words and deeds, which reveal the inspiring faith and universal values of the Quran. In its essence, Islam advocates devotion to prayer, focus on charity, and closeness to God. Islam espouses equal rights and justice, and an empowering form of humanity can be found in the life of the Prophet’s wisdom and actions. To be a true Muslim one must show loyalty to the Prophet’s sunna, his words and deeds. Through the Prophet’s vision and message, one finds a call for moderation of actions, acceptance of others, equality of all people, and piety towards God. Muhammad’s community of Muslims was to spread peace, feed the hungry, and honor kinships. The Prophet preached never to force beliefs on anyone. His hopes were to bring learning and understanding. He knew his limits and he taught to avoid anger, power, and wealth. He also taught his followers to be generous and demonstrate a gentle character. These attributes will ultimately help people relate to the true message of Islam. In fact, nowhere in Islam do hierarchies or divisions exist. Nor does compulsion. Islam not only tolerates differences, it values them as part of God’s design. The Quran stresses how no singular group has exclusive salvation, and it questions any group that claims only a singular path to paradise exists.So why is Islam viewed with suspicion and fear? The Sheikh explained to Power how obsessive rules and laws have too often devolved into punitive measures and acts of extremism, which directly defy what the Prophet taught and stood for. Sadly, abandonment of Islam’s true message occurred over centuries with the decline of the traditional madrasa system. The intellect and moderation of Islam slowly deteriorated into the harsh words and practices of radicals. Extremists now conduct misguided readings of the Quran and settle on reckless interpretations. The Sheikh explains how Islam is about justice and how all fighting and protesting should be redirected into time spent for prayer and honoring God. Islamists have made Islam about political struggle, when they should be focused on piety. By making political power the only goal of Islam, extremists abandon the way of the Prophet’s teachings. Their quest for sharia law destroys their piety towards God. Real piety requires a commitment to one’s individual belief in honoring God and following the Prophet’s message of peace and understanding. State-endorsed Islam is nothing more than hypocrisy. Problems arise when Muslims chose identity politics over piety.Returning to a loyal reading of the Quran reveals a great humanity based on reason and tolerance. Islam began with a command to read, so any call to arms is misguided because Islam demands its followers to think, pray, submit, and be patient in their quest to gain a closeness to God. This knowledge of returning to God is the cycle of life that the Prophet pursued. Carla Power learned through her studies with Sheikh Akram that the piety rooted at the heart of Islam calls for the defense of human rights and a devotion to individual consciousness over laws imposed by the state. Power’s memoir celebrates exactly what Islam expounds: that to practice true humanity, one must learn to see the whole of the world and learn to accept and understand others. If the Oceans Were Ink is among the most enlightening and open-minded books on discussing the humane faith of Islam and the Quran.

I did not believe that Carla would be the right narrator in the beginning. She opens the book with the story of her early years, living around the world with her family in Egypt and Afghanistan and India and all these other places, while her father collected artifacts. My stomach dropped when I thought that she was going to believe herself worldly enough to have these discussions because she’d been places and seen things in a very privileged fashion.Instead, she directly confronts her privilege. She calls out her past self for thinking that she knew a lot about other cultures and other religions even though she had never really engaged with them deeply. Throughout the book, she is constantly admitting her to own biases and beliefs and using them to challenge her own way of thinking–and the reader’s. Instead of feeling as though I was listening to someone who thought they were an authority on the subject, I truly believed I was listening to the genuine journey to understanding of someone with an academic background of knowledge in Islamic religion and culture. That, on it’s own, is priceless.Then there is the nature of the man with whom she takes this journey, Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi. There is never any moment when either of them use his opinions as an end-all-be-all answer for all Muslims. Instead, we are led to a deep understanding of how he views the Quran the way he does, but also how others view it in different ways. We are never made to feel as if his answers are the “best” ones, though I grew to have a deep respect for him and his ideas.A great deal of this comes from the fact that, while there are a lot of surprising places where Power and the Sheikh are in harmony, there are many places where they are not. The book does not shy away from these things, and instead investigates them on both sides. Sometimes, it is Power who showcases a shift in her worldview. In others, the Sheikh himself changes his opinion. It is a genuine dialogue of give and take.I took this class in order to deepen my knowledge of other religions, and for the first time with these books I feel like that has been accomplished. Not only do I feel educated about some of the finer points of Islam and the Quran, but I have also come to an understanding of how the Quran can be interpreted and what it means to a variety of different Muslims. I also recognized myself taking a similar journey to Power while I was reading. I appreciated her blunt honesty with herself and her worldview, because it kept me from narrowing mine. If this is a topic that you are interested in, I completely recommend picking this up.

I should get a commission for the number of times I have recommended this book. If you want a sane and sober view of Islam, without trying to convert you to how wonderful it is or how horrible, if you seriously want to understand a different point of view without feeling you are being attacked, this is it. Gently written, with great compassion and yet without losing a point of view, this book walks you through some of the major questions that most westerners have without being aggressive or dismissive. II likened this book to my grandmother's fudge. My grandmother made fudge that was so rich, taking a bite would probably have put your system into terminal shock. You scraped little bits with your teeth, and let the richness melt in your mouth. This book, for me at least, was like that. I would read for a little, and then put the book aside to digest what I had read. It took me a while to get through, not because it was complex or difficult but because it was so rich, and provided so much stimulus for my own thought and reflection.I continue to recommend this book, and this will be a book I will re-read several more times, I know. I am grateful to the friend who recommended it to me, and I am confident in recommending it to others.

Excellent - really enjoyed reading this book. I was touched by the dialogue between Carla Power and Akram Nadvi, who allowed her to shadow for a year to learn and ask about Islam. Her questions were thought provoking and offered a different perspective as a non-muslim looking into the muslin faith. As a muslim, this is an important read to understand the challenges of the world today and how people wrongly perceive the faith and it's followers. She talks about the depolarisation in both eastern and western communities, and how a bit of interaction can overcome myths and fears from both sides. She covers a range of subjects and issues from role of women, political and cultural challenges, affect of terrorism and lots more. I was moved by her account of her family background, dealing with death/loss, and why struggle against the self/ soul is the highest level of struggle in self-purification. Akram Nadvi should be highly commended for allowing her to embark on her journey by introducing her to his life, being available for her, responding to her questions in detail, allowing her to shadow him, and even inviting/showing hospitality to her in his town in India, where she interacted with his family and learned so much about muslim life. I really enjoyed reading the book about Carla's journey and search for answers, and could not put the book down.

A very well written book. The prose is very elegant and makes for good reading. I am humbled by the effort Carla takes to understand Islam and her willingness to appreciate what lies within despite the negativity in the media and world outside about it.I pray to Allah Most High to guide her and preserve her openness in future times too.

This is the first time I've written a review immediately after finishing the book...which is telling given its 4.26am.Carla has provided a beautiful read. She is a skilled writer and her honesty and openness is both refreshing and inspiring.I don't know if someone, without going through a reasoned acceptance of God and Islam can truly appreciate and full the full power of the Qur'an's beauty and trajectory. But she has come close. Although her own worldview still dominates her reading and presentation of it, she does not shy away from her embrace of the Sheikh's.I enjoyed this more than I thought I would and perhaps you will too.

So far it seem like a really good read. Looking forward to every chapter and her adventures and growth in knowledge

Well written and very informative, really interesting.People who like to know about Islam, sort the facts from the fancy stories.