THE FAITHFUL SCRIBE: A STORY OF ISLAM, PAKISTAN, FAMILY, AND WAR

Journalist Mufti incorporates the stories of his family and ancestors into a larger history of Pakistan and its post-9/11 political turmoil.

He begins on the eve of his parents' wedding in 1971, which coincides with the day India intervened in Pakistan's civil war. This story is followed by discussions of clashes between supporters of Socialist Zulfiqar Bhutto and the devout Jamaat-e-Islami party, whose followers incited violence at Punjab University where Mufti's father was a professor. The author discusses the complicated relationship between Pakistan and America, focusing on the Cold War and the Reagan administration's funding of the guerrilla mujahideen, as well as the more recent wave of attacks ordered by President Obama. Moving toward the personal, Mufti describes his family's alienation and harassment while briefly living in Ohio at a time rife with anti-Muslim sentiment and memories of acclimating when they moved back to Pakistan. He recalls living in Pakistan during the deadly protest at the Red Mosque and the hotel bombing that was an attempted assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's first female prime minister. Mufti takes readers on a tour of Lahore, his parents' hometown, Sodhra, the town where his grandfather was born, and Islamabad, the nation's capital, sharing his remarkable family tree, which includes an ancestor who was a close adviser to the prophet Muhammad. This astonishingly detailed, well-researched history is brought to life by the addition of Mufti's personal story' and journalistic acumen. A journalist explores his family's history to uncover the hybrid cultural and political landscape of Pakistan, the world's first Islamic democracy. Shahan Mufti's family history, which he can trace back fourteen hundred years to the inner circle of the prophet Muhammad, offers an enlightening perspective on the mystifying history of Pakistan. Mufti uses the stories of his ancestors, many of whom served as judges and jurists in Muslim sharia courts of South Asia for many centuries, to reveal the deepest roots - real and imagined - of Islamic civilization in Pakistan. More than a personal history, The Faithful Scribe captures the larger story of the world's first Islamic democracy, and explains how the state that once promised to bridge Islam and the West is now threatening to crumble under historical and political pressure, and why Pakistan's destiny matters to us all. SHAHAN MUFTI is a journal-ist who has contributed pieces on Pakistan and the political evolution of Islam to Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, Boston Sunday Globe, The Nation, Bloomberg Businessweek, Columbia Journalism Review, and many others. He teaches journalism at the University of Richmond and splits his time between the United States and Pakistan. Praise for The Faithful Scribe: "The Faithful Scribe is an impassioned and insightful look into the heart of a troubled but vital country. This is a history of Pakistan from the pen of a keen observer whose own story represents Pakistan's past and whose vision reflects its hope for the future." Vali Nasr, author of The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat