What does Islam say about poetry, singing, musical instruments, musicians, and the business of music? What is the truth about the much-publicized "music controversy" in Islam? This book demystifies the issue of music in Islam. More than six hundred references and more than a hundred twenty biographical notes on the authorities quoted add to the value of a discussion that is comprehensive without being boring, and detailed without being confusing. New reprint contains foreword by late Dr. Mahmud Ahmad Ghazi.

In 2015, a race of alien Others conquered Earth. They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots. Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone. The autumn she meets Lucas, everything changes. Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race. It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what. And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.

She heard a hundred undecipherable whispers floating through the atmosphere, surrounding her in an invisible wall, but amongst the murmurs she perceived one distinct voice calling out above the rest. Though her instincts told her to release the unnatural object, she clasped it and stared up at the spectacular spiral that towered above her. The one voice graduated closer to her, growing louder and louder. Slowly, the words became distinguishable, and her ears were pricked to catch them. Lauria thinks that her life might never hold anything more for her than the occasional festival or the conflicts with her family. But one night when she sneaks out in hopes of stealing a few moments alone, a strange raindrop changes her world forever. It bursts forth into a vortex of light and sound and releases a creature of unnatural beauty and power who tells her there is a task she must complete. Far across the plains of her homeland, Austurea, a dying soldier named Jestun lies in an empty battlefield. As Lauria struggles to discern the task laid before her and make sense of the strife within her family and her own heart, Jestun searches for the answers surrounding his family's mysterious past. Meanwhile a Dark power hovers over them and their fates, their only shield the Light that is bringing their paths closer together. Whispers of Nightfall is the first book of a saga that rages across land and dimensions, questions issues of identity and destiny, and reveals the battle between Light and Darkness.

Struggling for answers about her heritage and newfound powers, Kylie wonders about half-Fae Derek's declaration of love and the priorities of werewolf boyfriend Lucas.

In her poignant memoir, Karen Walker traces the effects of a cold, loveless home environment and an early sexual molestation on her growth, marriage, motherhood, and career. After freeing herself from a desert of a marriage, Walker loses custody of her child and then journeys to discover who she is and to find some sense of wholeness. The journey takes her from her old life to new friendships, new lovers, and new professions. From New York to Portland, Oregon, and eventually to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Walker seeks someone to love her as she is. She finds that and more - a loving connection with her son. This fifty-year emotional odyssey ultimately leads Walker to a self who can look back over her life with a contentment and satisfaction that allow her to follow the whispers that the future may bring.

This heartbreaking, hilarious, and brutally honest memoir shares the deeply personal life story of a girl next door and her transformation into a household name. For more than forty years, Katie Couric has been an iconic presence in the media world. In her brutally honest, hilarious, heartbreaking memoir, she reveals what was going on behind the scenes of her sometimes tumultuous personal and professional life - a story she’s never shared, until now. Of the medium she loves, the one that made her a household name, she says, “Television can put you in a box; the flat-screen can flatten. On TV, you are larger than life but smaller, too. It is not the whole story, and it is not the whole me. This book is.” Beginning in early childhood, Couric was inspired by her journalist father to pursue the career he loved but couldn’t afford to stay in. Balancing her vivacious, outgoing personality with her desire to be taken seriously, she overcame every obstacle in her way: insecurity, an eating disorder, being typecast, sexism . . . challenges, and how she dealt with them, setting the tone for the rest of her career. Couric talks candidly about adjusting to sudden fame after her astonishing rise to co-anchor of the TODAY show, and guides us through the most momentous events and news stories of the era, to which she had a front-row seat: Rodney King, Anita Hill, Columbine, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, the Iraq War . . . In every instance, she relentlessly pursued the facts, ruffling more than a few feathers along the way. She also recalls in vivid and sometimes lurid detail the intense pressure on female anchors to snag the latest “get”—often sensational tabloid stories like Jon Benet Ramsey, Tonya Harding, and OJ Simpson. Couric’s position as one of the leading lights of her profession was shadowed by the shock and trauma of losing her husband to stage 4 colon cancer when he was just 42, leaving her a widow and single mom to two daughters, 6 and 2. The death of her sister Emily, just three years later, brought yet more trauma—and an unwavering commitment to cancer awareness and research, one of her proudest accomplishments. Couric is unsparing in the details of her historic move to the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News—a world rife with sexism and misogyny. Her “welcome” was even more hostile at 60 Minutes, an unrepentant boys club that engaged in outright hazing of even the most established women. In the wake of the MeToo movement, Couric shares her clear-eyed reckoning with gender inequality and predatory behavior in the workplace, and downfall of Matt Lauer—a colleague she had trusted and respected for more than a decade. Couric also talks about the challenge of finding love again, with all the hilarity, false-starts, and drama that search entailed, before finding her midlife Mr. Right. Something she has never discussed publicly—why her second marriage almost didn’t happen. If you thought you knew Katie Couric, think again. Going There is the fast-paced, emotional, riveting story of a thoroughly modern woman, whose journey took her from humble origins to superstardom. In these pages, you will find a friend, a confidante, a role model, a survivor whose lessons about life will enrich your own.

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M

When her family relocates to California, fifteen-year-old Christy Miller faces new dreams and disappointments as she decides what price she's willing to pay for making new friends.

The Middle East is spinning out of control, but what does that mean to a simple fast-order cook in Central California? Everything-his family, his love life, his future, his purpose. And it may be that he means a great deal to the Middle East. Some are willing to kill him and others are willing to risk their lives to protect him. This adventure takes the reader to Turkey, Iran, and Arabia. Themes of historical religions of the Middle East, modern interpretations, truth, understanding, and what the future holds for this volatile region are interwoven throughout the book. Romance and its seeming impossibility provide a metaphor for all that is wonderful about this region, and all that may be suffocating hope. The unspoken question through most of the book asks is something more happening as this adventure unfolds?