A Lifes Journey :
The Story Behind a Book, New,
[A5] Paperback - 276 pages,
by Ahmed Paul Keeler,
Published by Equilibra.
Now in Stock July 2022
Description :
In this book; Ahmed Paul Keeler recounts an extraordinary life that began in the 1940s with an idyllic childhood in a conservative Christian family in Windsor, and continued with the trauma of an English boarding school education intended to prepare him for running a British Empire that, by the time he left, no longer existed. Life then took him through three years of drama school and the angst of modern theatre, five years’ involvement with the cutting edge of modern art, an immersion in the 60s counterculture and then, through a series of life-changing encounters, led him to embrace Islam.
A born organiser, Keeler was producing plays as a teenager, and in his 20s set up and ran the pioneering Signals Gallery which promoted kinetic art. However, on another scale altogether was his creation of the World of Islam Festival of 1976. Opened by Her Majesty the Queen, this was the largest and most comprehensive cultural event of its kind ever to have taken place in London. Following this success, Keeler initiated and was engaged with various projects relating to Islamic civilisation, traditional culture and the environment, the greening of inner cities and the interaction between cultures and civilisations in the pre-industrial age.
At the age of 70, Keeler finally yielded to a friend’s insistence that he should make available to others the knowledge he had gained from such a rich life, by writing a book. The result was Rethinking Islam and the West: a New Narrative for the Age of Crises, a work which questions the modern world’s obsession with progress, and proposes that the true criterion for judging the success of a civilisation should be that of mizan or balance. This principle makes it possible to see the history of Islam and the West in an entirely new light.
A Life’s Journey is the companion volume to Rethinking Islam and the West, and tells the intriguing story behind Keeler’s challenging thesis
Ahmed Paul Keeler is the author of Rethinking Islam & the West. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, and was a Distinguished Fellow at The Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia in 2016. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Bolton in 2016.
Table of Contents :
---Acknowledgements,
---Prologue,
Part [1].
---1. Born to Serve,
---2. Into the Maelstrom,
---3. Ustad Mahmood Mirza,
---4. World of Islam Festival 1971,
---5. World of Islam Festival 1976,.
---6. Hajj and Invitation,
---7. Travelling Exhibition,
---8. Meanwhile ...,
---9. End Game,
---10. Convalesence and Recovery,
---11. Chapel Campaign.
Part [2].
---12. Cambridge,
---13. Traditions of Mankind Part I,
---14. Traditions of Mankind Part II,
---15. Traditions of Mankind Part III,
---16. The Golden Web Part I,
---17. The Golden Web Part II,
---18. The Golden Web Part III,
---19. The Golden Web Part IV,
Part [3].
---20. A New Beginning,
---21. Reflections of an English Muslim,
---22. Malaysian Odyssey,
---23. Back in England,
---24. The Book.
---Epilogue.
Also see Rethinking Islam & the West,
Also see Ahmed Paul Keeler 2 Book Bundle Special Offer.
Dimensions : 22.8 x 15.2cm.
