God Intervenes Between A Person and Their Heart: Key Lessons from the Prophets

Blogger Wazwaz offers a collection of devotional reflections drawn from the lives of the prophets of Islam in this enjoyable debut. Based on words from the eighth chapter of the Koran—“know that Allah intervenes between a person and their heart and that to Him you will be gathered”—her meditations are wide-ranging: addressing radicalism and speaking truth to power through the lives of Noah and Moses, oppression and sexual harassment in that of Joseph, interreligious exchange through Jesus and Mary, and slander and the #MeToo movement in the stories of Muhammad and his wife Aisha. Rather than focusing on the superficial legalistic readings of prophets’ stories, Wazwaz unearths universal messages of hope, faith, and forgiveness for a wide range of readers. Though Wazwaz primarily draws on the narratives of the Koran, she also quotes a range of other sources, including Martin Luther King Jr., Stoic philosopher Seneca, evangelical preacher Charles Spurgeon, and the New Testament. The result is a breezy, eclectic patchwork of inspiration that creatively applies the principles and practices of Islamic tradition to the world’s most urgent concerns. (Self-published)