The Lover: A Sufi Mystery (The Sufi Mysteries Quartet)

One of the greatest paradoxes of Sufi wisdom is that God’s qualities are often shown to us by means of what seems wholly opposite to their nature. After all, Sufism is a path designed to affirm the unity of God in all phenomena and in every moment. The unity of supposed opposites is thus a central tenet of Sufi wisdom. It is through an allegorical depiction of the unity of divine love and harshness, that Laury Silver’s new work of historical fiction, The Lover: A Sufi Mystery unfolds. As you read and follow the stories of poor servants, washwomen, houseboys, and soldiers in 10th century Baghdad, you find there is a place to find God’s love even within some of the harshest of human experiences. Zaytuna, the novel’s main protagonist, suffers immensely in this world as she holds onto the pain of feeling abandoned by an ascetic mother who died young. With an intuitive sense of justice, Zaytuna cannot help but grieve the inequalities she witnesses in the world, specifically as they apply to women and the poor. The lofty hand of Zaytuna’s justice is, of course, fully manifest when a young servant boy was found dead in the house of a powerful local Imam. Zaytuna, her brother, and their close friend navigate a search for answers and accountability for the crime. In this process, the reader witnesses answers to the golden question: how can we believe in a God who lets such horrible things happen?Holy anger stands at the core of Zaytuna’s being, and she will have to learn how to productively channel that anger without allowing it to deprive her of the possibility for contentment or joy. Zaytuna questions the status quo, and though she serves God relentlessly through her devotions, she is well aware of the shortcomings of her fellow human beings.One of the brilliant parts of this book is its way of modelling methods for feminist Islamic scholarship through Zaytuna’s own process of interrogating established religious wisdom. Motivated by her intuitive compassion for human suffering, Zaytuna measures what she finds harsh and oppressive against God’s message of divine justice, love, compassion, and equality.For instance, she questions why would a loving and compassionate God committed to human equality make it legal for men to demand (force) sex upon whomever their “right hand possesses” (slaves and wives interchangeably).Silvers wove important everyday struggles for women in our religious tradition into the book. The exclusion of women from mosque spaces, the predatory nature of some male Imams and religious teachers, and the double standards women experience in our faith tradition are highlighted in a nuanced way. As characters, men and women alike, find themselves confronted (or in Zaytuna’s case, confronting!) these issues, I felt seen like never before. In an age of #MeToo and #MosqueMeToo, Silvers’ story captures many of the common responses to sexism, misogyny, and sexual abuse that I’ve come across in our tradition. She conveys the strength of women fighting for equality and autonomy and the helpful and unhelpful ways for men to be committed allies.As I read the book, I began to challenge my own ways of compartmentalizing God’s love and my anger toward the injustice and oppression. I realized this story was calling me to find a place for them to hang together, for the work of tawhid to be done, and for simplistic understandings of any phenomena to fall away. I felt invited to make space for holy anger and social activism as well as the soft touch of divine and human love.Overall, The Lover melted my heart. I cannot wait to find out what’s next for Zaytuna in book two, The Jealous.

This is a wonderful book that invites its readers to visit a carefully and lovingly crafted world most of us would never otherwise get to see. Yes, it is a historical novel written about 10th Century Baghdad written by a one of the best scholars of the Sufi tradtion, but it never comes off as a dry academic read. The author's knowledge of the time and place clearly informs the text and along the way the reader encounters famous people who actually lived like the great Sufis Junayd and Manusr al-Hallaj. But more importantly we get to know exquisitely drawn ordinary people from the streets of Baghdad--an African Sufi washerwoman Zaytuna and her wounded war veteran brother, Tein; Ammar, the Shi'a policeman and Tein's friend from the war; and Layla, the ten-year old servant girl who comes to Zaytuna with help in solving the murder of a fellow servant, a young boy who dies under mysterious circumstances in the house of Islamic scholar. Unlike a lot of historical fiction, we get to see this world not from the top down but from the bottom up and it is masterfully done. Like Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, this book has a lot to show us about history but more importantly it is a great read with wonderful characters and engaging story.On the one hand, The Lover is a murder mystery that asks us, in the manner of all such tales, "who dunnit?" But more importantly, the murder invites us to meet the characters touched by that event and look at how universally relevant issues like class, gender, religion, and ethnicity impact their lives in profound ways. Along the way it provides a wonderful window into the importance and diversity of the mystical Sufi tradtion within Islam, not as some complicated theosophical system created by and for elites, but as a worldview that penetrates into every aspect of Islamic culture.I am a college professor who teaches courses on Islam at a liberal arts college in Ohio. I just finsihed teaching this novel (on line and over Zoom because of Covid-19) with my students. They all loved it noting it as their favorite reading this semester. One of my students, a creative writing major, was particularly impressed not only by the care asnd intricacy of the story but by the eloquence of the writing style itself. (I should point out that the author provides a link to a wonderful website she has created that provides great information on the historical period in which the novel takes place.) My students were all greatful for being made aware of this wonderful book. If you are looking for something to curl up with during the quarantine this is a wonderful choice. I have already ordered the recently published second volume that continues the story of these characters and can't wait to read it. I am very much looking forward to spending more time with Zaytuna, Tein, Ammar and their companions and seeing what happens to them next,

What a special book. Not only did Laury Silvers write a novel that is historically sourced, beautifully written, and wonderfully crafted - she wrote a story that touches the heart.A perfect choice for readers who love great writing, as well as for students of religion/Religious Studies who are studying Islam.I am in my ninth year of teaching courses in Islam at the college/university level and am currently using this book in class. My students love it. They are mostly first-generation students who have none to limited exposure to Islam and Muslim communities. One of the wonderful things about this book is that it is a great teaching tool, full of Islamic themes and rituals and beliefs that can be explored in the class. We have had some moving discussions in class about the book and its characters. Several of my students are looking forward to the sequel!I decided to use this book, along with Liz Bucar's Pious Fashion, as a way to frame Islam historically and in modernity, and also to center the stories of women. So much of academic literature focuses on the experiences of men and The Lover is a wonderful switch from the myopic gaze. It tells the story of many people, in fact, but centers the experiences of women, Muslims of African descent, Shii, and Sufi Muslims.The book is also super readable, so if you are not reading it for a primer on Islam in the 10th century, and like mysteries, or just great writing, this is the book for you!

Dust and cool water; ascetism and the bonds of love. In 12th century Baghdad, Zaytuna is torn between the mysticism of Sufi practice and her need for connection to the world – and the reality of survival day to day. When a child dies in a fall, she must try to understand why, bringing her into conflict with both powerful people and her own brother, and challenging, too, her own understanding of herself and her faith.The setting is carefully and slowly built, with great skill: I could imagine myself there in the markets and courtyards, among the crowds on the streets and on the flat roofs of houses. Characters are drawn precisely, with a beautiful economy of words, giving the reader just enough.Laury Silvers gives us a glimpse into a world unfamiliar to most of us, that of women in medieval Islam. Not women of privilege, but women whose lives are given up to labour, the women who wash rich families’ clothes, or sweep houses and cook meals. Lives that are limited by poverty, but sometimes joyous, sometimes transcendent, and sometimes cruel.The need for relationships – with family, with friends, with God – is central to The Lover. (The title refers to one of the faces of God.) Zaytuna is driven to investigate the boy’s death for reasons that are interwoven with her own need for love, and the value of each life.The Lover is the first of a series. I hope to read the others soon; meanwhile, I recommend The Lover strongly to anyone who wishes to learn more about medieval Islam and the lives of women in that time.

y Laury Silvers self-published this. She's a retired academic, specialising in 10th century Baghdad and Islam. The Lover is one the Sufi "faces" of God. This is a wonderful novel focused on people linked to a Sufi community in a poor area of Baghdad: two washerwomen, one who's a "good time girl" and the other her friend, a celibate who prays and fasts too much; a pair of friends who are retired frontier soldiers now policemen ( one an Arab Shiah, the other black African, and an atheist) , poor children working as domestics, a black slave girl, a potter who's training as a hadith scholar. The Lover is focused on a police investigation, with a surprising, but satisfying denouement. The sequel, The Jealous, also highly recommended is centred on a court case which begins as a minor, and shocking, prosecution in The Lover. Some of the characters are real historical figures and some of the dialogue is also from primary sources. The most surprising and "implausible" events are historically attested. This era is early/mid Abbasid. It speaks to the contemporary world too, anti-black attitudes/ racism, the Muslim law courts vs the state/police law courts. She is very good on Muslim law and tradition and the secular politics of the time - and now too. Surprisingly, most people read these books just for the stories, and don't realise that she has written with scholarly accuracy and insight. Her books are read as a city guide to Abbasid Baghdad; one is taken on a tour of this great city. I found them joys to read and am impatient for the 3rd and 4th books in this Sufi quartet.

A book chosen arbitrarily which grabbed my attention from the first page. Excellent service from the seller, as always.

It is a murder case that pulls you into the medieval world.A 10-year boy dies mysteriously. Is there a crime or it was an accident? He was just a servant, a poor soul, but his death shocked everyone in the Baghdad's religious and political elite. There was gossip and dirty games played.A Sufi mystic woman wanted justice to be done. But at the end it was her that skilfully fooled the police, because to save life and reputation was the Will of Forgiving God.The truth will remain buried forever.How the Sufi mystic woman managed to get to the truth before the police? How she solved the murder case?It was in her heart and she felt it: "Love means tearing down all the veils and revealing all the secrets."

An enjoyable read; with a detailed, immersive setting unusual in both time and place; and interesting, engaging characters. I very much liked that the story title - The Lover - draws on one of the 99 names of God (Allah), and that the story itself deals with love in all its many forms, and with love's consequences. I also enjoyed the rather sly twist to the usual central character for these sorts of mysteries: apparently the clever, insightful, knowledgeable man doesn't always have all the answers after all...Good stuff!