Imagine yourself in a bland hotel room anywhere in the United States. Youâ??re sitting on the edge of a bed with tightly tucked white sheets, flipping through TV channels without finding anything you can bear to watch. Out of lonely boredom, you open the top drawer of the nightstand. Instead of the requisite King James Bible, you find an English translation of the Quran inviting you to read its pages: â??This is a message to all people, to whomever among you desire to take a straight pathâ? (81:27â??8).
Americans applauding Trumpâ??s promise to ban all Muslims from U.S. borders might imagine the scenario above as a foreboding future brought on by the â??browning of Americaâ? and a Muslim fifth columnâ??s â??Sharia creep.â? Rather than as a sign of the destruction of America, painter Sandow Birk imagined this chance, cross-cultural encounter with the Quran as the conceptual launch of his nine-year journey of reading and reflecting on the Islamic scripture and the War on Terror. The result is his â??American Qurâ??an,â? an illuminated manuscript published by W.W. Norton as a stunning coffee table art book, ideal as a Christmas or Hanukkah gift, perhaps for a friend or relative on your list persuaded by the fear-mongering of Donald Trump, who claims simply, â??We have no choice.â?
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