PRESS RELEASE FOR MARKETING THE BOOK BY AUTHOR HOUSE, USA Safiullah announces release of ‘Into the Heart of Reality’New book sets readers on the path toward spiritual growth
Author Safiullah shares a selection of insights and reflections that have changed his life in his inspirational new book, “Into the Heart of Reality: The Inner Voice” (published by AuthorHouse). “In order to change our lives we need to look deep within ourselves,”
Safiullah writes.An excerpt from “Into the Heart of Reality”: “The Desire – The more you desire the more you want; you feed the desire and it feeds you and if you are in love with it, for it consumes you. It has no face, it is a force, a raging one that does not distinguish between the high and the low. Seemingly benign it grows a growth that cannot be contained, if you keep watering it day in day out. It is the cancer of the soul. For the one who mistakes a need in its place will have a price to pay, a high one at that. If you stick to your organic needs then you will be satisfied and if you stick to wants then it makes you expand and if you stick to desires then you burst out of your wits, for it becomes your silent master, which teaches you otherwise and leads you to the loss of your body and mind.” “Into the Heart of Reality”
By Safiullah
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 120 pages | ISBN 9781481768467
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 120 pages | ISBN 9781481768474
E-Book | ISBN 9781481768481
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Safiullah’s international career in development spans over three decades. He hasworked with Save the Children, the Canadian International Development Agency and spent nearly 20 years of his career with several United Nations organizations. His work,which primarily focuses on poverty reduction, strategic planning and program management, has taken him across many continents. Safiullah is from Sri Lanka, where
he received his basic education from Royal College, Colombo, and then advanced his studies in the United Kingdom and Australia. He studied at Seal-Hayne College, England, the University of London, the University of Queensland and holds a doctorate from the University of Reading. He is currently registered for his second doctorate with the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia. For the past five years, Safiullah has been working with Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a manager in strategy and program management within the Global Poverty Reduction Fund. Sample
KIRKUS
REVIEW
TITLE INFORMATION
INTO THE HEART OF REALITY
The Inner Voice
, Safiullah
AuthorHouse (120 pp.)
$27.45 hardcover, $15.18 paperback, $2.99 e-book
ISBN: 978-1481768467; September 17, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Thoughts and reflections on great spiritual truths, predominantly from an Islamic perspective.
Widely traveled debut author Safiullah, a native of Sri Lanka currently residing in Saudi Arabia, aims to strike a life-changing chord about the true nature of reality. He attempts this through a series of brief commentaries on spiritual topics that counsel against pride, ingratitude, materialism, spiritual forgetfulness, a wagging tongue and pointless mental
ruminations. He often assumes the role of teacher, dutifully backing up his assertions in commentaries that make specific references to verses in the Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam, and to the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. The book also makes occasional, if thin, allusions to scientific findings as well as spiritual ones. However, there’s no obvious proselytizing here, as befits the personal testament of a believer conversant with world religions that aim to reach out to everyone. Safiullah is no zealot, but rather someone who believes that life’s purpose is to “gain knowledge and to worship.” His intent to touch readers’ hearts is beyond reproach, even if it’s a prodigious task for such a short book. His prose occasionally veers toward a rudimentary stream-of-consciousness style but otherwise adequately carries out his lofty objectives. There’s even mild criticism of mosques, which he says have become “not very welcoming by design, especially to women” and of sermons that are “fired with intolerance.” Christian readers may be puzzled by one admonition to “seek and you shall get if your heart is sincere and humble,” which brings to mind the Sermon on the Mount’s phrase from Matthew 7:7: “seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Finding and getting are not quite the same.) Overall, this book might have benefited from closer editing, particularly in its latter parts, which include a few confusing phrases (“For if you give and take, most of the time, some things are lost or gained”).
A well-meaning, admirable personal testament.
Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744
[email protected]
Into the Heart of Reality: The Inner Voice
Safiullah
AuthorHouse, 112 pages, (paperback) $15.18, 978-1-4817-6847-4
(Reviewed: December 2013)
Into the Heart of Reality, a series of spiritual reflections on God, nature, psychology and Islam, is written with suppleness, tenderness and intelligence. Author Safiullah’s poetic prose challenges us to look closely at the world we know—the world of sensation and emotion, the world of mistrust and infidelity—and go beyond it; to open our minds and souls to a new understanding of the Master (or Allah) and this temporal world. “Rolling on thought after thought—the rumination, none the wiser by it,” Safiullah writes. “When will you step back? Stop in your strides for a silent moment to swerve from the repeating groves that keep you bound and dependent. Wake up, wake up; it is now or never.”
The urgency in his tone elevates this book to a call of action. Heart works best as a daily devotional where the author serves up teaching and inspiration in short, pensive vignettes. Topics covered include: quieting the chatter in our minds, death, the need for silence in our daily lives, being grateful, living in truth, the importance of pilgrimage, the destructiveness of anger, and the blessing of friendship. Grounded in a solid understanding of Islamic spirituality and mysticism (as well as Buddhism and
Neurolinguistic Programming or NLP), Safiullah provides copious footnotes throughout that serve as a terrific guide for understanding Islam and the depth of its teaching. Accompanying the text is a number of line drawings that can be used to further enhance meditation and prayer.
Into the Heart of Reality is rich in thought and overall professionally executed. While
some of the author’s lines could use the help of an editor to smooth certain areas (“Are
you anxious, frustrated, no [sic] nothing is working out?”), this is a minor quibble.
Safiullah has done fine work here, offering a book that will appeal not just to a Muslim
audience but also to general readers looking for spiritual renewal.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
ForeWorld Review
Clarion Review
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT
Into the Heart of Reality: The Inner Voice
Safiullah
AuthorHouseUK
978-1-4817-6847-4
Three Stars (out of Five)
Safiullah eloquently elaborates on quotes from Muhammad to discuss the connection
between the teachings of Islam and contemporary life.
Mohamed Safiullah Munsoor wrote Into the Heart of Reality to share the insights and wisdom he’s accumulated about life and spirituality from an Islamic perspective. The book is an attractively packaged, slim volume with abstract drawings on many of the pages. Though there are many typographical and grammatical errors and awkward sentences and concepts, as well as a confusing use of pronouns and tenses, Into the Heart of Reality is a lovely, heart-centered book that will appeal mainly to a Muslim audience, but could also be enjoyed by a general audience with an interest in Islamic spirituality,
The book is organized into sixty short entries that cover a variety of themes from the profound to the mundane, with such titles as “On Gratitude,” “For Life is a Prayer,” and “On Mosques and Malls.” Most of the entries are footnoted with referenced quotes from the Koran
and extrapolations by the author. The footnotes are sometimes too long, and much of their content would have worked better in the entries themselves to maintain the flow of the narrative. The reader is compelled to jump back and forth from entry to footnote, when the separation often feels unnecessary. For example, the entry “On Anger” opens with, “Such an uncontrollable rage, ’bouts of insanity,’ said the Master, and when you wake up from it, the damage has been done.” Only by reading the footnote does one get a sense of what this means: “An incident related by the Master and as narrated by one of the companion’s Abu Huraira ‘A man said to me, advise me and I said don’t become angry (furious).’”
The addition of many sayings from the prophet Muhammad, who is referred to as Master throughout the book, and his disciples adds a nice touch, and Safiullah does an excellent job of using these quotes to elaborate on the connection between the teachings of Islam and
contemporary life. He writes about mindfulness, busyness, ego, interpersonal relationships, and death with the skill and empathy of someone who successfully juggles the challenges of staying spiritually centered in today’s hectic and complex world.
The author enjoys a distinguished career in international development, has studied the world religions and philosophies, and is currently working toward his second PhD at the Academy of Islamic Studies through the University of Malaya.
Reading Into the Heart of Reality as a tool for prayer and reflection would work beautifully for those who enjoy using books for daily inspiration. All of the entries can stand alone; a reader can open the book to a random page and be assured of finding something
meaningful to ponder. Safiullah writes like a poet dabbling in prose; when it fails, the deeper truth still shines, and when it works, it transcends.
Patty Sutherland
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