I've started posting the chapters of Resolution 786. I'll post each successive chapter roughly every 3 or 4 days. We'll start with the Introduction:
Introduction
I’ve walked the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem’s Old City. I was baptized in the Jordan. A Presbyterian minister taught me the Lord’s Prayer on the Mt. of Olives one peaceful April evening, just the two of us sitting above the Kidron Valley in full view of the Temple Mount. I’ve sailed the sloshing eddies of the Ganges at dawn with a Brahmin. I’ve prayed in Sarnath alongside American-born Buddhist converts at the spot where Buddha gave his first sermon after enlightenment. I’ve knelt in Mecca shoulder to shoulder with Muslim pilgrims from all over the world, immediately before the Kaaba, so close that each time I leaned forward to place my forehead to the earth, my head touched the base of the large black cube. I’ve greeted the Lord at Israel’s Western Wall, praying together with orthodox Jews at the base of the temple wall that Herod built.
God has many faces, and I have had the enormous privilege of celebrating several of them.
But Resolution 786 is not at all about the Creator. It’s about us. It’s a story about our journey from Here to There and about the sometimes tender and the sometimes savage things that happen to us in between, the swirling, rushing currents of love and lust and loss that form into experiences that become the building blocks of our lives. And if the story sometimes seems a confused patchwork of discordant imagery — well, it was written by an American of Indian heritage who was born in Africa, raised a Muslim, turned into a refugee by another Muslim, given safety and sustenance by a Christian church, and who is now happily married to a Jewish woman.
I beg forgiveness if my introduction will in any way prejudice a reader’s individual interpretation of this novel. Interpretation of literature is not at all the province of the writer. It is wholly and solely the province of the reader.
God bless you, dear reader. God bless us all.
Mohamed Mughal
Baltimore, Maryland
September 11, 2007
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"Wow" is all I san say.
ReplyDeleteYou've given me more credit than I deserve, Agnes...but thank you!
ReplyDeleteWow, you've got my attention.
ReplyDeleteThis sentence in particular pricked at my heart: "It’s a story about our journey from Here to There and about the sometimes tender and the sometimes savage things that happen to us in between, the swirling, rushing currents of love and lust and loss that form into experiences that become the building blocks of our lives."
I'm looking forward to reading more.
Thanks, Ruth. Like I mentioned on your blog, I can certainly relate with many of the feelings and experiences that you expressed.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see more, this definitely grabbed me!
ReplyDeleteSangu - you're too kind, thanks! Yes, more is coming. I plan to post another chapter from the novel every 3 or 4 days. The chapters are short. There's a total of 57 of them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting introduction, I'm definitely intrigued. :) It's cool that you're posting chapters on here, it sounds exciting!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bethany. Now let's see how interesting the actual chapters turn out to be...:)
ReplyDeleteI like your outlook. An old timer myslef I have raised open minded children who grew up to be good people, as our faith teaches us to value mankind.
ReplyDeleteHi, this is Munir over here at Focus. Thanks for visiting my blog.
First, thanks for following me. I'm now following back. And second, is your book fiction or a memoir? And third, I like your writer voice.
ReplyDeleteMunir from Focus - thanks! Hats off to open-mindedness!
ReplyDeleteEm-Musing - you're welcome. Regarding the book: it's fiction but folks who know me well maintain that it has large components of memoir.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, honest, open-minded and inspiring. I like it.
ReplyDeleteYou're making me blush, Janna :). Thanks so much for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteYou've piqued my curiosity, I'm going to follow this blog and read more of your writing. Excellent work.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter. I hope that the work lives up to your expectations!
ReplyDelete