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Agnostic
A Spirited Manifesto
Available April 4, 2016

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Yippee!

Posted April 1st, 2015 by Lesley Hazleton

So this morning, I pressed ‘Send’ and the last chapter of the new book went winging its way to my editor in New York.

There was a brief glow of accomplishment.  A full-body glow, all shiny and radiant.  “Finished!” I thought, even as I knew this was untrue.  Books are never really finished.

There’s a final edit to be done, and then copy-editing, and then the dreaded “author’s questionnaire” will arrive from the marketing department, and as on just about any questionnaire I’ve ever encountered, I just won’t fit.  Among other things, it’ll ask me (in slightly different language) to “please describe in 200 words what just took you a whole book to say.”  I’ll agonize over these 200 words, and never manage to get them right.

And then I’ll wait, heart in mouth, for the pre-publication reviews, which will determine whether ‘Agnostic: a Spirited Manifesto’ — yes, that’s the working title — will thrive in the big wide world.  And then for the post-publication reviews, in early 2016, which will determine if it survives at all.

Yet since there’s probably a certain masochistic element to being a writer, I’m looking forward to it all.  In the immediate future, though, what I’m looking forward to is getting back to posting here on The Accidental Theologist.  Some people manage to write short and long (post and book) at the same time, but I’m not one of them.  That’s why I’ve been relatively silent over the last several months, restricting myself to brief squibs on Facebook and Twitter.  It’ll probably take a while to get back into the rhythm of blogging (some of you will be able to tell I’m not back into it since I just mistakenly pressed Publish instead of Save), but with months of thinking stored up, who knows what might happen…

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File under: agnosticism, existence | Tagged: Tags: Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, publication, writing | 17 Comments
  1. Ann Medlock says:
    April 1, 2015 at 5:12 pm

    Glad you’re back. And looking forward to that new book.

  2. amin tan says:
    April 1, 2015 at 5:48 pm

    AGNOSTIC is such an obscure and bombastic term. On the other hand, infidel sounds so crude and impolite. Is there a more moderate description of somebody who believes and yet not blindly believing, or believing with a pinch of salt.?

    amin tan

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 1, 2015 at 5:53 pm

      Obscure and bombastic? Infidel? Salty belief?
      None of the above.
      I’d say read this book once it comes out, and then let’s talk…

  3. Rachel Cowan says:
    April 1, 2015 at 7:29 pm

    Good for you Lesley!! I look forward to reading it. I may have a book party in Seattle in July for the book I’ve co-written with a friend: Wise Aging: living with Joy, Resilience and Spirit.

    I’ll look forward to reading your blog more often

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:42 am

      Joy, resilience, and spirit — Yes!
      Do let me know when and where and I’ll be there, Rachel. And be sure to leave time for a drink here too!

  4. Nuzhat says:
    April 1, 2015 at 8:27 pm

    Hi Lesley,
    A huge welcome to your own space, and a greatly revered one for us.
    This brings in a sense of excited ‘déjà vu’ as we shared your sentiments even at the pre-release phase of The First Muslim.

    If I can rightly predict through the title, this book will hopefully give us a deep insight into the minds of the agnostic way of thought. This has always been an intriguing subject to me, esp. after being introduced to your blogs and books. Haven’t met any in person as yet.
    Meanwhile, looking fwd to your regular dose of intellectual stimulation…write on!
    Nuzhat.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:45 am

      You got it, Nuzhat! Not ‘agnosticism’ — the last thing we need is more ‘isms’ — but new dimensions opened up by the agnostic stance.

  5. jo carney says:
    April 2, 2015 at 4:38 am

    Welcome back – I just finished The First Muslem and am urging all to read it.

    Sent from my iPhone

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:46 am

      Thanks, Jo. Appreciated.

  6. SusieOfArabia says:
    April 2, 2015 at 6:11 am

    Congratulations! Looking forward to your latest book. I hope you can relax a bit now.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:48 am

      That’s my aim, Susie, but I’m entirely open to it’s being thwarted…

  7. ElleGriffin says:
    April 2, 2015 at 7:51 am

    Welcome back! Can’t wait to read both your blogs and your book. I’m sure it will all be spectacular, just as your past work has been. Enjoy the book birthing process!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:56 am

      Spectacular would be… spectacular! Thanks, Elle.

  8. pah says:
    April 2, 2015 at 8:09 am

    congrats, lesley, look forward to reading your new book

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:50 am

      Yes — I kind of wish it was 2016 already so’s I could hold it my hands.

      • pah says:
        April 3, 2015 at 9:47 am

        remembering what my grandmother said “don;t wish your life away.”
        but excited for you!!

  9. Tea-mahm says:
    April 6, 2015 at 10:11 am

    After the months of holding, the pregnancy, the glowing anticipation, growing excitement, that’s-what-I-am-doing-with-my-time comes this new being, a few hours of “WoW….” THEN the tedious days of tweaking, fixing, and the awful PR that goes on and on. God, Lesley, you nailed it. Luckily I’ve got a few more months of writing to go. Then whatever I’m inspired to write goes on hold, and I become a sort-of willing servant to the technical and practical raising of my darling little book…. Can’t wait to read yours! love, Tamam

My Inner Sergeant-Major

Posted December 21st, 2014 by Lesley Hazleton

Less than three months to go before I hand the new book to my publisher, and I recognize the signs.  This afternoon I drove through Christmas traffic to the market, filled up a shopping cart, got to the checkout counter, and discovered I’d left my wallet at home.  (The next stage is finding that I’ve locked myself out of the house, which is why spare keys are judiciously distributed among my neighbors.)  My head is not quite in this world.  Close friends tell me this is how I always am near the end of a book.  “It seems worse this time,” I say, only to have them remind me that this is what I say every time.  I reluctantly acknowledge that they may be right.

The checkout guy knows me, so he let me put the cart to one side and hold onto the freshly-made warm frites I’d bought, or would have bought if I’d had any money on me, reminding me to save the price tag for when I got back with credit card in hand.  The frites were perfect, thin-cut and salted just right, and I dealt with the traffic by devouring them as I drove home, where I gulped down a glass of water (the salt!), grabbed my wallet, and set off back to the market, only to realize that the car now stank mightily of frying oil, and so, therefore, did I.  The glamor of the writing life continually amazes me.

Since I’ve been tussling with big, undefinable things like God, consciousness, and infinity, I guess it was a bit much to expect that I be a normally functioning member of society at this point.  It should certainly have come as no surprise that even as words accumulated in presumably satisfactory numbers, they turned out to be slippery, slithery creatures.

I’d already done all the right writerly things.  Per the admonition to “kill your darlings” (Hemingway? Woolf? — it’s one of those “variously attributed” sayings), passages waiting to be lauded as beautiful writing had been duly slain, a process that left virtual blood all over the keyboard since I find it far harder to delete than to add.  But the surviving words still displayed an alarming tendency to slide around from page to page.  Stubbornly refusing to stay in place, they were acting like a pack of unruly schoolkids.  I could practically hear them shoving and poking each other:  “Here’s where I want to be!”  “No, here!”  “That’s my place.”  “Tis not.”  “Tis too.”

By last week, I’d had enough of it.  “Take charge of the words!” I wrote on an index card, in all caps, and pinned it over my desk.  Forget “being a writer” — I’d become a sergeant-major, and order these green recruits into shape.

I printed out the most troublesome chapter, pushed the computer monitor aside, shoved the office chair out of the way, and stood over the desk, leaning in like a commander about to ream out a subordinate.  I set to, marking up the pages with slashes and arrows, dictating what went where, giving insubordinate words what for.  And though it took a few days, they caved.  They fell into place.  Lined up for inspection.  Reader, it worked!

william jamesAt least I think it did.  I can’t be sure of it.  How could I be?  This is an agnostic manifesto I’m writing, and it hinges on imperfect knowledge, on the importance of doubt, the inhumanity of certainty.  As William James put it (he of The Varieties of Religious Experience):  “So far as man stands for anything, and is productive or originative at all, his entire vital function may be said to have to deal with maybes.  Not a victory is gained, not a deed of faithfulness or courage is done, except upon a maybe.”

I love James despite his peculiarly Victorian assumption that only men “stand for anything,” and this quote from him survived the slashing.  But there are still times when the writer in me needs that inner sergeant-major to let me know in no uncertain terms exactly what I can do with my maybes.  I suspect James had one too.

 

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File under: agnosticism, existence | Tagged: Tags: killing your darlings, maybes, William James, writing | 24 Comments
  1. iobserveall says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:23 am

    I look forward to reading your new book when it comes out. I read the First Muslim and it really brought the story of the Prophet and early Islam to life.

  2. Abdul Wadood says:
    December 21, 2014 at 11:01 am

    I always envy the decision making abilities of Army personnel. Not that they don’t face ‘maybes’ in their inner selves, but they are trained to bear with the loss of choice much easily.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      December 22, 2014 at 7:52 am

      Loss of choice? Or the need to make a decision under pressure?

  3. Paul Hallam says:
    December 21, 2014 at 1:36 pm

    Just wonderful.

  4. Cory says:
    December 21, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    Does your new book have a title? Once it’s in the hands of the publisher, how long is the process getting it to publication? I’ve never written for publication, but one hears war stories about dealing with difficult editors, etc… Sounds like a painful process for the writer!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      December 22, 2014 at 7:23 am

      1. Best to finish the book before announcing the title.
      2. I admire my editor, and respect her judgment. If she says back to the keyboard, then it’s back to the keyboard I’ll go.
      3. Time from completion to publication probably 9 months to a year.
      4. Painful? No. Difficult, sure. But then if thinking were easy, more people would do it…

  5. Nuzhat says:
    December 22, 2014 at 12:55 am

    Maybe the struck out words could be compiled as a prologue, to be read in the next blog. It would pacify people like us who wait eternally for every new book of yours……can’t wait to read this one too.
    All the best, Lesley.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      December 22, 2014 at 7:50 am

      I’m sometimes tempted by something like that, Nuzhat. In fact the previous post was precisely such a darling. I posted it with the idea that once it had appeared here on the blog, I’d stop trying to put it back in the book, and that turned out to be true. But what usually happens is that deleted material enters the realm of “disjecta membra” (disjected parts — I love that dis-jected rather than re-jected), a kind of lingering half-life fading over time, like old photographic prints. That image actually does give me an idea for a new post. TK, as the journalistic shorthand has it: to come.

  6. Nuzhat says:
    December 22, 2014 at 9:03 am

    Let it come…and soon too. Gems are anyway to be preserved. Absolutely love the term dis-jected. It’s so much more respectable than re-jected. And I’d hate anyone to do that – (reject) good ideas and words.
    Another plus on it would be to hear from you more regularly, than the long gap that writing books does, in keeping you away from us.
    Nine months to a year….! the delivery period does seem a painful wait for us. But TK should make up for it…

  7. chakaoc says:
    December 22, 2014 at 10:51 am

    LOVE it – maybe I can borrow yours sometime to train mine? xo

  8. fatmakalkan says:
    December 23, 2014 at 7:04 am

    Dear Lesley,
    I salute to you. As an amateur writer I hate editing what I wrote before sending to be published. I understand that your mind is in a deeper realm than majority of public because of the subject. And it is very difficult to describe level of consciences you are at to your readers even a top notch writer like yourself. You have a very unique quality to explain very hard to understand concepts with very simplified way. Thank you very much for all this agony and hardship that you are going through to convey your message to us.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      December 23, 2014 at 3:50 pm

      Thank you, but really, agony? There’s a huge difference between bitch-whine-and-moaning on the one hand, and screaming in unbearable pain on the other. I assure you I would not choose to do what I do if there was agony involved. In fact most of the time, what I do with words is more like play.

  9. jo carney says:
    December 23, 2014 at 8:41 am

    I follow her posts but this time was surprised its about writing…making choices on editing out what we don’t need…the battle of cutting what is dear to us –good lesson here…if only to be reminded no writer stands alone. We all go through the same damn delemas! (delimnas?) oh fuck

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      December 23, 2014 at 3:55 pm

      delemas dilemmas tomahtoes tomatos — points for evading the totalitarianism of Spellcheck!

  10. Omer says:
    December 31, 2014 at 4:16 am

    Hi Leslie,

    I know that you don’t have much time left, but regarding the issue of agnosticism, may I make a few suggestions in the comments to this blog as a theist but not as a narrow fundamentalist?

    and can I alternatively send you by email?

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      December 31, 2014 at 9:58 am

      Of course you can, Omer. Thanks for asking, and feel free. Alternatively, the email address is on the ‘Who Is the AT’ page, though be aware that right now, as you might guess from the recent paucity of posts here, I’m a pretty lousy correspondent.

  11. Omer says:
    December 31, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    First of all Happy to come New Year Leslie to you.

    I hope you can address one particular issue that I think rationally points towards theism as being true, atheism as being false, and agnosticism as not being appropriate.

    I am thinking of the whole question of what is the cause of existence…not just on earth, or in our universe, or hypothetically in many universes but in all existence.

    The ultimate cause can only be one of two types, it can either be perfect or imperfect…there is no other alternative than these two exhaustive choices.

    But if the ultimate cause is imperfect which is the implication of atheism, then no matter what the ultimate cause hypothetically is, it begs the question as to why does that ultimate cause X have these set of imperfections.

    The question is only resolved by a perfect cause because then the ultimate cause is inherently self sustaining, precisely because this cause is perfect.

    As I am sure you have noticed atheists don’t like to bring up in the discussion on theism versus atheism, as to what they believe is the ultimate cause.

    They like to pick holes (I think they are unsuccessful) in the cause for existence that is believed by the theists.

    But they don’t like to bring up the cause that they believe is the cause of existence. Even if they cannot fully describe their cause, one thing is certain is that their cause is imperfect. And I think they intuitively realize that whatever the cause, if it is imperfect, it will beg the question and so on.

    Philosopher at Notre Dame, Timothy O’Connor has a nice book on this issue….I did not read it but it is called something like the Theism, the Ultimate Explanation.

    Finally, I think agnosticism is inappropriate in the discussion above in the sense that although we cannot describe the ultimate cause in a precisely rigorous way, what we do know as explained above is that it by sheer logic can only be either perfect or imperfect.

    Therefore from this aspect, there is not a lack of knowledge. We do know as good as we would know in a zillion years from now and as good as we know 1 + 1 =2 that there are only two overall categories of a perfect cause or an imperfect cause.

    Sorry for the repetition but as you know, abstract ideas can be misinterpreted and thus I am trying to reinforce what I mean.

    I had a few more thoughts on other issues dealing with theism, atheism, agnosticism but I will inshallah share that next year, in 2015. 🙂

    Happy to come New Year again.

  12. Omer says:
    January 3, 2015 at 7:31 am

    Hi Leslie,

    I hope I did not come across as fundamentalist.

    I hope no one misunderstood me that I meant that being a theist is as clear as 1 + 1 =2. I do think it is clear but not in that automatic sense.

    What I meant as being clear to all is that a cause can be put in two categories as being either perfect or imperfect.

    And that the fact of those two categories as being exhaustive with no other alternative is accepted by all whether theist or atheist.

    On another note, I wanted to mention something critically important about infinity.

    The eminent and anti-fundamentalist English gentleman, Anglican priest, and Cambridge physicist John Polkinghorne points out that just like there are infinity of odd numbers, not one of them which is even….in the same way even in the speculative idea of an ensemble of literally infinite universes, the idea of a type of multiverse having an infinity of universes, still he thinks that cannot explain the massive fine tuning of our universe.

    I will elaborate a little on that in the next comment within next few days.

    Happy New Year. 🙂

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      January 5, 2015 at 5:08 pm

      No problem, Omer (though do note a 250-word limit on comments here). In fact I love being called inappropriate! Seriously I do.

      I don’t think you’re a fundamentalist — I’m late replying because I’m working super-full-time trying to get this new book in shape. But I am a major advocate of the intellectual, creative, and existential value of doubt, and am thus wary of all certainties, and insistent on the difference between fact and belief. I have no problem with your believing as you do; I do have a problem with your assertion that it is fact. And I find the whole idea of “the universe” being fine-tuned for human life to be incredibly anthropocentric — an argument that I make in the new book, and won’t address again here until the book is published.

      By the way, you might be interested in this little snippet from Salon, which argues — I can’t judge the science and doubt if the reporter can either — that the development of animate life from inanimate matter is mathematically not only possible, but probable. (Ignore the snark of the piece’s headline and the tone.) http://www.salon.com/2015/01/03/god_is_on_the_ropes_the_brilliant_new_science_that_has_creationists_and_the_christian_right_terrified/:

  13. Omer says:
    January 10, 2015 at 5:55 am

    Hi Leslie,

    You must be very busy writing on such a deep issue. Thanks much for you response.

    Sorry for the long post before.

    Thanks for appreciating the word inappropriate…

    It is very gracious of you Leslie.

    I regretted using that word, I just mean that I differ with the approach of agnosticism in that context.

    I was using the word fact only in the specific notion that perfection and imperfection is all encompassing…an entity can be Perfect or imperfect (limited, restricted) but nothing in between.

    I assume you don’t disagree with that.

    I appreciate what you mean by the value of doubt. I greatly enjoyed your Ted talk about lack of complete certainty among religious leaders…to that I would like to add Abraham…(but I think the word doubt for Abraham in below context is too strong).

    In the Qur’an, it says “And [mention] when Abraham said, “My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.” [ God ] said, “Have you not believed?” He said, “Yes, but [I ask] only that my heart may be satisfied.”

    Please look into fine tuning more closely because it actually works even without humans. No structure would exist without exquisite fine tuning.

    Steven Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time that if the expansion rate 1 sec after the big bang been smaller than one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed quickly into a tiny singularity.

    Thanks for the Salon article, I was traveling for past few days but I will check it out by tomorrow.

    Omer

    (p.s…the computer i have does not have Word and the tool word count…i think i am a few below 250 when I did a rough count of the above excluding this p.s., but if it is a few more, sorry about that).

  14. Lesley Hazleton says:
    January 10, 2015 at 9:02 am

    No need to apologize, Omer. I was half-teasing anyway.
    Another way of thinking about what some call fine-tuning, however, is contingency. I love contingency. But more on that in the book. — L.

  15. Omer says:
    February 4, 2015 at 6:54 am

    Leslie,

    It is refreshing to interact with you for many reasons. You are open minded, intelligent, and compassionate.

    Earlier, I had mentioned the issue of infinity and why I believe it cannot account for the fine-tuning in our universe. Even if it could, there are other reasons, theists would point to for existence of a perfect ultimate cause who willed it all.

    But I would like to unpack a little more this issue through an example.

    We can think of one universe as nothing but one snowflake. Another universe could be two snowflakes. A third can be three snowflakes. And so on. The above would constitute an infinite series of universes.

    But there can be another series with H2O in the liquid form. Thus one universe could be nothing but one water molecule. Another universe could be two water molecules…another as three water molecules. And so on. The above would constitute a second infinite series of universes.

    And there can be a third infinite series dealing with H20 in the gaseous form.

    We can think of other molecules and then ever complex combinations of molecules and then changing the constants and even the laws themselves.

    Using our powers of imagination we can think of an infinite universes raised to the infinite exponent (because one can think how each of the universes in the first order infinity can differ in an infinite different ways) and then that exponential form can itself be fully raised to another infinite exponent…and so on seemingly ad infinitum.

    Anyhow, thanks again much for letting me share some of my thoughts.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      March 2, 2015 at 1:17 pm

      Omer, isn’t infinity a great subject?! I had a ball writing about it in the new book, due out in early 2016. For now, I’d point out only that the universe seems fine-tuned for human existence to humans. To mice, it might seem fine-tuned for mice. To rocks, for rocks. Etc. That is, we are confined within our own human consciousness, and thus must deal with the paradox of trying to see objectively from within our subjectivity. What seems to me admirable — and quintessentially human — is that we keep trying nonetheless.

  16. Omer says:
    March 12, 2015 at 9:09 pm

    Hi Leslie,

    Yes, infinity is fascinating.

    I look forward to reading your new book in early 2016.

    Thanks for your insightful comment.
    I agree with our limitation and biases from being confined within our human consciousness.

    Having said though, don’t you think that we humans have a quality that transcends us not just quantitatively but qualitatively above non-humans?

    What I am specifically referring to is our ability to think abstractly.

    Mice and other animals think in concrete terms. But we can think abstractly.

    So I think we can think beyond our category of humans and think of life or even non-life.

    And I think the data shows clearly that if we define life as a complex organism having complex chemistry (in other words, bio-chemistry) that cellular life or even complex chemicals would just not be possible if we did not have the staggering fine-tuning that we can calculate.

    Even beyond that category into the category of non-life such as stars or even microscopically into entities such as atoms, then the data shows that without the staggering fine-tuning, even these entities would not simply not exist.

    So, I see this as compelling pointers that the universe has been designed.

    There are many other arguments for the existence of God as you know well, but I think the design argument is one of the most simple arguments.

    Thanks much for the discussion and for being open. Hope we can continue the discussion and to consider our perspectives.

Pure Zen

Posted April 6th, 2014 by Lesley Hazleton

06matthiessen3-master495

 

My copy of Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard bears the marks of a well-used life, much like the photo of him in today’s New York Times. The cover is torn and tattered, the linen boards worn and faded, the pages yellowing at the edges. The end pages are full of scribbled notes to myself, the text scored and marked in the margins. This is a much-read book.

I’ve placed it high on the reading list of every writing course I’ve ever taught, tracing the intertwining of its parallel journeys: on the one hand, into the hidden inner sanctum of Dolpo on the Tibetan plateau, in search of the elusive snow leopard; on the other, into the mystical and equally elusive peacefulness of Zen Buddhism.

There were far more than two hands, of course, which is why I read the book so many times and never tired of it, entranced by the intense lyricism of its descriptions of landscape, and the sharp contrast with the pared-down writing about Zen practice.

I have most of Matthiessen’s other books too, both fiction and nonfiction, but this is the one I keep coming back to (in a way I suspect would have deeply disappointed him — no writer cares to be defined by one book above all the others).

I didn’t know much ‘about’ him other than what he revealed in his writing, which was carefully calibrated. I had no idea he worked a naively youthful two years for the CIA, for example, using the Paris Review as a cover, though I did know he’d become a Zen priest, that he was fiercely involved with environmental issues, and that he was… well, not exactly good-husband material. No matter: the writer was more important to me than the man.

Yet much as I love and admire his writing, I haven’t ordered my own copy of his last book, a novel called In Paradise. Instead, it’s waiting for me at the library as I write.  And has been waiting a few days. I delay picking it up because even though it’s Matthiessen, something in me doesn’t want to read it. It’s set at a meditation retreat at the concentration camps of Birkenau and Auschwitz, and the very idea of such a retreat seems, at least to me, a horribly ironic oxymoron. Which may indeed turn out to be his point. I’ll find out soon enough.

Matthiessen died yesterday, at age 86. “I don’t want to cling too hard to life,” he’d said, and by not doing so, I suspect he arrived again at the place he described in this quote from The Tree Where Man Was Born, which serves as the ending of the extraordinarily timed piece on him in today’s NYT magazine. Here it is:

“Lying back against these ancient rocks of Africa, I am content. The great stillness in these landscapes that once made me restless seeps into me day by day, and with it the unreasonable feeling that I have found what I was searching for without having discovered what it was.”

What is this if not pure Zen?

 

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File under: art, Buddhism, ecology | Tagged: Tags: Holocaust, In Paradise, Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard, The Tree Where Man Was Born, writing, Zen | 6 Comments
  1. Lisa Kane says:
    April 6, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    Beautiful post. What I want to know: why aren’t these talented, perceptive men better husband material? Any theories? Yours sincerely, Lisa Kane

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 6, 2014 at 3:55 pm

      Interesting question. I’ve always thought writing is a very strange thing to do, which is probably part of why I do it. But since I’m not good wife material, any speculation from me on good husband material might be unintentionally self-damning…

  2. willow1 says:
    April 6, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    We find what we are searching for when we gain the realization that is has always been right before us. Right here. Right now. Bows.

  3. fatmakalkan says:
    April 6, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    His time ended like many others and ours still ticking. Most valuable thing we have in this life is “time”. I feel restless after every sun set. There is a lot to be done to reach my full potential to perfect my moral character, act like a prophet Mohammad, talk like him, walk like him. We came from Allah and we will all return to Him.

  4. John Hendricks says:
    April 7, 2014 at 12:35 am

    Ms Hazleton
    I am the person who complimented you on the lovely book : The First Muslim.
    The more I read you, the more I am convinced that you are such a deep believer – in such a deep manner – and such excellent wife material for somebody who can see this !

    My “wife” moved on with her two dictionaries I. I shall still study the meaning of : agnostic, but I know DEPTH when I “see” it.
    Kindest regards
    John Hendricks

  5. Meezan says:
    April 7, 2014 at 4:55 am

    “To read books” list updated. Thank you.

“Why would you write a book?”

Posted August 2nd, 2013 by Lesley Hazleton

“You’re a Muslim, so why would you write a book about the founder of Christianity?”

That’s how Fox News’ Lauren Green began her challenge to Reza Aslan’s right to write about Jesus.  The video of her interview with him instantly went viral (in fact, several accidental theologists sent it on to me — thank you!).  It inspired several spoofs, including this one here.  Aslan’s book, Zealot (my San Francisco Chronicle review of it here) was already #2 on the Amazon bestseller list;  by the next morning, it was #1.

“Gotcha, J. K. Rowling!” Aslan responded.

But aside from the small detail that Christianity was founded by Paul, not Jesus, Green’s question may not be such a terrible one after all.

'Zealot'The First Muslim - CoverI’ve been there, and often still am — from the other side, as it were.  The first time conservative Muslims asked why I’d decided to write a biography of Muhammad, I spluttered in amazement: “But you don’t think he’s worth writing about?  This man who carved such a huge profile in history?  He’s your prophet, how can you even ask?”

It quickly became clear that this was not a sufficient answer, and that the question was not about my decision as a writer.  It was about my decision as a Jew.  Just as Green focused on Aslan’s Muslimness and assumed that his real agenda was to attack Christianity, so certain conservative Muslims focused on my Jewishness and assumed that my real agenda must have been to attack Islam.

Let’s get one thing straight right away:  just as many mainstream Christians have welcomed Aslan’s book, so many mainstream Muslims have welcomed mine.  It’s the conservatives we’re talking about here, those who cannot tolerate any deviance from received orthodoxy.

In the context of Fox’s Islamophobic politics on the one hand, and of the Israel-Palestine conflict on the other, perhaps such suspicion is inevitable.  But since Aslan’s book and mine both draw on scholarly resources but were written for general audiences, there’s another less obvious factor.  Most devout believers are unaware of the vast body of academic research on the early history of Christianity and Islam.  Used to hagiographic or devotional literature, they see any more dispassionate view of their revered figures as an assault on their belief.  Demanding perfection, they refuse to tolerate human imperfection.

But what if Green had interviewed Aslan not with the desire to criticize, but with the desire to know?  What if my conservative Muslim questioners had been more curious than judgmental?  Without such knee-jerk defensiveness, the question of what a non-Christian brings to the study of Jesus or a non-Muslim to that of Muhammad becomes an interesting one – a question, that is, about the value of the ‘outsider’ point of view.

Precisely because he or she does not come from a place of belief, what seems obvious to the insider is not at all so to the outsider.  It demands to be explored, to be understood on the multiple psychological, cultural, and political levels on which history takes place.  Done well, this process can create important new insights into otherwise received versions of history, opening up fresh ways of seeing and understanding, and finding new relevance in old stories.

As with Jesus, so with Muhammad:  by placing him in the world he experienced, in the full context of place and time, politics and culture – the ‘outsider’ biographer honors the man by honoring his lived experience.

Historical reality doesn’t detract from faith;  it humanizes it.  And when gross inhumanities are committed every day in the name of one faith or another, that alone should surely be more than enough reason to write.

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File under: agnosticism, Christianity, fundamentalism, Islam, Judaism | Tagged: Tags: 'Zealot', biography, Fox News, Islamophobia, outsider, Reza Aslan, The First Muslim, writing | 14 Comments
  1. mary scriver says:
    August 2, 2013 at 11:03 am

    The relevant term here is “fencing the Communion.” You know the little fence at the front of the church where you lean your elbows while waiting for the Elements to reach you? (Maybe not — ask a Catholic.) There was a huge early battle about who had to stay outside that railing and who was entitled to enter. Territoriality. Tribal. Strongest when the group is uneasy about its identity and afraid of dilution by outsiders. (Check the Mexican border. Heck, even the Canadian border.) Writing about American Indians without BEING American Indian is a mortal crime because it becomes harder and harder to define an American Indian.

    Prairie mary

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      August 2, 2013 at 11:13 am

      Great comment: territoriality is exactly the right word.

    • Mary Johnson (@_MaryJohnson) says:
      August 2, 2013 at 11:34 am

      Yes, Lesley you are SO right on here! And even if you’re a former believer, believers still automatically assume that a writer is out to, at best, criticize, at worst, completely demolish all they hold dear. People become so defensive that they can’t see that what a writer might really want to do is to explore, to understand, to express…..

      • Lesley Hazleton says:
        August 2, 2013 at 12:12 pm

        Yes, I saw it happening with you too, Mary. (For those who don’t know, Mary is a former nun who wrote a deeply moving memoir about her years with Mother Teresa and her decision to become secular: http://www.amazon.com/Unquenchable-Thirst-Memoir-Mary-Johnson/dp/0385527470/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375470558&sr=1-1&keywords=mary+johnson)

  2. sharmin banu says:
    August 2, 2013 at 11:14 am

    Very well said:).
    Most devout believers are unaware of the vast body of academic research on the early history of Christianity and Islam. Used to hagiographic or devotional literature, they see any more dispassionate view of their revered figures as an assault on their belief. Demanding perfection, they refuse to tolerate human imperfection.

  3. Fakhra says:
    August 2, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    Reblogged this on TOAL.

  4. saheemwani says:
    August 2, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    The advantage of a writer who doesn’t share the ideas/beliefs of the subject, in your case a prophet whose life was centered exactly on those ideas/beliefs, is a much-needed unbiased perspective of what that man did.

    The disadvantage could be not understanding the subject himself and missing out on the essence of why he did what he did.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      August 2, 2013 at 7:29 pm

      True, but understanding is on whose terms? Part of what I mean by “an agnostic eye” (in the banner of this blog) is an independent one.

  5. fatmakalkan says:
    August 3, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    I agree with you as a devout Muslim. In many verses in Quran Allah wants human-beings to contemplate but human- beings are afraid to contemplate about their faith. Or they are lazy or they simply doesn’t care about religion. They are culturally Jew , Christian or Muslim. They prefer to follow their forefathers religion not their own. When they pickup Revised addition of Bible how come they don’t ask this question: who has a right to revise God’s word? They are def, they are blind and impaired to think. My ten year old daughter was asking me about popular Belief about Jesus being son of God or being God. She asked me: don’t Christians think that Jesus died 2000 years ago if God died 2000 years ago who is running universe?and If Jesus couldn’t save himself how he is going to save them ? Or don’t they think how come eternal God dies?
    Bible says God is one! Why they made him 3? She is also asking about Islam and She is developing her faith. Contemplating is the key. Who doesn’t contemplate doesn’t have real faith they copy others faith.

  6. Tea-mahm says:
    August 6, 2013 at 11:28 am

    Yes! Keep the word bridges safe to pass over… thank you, Lesley and Reza. T’m

  7. anon says:
    August 11, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    I don’t think Aslan was writing as a “Muslim”—though it may have effected his perspective. I havn’t read the book but from watching various interviews, Aslan, apparently, puts the illiterate Jewish carpenter from Nazareth into a historical context/time-period.
    However,the picture of Jesus (pbuh) in the Quran is a Jewish man who is intelligent, literate, a good communicator, exceptionally skilled, and highly spiritual.

  8. Luis Alexis Rodríguez Cruz says:
    August 24, 2013 at 8:30 pm

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the matter. I think that the reporter did not use an intellectual point of view to question Aslan. Anyways, conservatism and closed minds always try to overlap what it is true. Also I think that his book is an academic book such as yours, books for academics, for open minded people, for intellectual people who think critically. Negative comments will always exist…

  9. Farrukh says:
    August 25, 2013 at 7:20 am

    Hello Lesley,

    I just wanted to appreciate your statement:

    Historical reality doesn’t detract from faith; it humanizes it. And when gross inhumanities are committed every day in the name of one faith or another, that alone should surely be more than enough reason to write.

    I’ve just placed the order of your book, The First Muslim in India, it was very expensive, however, they have now priced it correctly. This shall be my third biography on Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him, which I’m going two read. The other two by Karen Armstrong and Safiur Rehman Mubarakpuri.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      August 25, 2013 at 8:31 pm

      Thank you, Farrukh. And re The First Muslim, the UK edition is due out November 7. Since India is part of the ‘UK and Commonwealth’ distribution system, it should then be easily available in bookstores.

Return of the Accidental Theologist

Posted June 15th, 2012 by Lesley Hazleton

Back when, I wrote here that I was going into hermitry for “just a few months, probably,” in order to focus on the final draft of The First Muslim.  Hubris strikes again!  I now realize it’s been nearly a year.

But I’ve finished the book.  All 99,901 words of it.  (Actually, a few thousand more if you include the end notes, bibliography, etc, but hey, who’s counting…)  And it’ll be published in January, which suddenly seems just round the corner.

“We gotta celebrate!” friends here in Seattle said after I’d pressed the Send button to my publisher.  Champagne all round, heels kicked up, nights on the town — all that good stuff.  But nights on the town require energy, and I had none left.  I was too exhausted.  The book was finished, and so, it felt, was I.  Instead of celebrating, I did what I’d known I’d do come this moment:  I collapsed.  The sofa and I became one.

But as days passed with me cradled by that sofa – well-worn dark green leather, thoroughly scratched up by the resident feline – I realized that this wasn’t a painful exhaustion.  It was a happy one, the kind you feel after an arduous hike through magnificent landscape.  You’ve forded streams and clambered up mountains you never thought you could manage.  By the time you get home, everything is aching.  You can’t wear shoes because of the blisters.  The muscles in your legs are so sore it feels like you’ll never be able to walk properly again.  But who cares?  You know, at a far deeper level than skin and muscles, that it was absolutely, totally worth it.

That was a few weeks ago, and now my energy’s coming back.  I’m up off the sofa, ready to interact with the world again and resume this great improvisation known as life.  So here’s a big thank you, fellow accidental theologists, for your understanding, patience, encouragement, and support over this past year.  Now that I’m back, on with the conversation!

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File under: existence | Tagged: Tags: book, Muhammad, The First Muslim, writing | 44 Comments
  1. farzana says:
    June 15, 2012 at 11:58 am

    looking forward to getting myself a copy of this one.

  2. paul skillman says:
    June 15, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    I get so sick of hearing about Muslims blowing each other up in Irqu Afganistan & Syria, they don’t seem like a people I want to immulate or follow.I feel like they have world dominatation in mind.
    Thanks.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 15, 2012 at 4:14 pm

      Where did this come from? No-one’s asking you to “immulate,” emulate, or follow anyone, Paul. No-one’s asking you to generalize either. Every sane person hates people being blown up, no matter who does it and where they are. If you insist nonetheless that a small but violent minority represents all Muslims, you are hereby invited to go follow Fox News.

      • H. A says:
        June 23, 2012 at 1:22 am

        as Ibn Khaldoun “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun” who once said : Intellectual infatuations & other elements that drags societies down, that brings discrimination, division, injustice, the belief in man made illusions, confusions, hate & chaos (الفتن) hiding behind the mask of religion is a very common & big business in the eras of intellectual decline of the communities ”
        – Ibn Khaldun

    • Faruk Ahmet says:
      June 17, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      Sooo… they are blowing each other up to dominate the world? That’s a horribly inefficient way of dominating things, I’d say :/

  3. Mary Johnson (@_MaryJohnson) says:
    June 15, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    Lesley, I’m so glad you’re through–and that you’ve taken time to put those blistered feet up, that wonderful mind of yours to rest. And that now you’re back! I can’t wait to read The First Muslim–and whatever you’ll blog about next!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 15, 2012 at 4:24 pm

      Thanks Mary — and yes, am totally with you against the Catholic church’s Inquisition of its nuns. All the more disgusted since it’s being led right here in Seattle, by Archbishop Peter Sartain.

  4. Sohail Kizilbash says:
    June 15, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    Welcome back Lesley. Muslims believe that the the first Muslim was Adam. Nevertheless, I can hardly wait to read your new book.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 15, 2012 at 4:34 pm

      Thanks, Sohail. I know that’s a tradition, but the fact remains that Muhammad is told three times in the Quran to call himself the first Muslim, so what’ll I tell you: I went with the source.

  5. Sue Fitzmaurice says:
    June 15, 2012 at 4:38 pm

    Bravo. Looking forward to the read. You are, it must be said, more than a theologist, Lesley; you are an inspiration. Thank you. xo

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 15, 2012 at 6:04 pm

      An accidental inspiration! Thanks, Sue.

  6. Nuzhat says:
    June 15, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    Heres a big hug and more Lesley,
    The anticipation is killing…even before reading, I know it’s going to be a prized Collection for me.
    Wish I could be privileged to pick the first copy from the publisher itself.
    You are definitely the blessed one to be of those who spread the Truth.
    Lots more health and energy for the good work.
    Nuzhat.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 16, 2012 at 9:39 am

      Thank you Nuzhat, but you way over-estimate me. Really, I’m not into capitalized Truth. Just the multiple human truths of real life.

      • Nuzhat says:
        June 16, 2012 at 9:29 pm

        Oops! The typing error of capital T….it’s your recounting of realities as truths which I meant. They do provide invaluable insights into my unending research on the subject. Thanks anyway…
        Nuzhat

  7. lavrans says:
    June 15, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    Wonderful to see you back in the land of the casual word, Leslie.
    Been waiting for you to re-surface…

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 16, 2012 at 9:40 am

      “The land of the casual word” — love it!

  8. lavrans123 says:
    June 15, 2012 at 10:06 pm

    Hurrah for your return to the casual word, Leslie!

  9. Lynn Rosen says:
    June 16, 2012 at 12:36 am

    It’s time to do Cuban, Darling. We’ll have our girl call your girl. We’ll take a meeting.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 16, 2012 at 9:42 am

      You’re on!

  10. anyacordell says:
    June 16, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    Congratulations, Lesley! I, too, am looking forward to reading the fruits of your labors. Wish I were local and could take you to tea to celebrate, and get better acquainted. As for nasty comments, I’m still always shocked by the vitriol people feel free to repeat, not based on their own experience, only on distasteful nuggets of misinformation they’ve ingested from those who are more than happy to garner money, votes, power, etc., from demagoguery, that time-dishonored practice that always manages to attract people who ought to have better things to do with their time and money than replicate smears and stereotypes. My piece, “Where the Anti-Muslim Path Leads” is again reprinted, this time, here: http://theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2012/6/15/where-the-anti-muslim-path-leads.html
    Enjoy your well-earned respite.

  11. Herman says:
    June 16, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    Why don’t we hear from the from the vast peaceful Muslim majority ?

    Herman.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 16, 2012 at 6:40 pm

      Because you can’t be bothered to listen. Try starting with “Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in America” by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

      • Herman says:
        June 18, 2012 at 9:06 pm

        I would like to see some public protests from the Muslim community when a church is blown up or a market is attacked by suicide bombers,not dancing in the streets that we saw when the twin towers
        went down.

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          June 19, 2012 at 9:37 am

          Then you should take the blinders off your eyes and see.

  12. Huw says:
    June 16, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    Yeh strength AT, hear from you when?? London Fans

  13. Sohail Kizilbash says:
    June 16, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Interesting interpretation, Lesley. I will look up the references but as you know translations are just that. Thanks.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 16, 2012 at 6:30 pm

      References are Quran 6:14, 6:163, and 39.12

  14. Zahida Murtaza (@zmurrad) says:
    June 16, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Dear Lesley
    Good to be able to read your writing once again. I enjoy reading everything here and am amused at the ‘quick judgement’ on all sides. While I suffer from the paralysis or fear of words to be able to say something, I admire your patience and understanding ( not to mention your tongue- in- cheek sense of humour) in responding to some of those comments. I wish people would suspend all judgement and take delight in reading your gift of an excellent writer as a ‘wordsmith’.
    The much anticipated book will most likely not upset the love/hate paradigm of most people. The small minority who is always open to new ideas will most certainly enjoy it purely for the superb quality of your talent, not to mention hard work in presenting a controversial topic in your unique style. You are doing a great job of teaching how to ‘agree to disagree’ in a mature way and all, including many Muslims, would benefit from it. Thanks.
    Zoi

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 17, 2012 at 8:35 am

      Many thanks, Z — you seem totally eloquent to me!

  15. Abid Hussain says:
    June 17, 2012 at 2:02 am

    Hi Lesley,

    Absolutely dying to read your new book. I just love the work you did on the “Shia/Sunni” book. Only an agnostic Jew could have such an incredibly objective insight 🙂 . I’m looking forward to re-learning more about Islam, from your non-dogmatic researched perspective.

    Just a question, do you know whether your publisher plans to distribute this digitally (iBooks, Kindle) etc?

    I’m personally hoping for a Kindle edition.

    Thanks

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 17, 2012 at 8:40 am

      Thanks Abid! And yes, it will definitely be in digital form also. — L.

  16. Rachel Cowan says:
    June 17, 2012 at 9:41 am

    Hi Lesley,

    just to say I am full of admiration and anticipation to read the book. I am glad you got such a deep rest of fulfillment, and that you are back out on the town.

    sending love
    rachel

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 18, 2012 at 7:23 am

      Thanks Rachel! Love back — L.

  17. Faruk Ahmet says:
    June 17, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Ms Hazleton, glad to have you back! “After the Prophet” was a great reading—can’t wait to download your newest to my Kindle.

    Since you just came out of wrestling with the material, maybe it wouldn’t be too inappropriate to ask you about something: What is your opinion on the emerging claims that Muhammad has never existed at all; or even if he did, he hardly had a solid connection with the Quran and the Islamic tradition as we know them? If it was only questionable polemicists like Robert Spencer and Ibn Warraq, I would dismiss the idea without batting an eye, but there’s also Patricia Crone et al. …

    Again, welcome back.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 18, 2012 at 7:37 am

      Crone, Holland and company base their critique as I see it on two ideas: First, that Islamic historical sources are intrinisically untrustworthy and that only Byzantine sources can be relied upon. Second, an insistence on written documentation from what was a predominantly oral culture. I find it interesting that they apply these “standards” only to early Islam, and not to early Judaism and Christianity, which are still more deeply steeped in Middle East oral culture, and are far less reliable as history. The task, as I see it, is to distinguish between history — what actually happened — and the mass of reverential legend that accrues over the ensuing centuries. A knowledge of comparative religion and of Middle East culture is essential in order to do this, and that is what I find rather dismayingly lacking in Cronism.

  18. iman shamim says:
    June 18, 2012 at 8:06 am

    congratulation for this new book

  19. Meezan says:
    June 18, 2012 at 10:31 am

    Welcome back Hermet. Eagerly awaiting for the book. Go treat yourself with a foot massage and an ice-cream for all the hard work. And keep the goodies coming.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 18, 2012 at 11:54 am

      Ice cream: check. Massage: good idea.

  20. Amira says:
    June 24, 2012 at 3:35 am

    I teach English to Imams in Cairo. We all listened to your TED talk and they were very impressed, as was I. Sadly your books are not available in Cairo, so Amazon is sending me ” The Sunni-Shi’a” book. I hope to meet you on your next visit over. My Imams would love to meet you. Take care and thank you from all my heart.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      June 24, 2012 at 9:28 am

      How great is the idea of using a TED talk as an aid in teaching English?! Brava. And bravo to the imams for finding such a great teacher. Will be sure to yell if/when I make it again to Cairo. — L

      • Amira says:
        June 24, 2012 at 11:23 am

        As I’m sure you have heard, we now have a Muslim Brotherhood President, talk about mixing politics and religion! The society is about to undergo another massive rift, I believe comparable to the King Henry viii break from Rome or even the Sunni-Shi’a split. We hope to come out safely.

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          June 24, 2012 at 1:05 pm

          Fingers and toes crossed for Egypt. Heart and mind too. Keep safe. — L.

  21. M. Wakil says:
    July 28, 2012 at 9:08 am

    Welcome back Ms Hazleton! Was alerted to your return to the blogosphere by your facebook posts. I became a fan after stumbling upon “after the Prophet” on kindle. I’ve since seen your TED video (and ensured that almost everyone I know has seen it too) and am currently reading your book on the life of Mary (which I had to buy from the uk since it’s not available on kindle). It has, amongst other things, given me a new perspective on certain verses in Suratul Maryam. I just want to thank you for your books (because they are like gifts) and to let you know you have fans here in Nigeria. I also want to appreciate your patience in responding to Muslims who are convinced that you’re on the verge of conversion to Islam (*smiley face). It’s just that we’re not used to hearing anything positive about Islam from non-Muslims who aren’t considering it in that way. Looking forward to the next book. Take care and rest well.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 29, 2012 at 1:13 pm

      Much appreciated, M. Thank you! — Lesley.

Caution: Writer at Work

Posted July 10th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

Sometimes, writing is just damn hard.  Okay, most of the time.  Like now, as I’m trying to pull together the vast mass of rough pages for the new book, a biography of Muhammad, into a readable whole.  The research has been great, and reading through what I’ve already written has been exciting.  But now it’s time for craft — time to shape and rewrite everything into a coherent narrative that makes sense to others, not just to me.  And that’s a whole different ball game.  I’ve been tussling with just the two opening chapters for the past two weeks, approaching them this way and that, ‘solving’ the problem at night only to come back and totally unsolve it all over again the next morning.   Just now I came across this video, and that kitten could as well be me, the two perfect green apples the two perfect chapters I know are there but can’t quite get my hands on:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/8-1F-CokXNU]

All of which is by way of saying that I think I’m going to have to take a break from posting here on the AT for a while — a few months, probably — and really focus in on getting a full draft written.  Because though I know some people are capable of stunning amounts of multi-tasking, I also know I’m not one of those people.  I need to become what any writer mid-book really is:   the most boring person in the world, totally mono-focused, all but unaware of everything else that’s happening.

The problem is that writing this blog is a wonderful and (to me, at least) surprising exception to that opening statement that writing is hard.  I find blogging a delight, and somehow even when I write out of anger, it’s still fun.   And your responses and comments are part of the delight and the fun, as well as enormously encouraging.   It really does feel like an ongoing conversation, and one I will badly miss.  So not-blogging (unblogging?) is going to be hard.  Which of course means that if I can’t resist, I may still post something from time to time.  Just not with any regularity.  Not until I have a full readable draft of The First Muslim (yes, that’s still the title).

There’s an upside, though:  not only will the book get written sooner, but when I come back to regular blogging (like three times a week), it’ll be with a huge amount of pent-up energy and appetite for the fray.  So this is absolutely not a farewell — not least because I’ve only just begun to touch on all the things I wanted to explore when I began the AT fifteen months ago — but just a temporary au revoir.

So please, bear with me, and wish me luck and bon voyage.  I’ll send postcards from time to time, telling you where I’m at.  And I’ll be back!  — Lesley

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File under: existence | Tagged: Tags: blogging, writing | 51 Comments
  1. CJ says:
    July 10, 2011 at 3:35 pm

    May the muse walk with you daily. I will miss your blogs, but thanks for letting us know that you have set your “writer at work” sign out. I highly recommend Susan Shaughnessy’s “Walking on Alligators,” even though I am guessing you rarely need those daily bits. I found my copy at Henry’s Fremont Place Books, but sadly he no longer there has his shop…. sigh.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 10, 2011 at 8:50 pm

      Yes, I feel the same way about Fremont Place Books — it’s left a hole in my local universe.

  2. Sue says:
    July 10, 2011 at 3:53 pm

    **sigh** so totally understand that headspace – good luck for sure – and i think that’s a FABULOUS title. xx

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 10, 2011 at 8:51 pm

      Great! Thank you.

  3. Rubina says:
    July 10, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    Best of luck finishing the book.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 10, 2011 at 8:51 pm

      Thanks Rubina — appreciated.

  4. Mary Johnson says:
    July 10, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    Ah, Lesley, this is so totally understandable. A book requires extraordinary attention–I became totally useless for anything else while I was working on mine. I will truly miss the AT–I read every post–but my temporary fast from your intelligent and heartfelt commentary will make the ultimate feast of your book all the more rewarding. I’ll look at it as the way I, as your avid reader, can assist in your writing process–by appreciating your need to focus. Multitasking never really works. I couldn’t even manage to pack my swim goggles and my towel at the same time this morning, much less write simultaneously about both the inner life of a prophet who lived centuries ago and the state of our modern world. Happy writing. It’s rarely easy, but I wish you many moments of enjoyment in that crafting stage–

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 10, 2011 at 9:02 pm

      Mary, you get it perfectly — the problems of dual existence in seventh-century Arabia and the twenty-first century globalized world. Looking forward nevertheless to your book on Mother Teresa. The Amazon page is impressive (selling well a month before its release!): http://www.amazon.com/Unquenchable-Thirst-Following-Service-Authentic/dp/0385527470/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310356457&sr=1-1

  5. taylorkyliem says:
    July 10, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    I too will be sad to see you disappear from the ‘blogosphere’ for a while! Best wishes for your book. I’ve never written one so I can’t say I know how it feels, but best wishes all the same!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 10, 2011 at 9:05 pm

      It feels — it always feels — like I’ve never written a book before. I know I have — several, in fact — but somehow that never helps. Your best wishes do. Thanks.

  6. Muzaffar says:
    July 10, 2011 at 8:49 pm

    Salam. Wish you all the best in your new book titled The First Muslim. Suggest to consider an addition into the present title ie The First & The Muslim . Obviously subject to if it coincides with the contents of your book.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 10, 2011 at 9:09 pm

      Thanks Muzaffar — I’m aware of the tradition that Abraham was the first Muslim, but since Muhammad is told three times in the Quran to say that he is the first one, and since it instantly identifies him for non-Muslim readers, I’m sticking with it unless a brilliant alternative comes to me. — L.

      • Lesley Hazleton says:
        July 10, 2011 at 9:12 pm

        And yes, there will be a sub-title, though haven’t formulated it yet.

  7. nuzhat says:
    July 10, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    hi lesley,
    the anticipation of your most awaited work has made your ‘unblogging’ a bit bearable. infact i would love to read the unpruned version of the book, as i devour every word of your authentic research.
    your description of the events, conjures a kaleidoscope of history in motion, and draws me deeper into the vortex of my religion.

    while you take a break with writing, i can take a break with ramzan, hoping to find your book waiting for me thereafter…..
    prayers for the same…
    nuzhat.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 11, 2011 at 12:11 pm

      Thanks Nuzhat, though I fear I’ll never be able to live up to so much expectation! — L.

  8. Meezan says:
    July 10, 2011 at 11:37 pm

    Good luck with your book. i am eagerly waiting for it(love the title by the way). I have been trying to get hold of “after the prophet” but cant seem to find it in the biggest of book stores here.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 11, 2011 at 12:14 pm

      Thanks Meezan. And here’s the US Amazon link and the UK one: http://www.amazon.com/After-Prophet-Story-Shia-Sunni-Split/dp/0385523947/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1310411539&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/After-Prophet-Story-Shia-Sunni-Split/dp/0385523947/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310411614&sr=1-1

      • Meezan says:
        July 11, 2011 at 11:06 pm

        Unfortunately amazon and the likes don’t deliver in Pakistan. Apparently those guys don’t trust us with books.

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          July 12, 2011 at 9:33 am

          Yup — dangerous things, books. Aaaargh. How infuriating.

      • Meezan says:
        May 2, 2012 at 11:03 pm

        Hey Lesley,

        So I finally got my hands on “After the Prophet” and finished it moments ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it and really would like to thank you for all the hard work. The anticipation for your new book has now doubled (no pressure). I wrote a few humble lines on goodreads about the book and I am just going to copy it here. Cheers.

        “I always feel uncertain when reading history books specially Islamic history where there are so many contrasting versions of the events that defined pretty much who we are today. Lesley has taken a very sensitive topic, has considered both sides of the story to narrate and connected it very shrewdly to the modern day. It was a really interesting read for me personally because this was coming from a outsider looking into some of the darkest times of our history which we are not very comfortable talking about. Although I was familiar with almost all the major events that led to the divide, I found myself chuckling at the spectacle; the big names being stripped of all the holiness and reverence and being presented as just silly little mortals with doubts, failures, weakness and everything human. I imagine if I was not so emotionally invested in subject of the book I would have grabbed some popcorns and a soda while reading it. The whole thing at times is so twisted and interesting that it almost feels like something out of a tragic Shakespearean play.

        One cannot stop to wonder whether this divide between the two sects is ever going to be bridged, how this is going to further shape our history and how much more will this provide others the opportunities of exploitation.”

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          June 2, 2012 at 9:58 am

          Thanks so much for your appreciation, Meezan. Yes, I chose the word “epic” in the subtitle because it was the right one. An amazing story, precisely because so human. Re your anticipation of ‘The First Muslim’: just finished the final manuscript. Am coming up for air, and will start blogging again in a few days. Found out yesterday that publication date here in the US is January. Suddenly, that seems like next week!

  9. Piotr Rozwalka says:
    July 11, 2011 at 2:47 am

    I am sad to see a really great thinking stimulus vanish for some time. Thank you for all your previous post and the time you took to share your thoughts with me and other readers. I wish you all the best finishing your book. I hope it will go smoothly as it would make you come back here faster 😉

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 11, 2011 at 12:14 pm

      Fingers crossed! — L.

  10. Nancy McClelland says:
    July 11, 2011 at 7:28 am

    I love the way you delivered the (sad) news, and the idea that your check-ins on the blog from time-to-time are like postcards. You will be missed, but we’ll all look forward to being able to share in what you end up creating in the meantime!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 11, 2011 at 12:15 pm

      Thanks Nancy! Just hope they won’t be postcards from the edge… — L.

  11. Lamiaa says:
    July 11, 2011 at 8:30 am

    I’m excited about your new book Lesley and will miss your wisdom and the issues you dared to speak about which made me feel sane 🙂 come back soon… I would be more than honored to hear from you should you ever have questions for a humble Egyptian scholar in search as well for lost truths:) love

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 11, 2011 at 12:16 pm

      The honor is mutual, Lamiaa — Thanks! — L.

  12. Tom says:
    July 11, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Hello,

    Just a thought regarding the title. Perhaps calling the book “The First Muslim” may not be appropriate and could be offensive to some Muslims if not most. Muslims consider Adam to be the first Muslim (first prophet and first human to submit to God’s will). Perhaps, “Muhammad, The Last Prophet”. Hope that helps, and good luck with the book, I look forward to reading it.
    Tom

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 11, 2011 at 5:39 pm

      Thanks, Tom — and see earlier reply to Muzaffar. Since the book is written primarily for non-Muslims, and since there are already dozens of books titled ‘Muhammad,’ I think I need something that speaks more invitingly to my primary audience. While some Muslim traditions have since said that Abraham was the first Muslim, and others Adam, the Quran does say it is Muhammad, repeatedly (three times as opposed to once, far less directly, for Abraham). Of course I’ll discuss the issue in the book itself.

      • Rabeeh Zakaria says:
        July 27, 2011 at 7:04 pm

        Hi Lesley, Good luck with the book. Can’t wait to see it published.

        I am wondering if you have a muslim “guide” who can clarify contradictory issues that might arise.

        For example, the issue you mentioned above was thoroughly discussed among muslim clerks before and an explanation was given..

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          August 1, 2011 at 11:46 am

          Thank you. This is obviously not an “authorized” biography, so good Muslim friends trust that I will find my own way. Just as obviously, I make no claim to speak for Islam, just as I made no claim in previous books to speak for Christianity or for Judaism. My approach is historical, not theological.
          To repeat what I just replied to a commenter on another post: I don’t subscribe to the idea of a single truth, let alone whole truth or absolute truth. One tries for truth in the very human acknowledgment that is always debatable. I try to come as close to historical fact as I can, using the earliest sources and deep context in the form of cultural, political, economic, and comparative religious studies.

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          August 2, 2011 at 3:34 pm

          Rabeeh — see answers above (or maybe below — am not sure how it’ll show online) to Saima Abbasi. Thanks — Lesley

  13. Lamiaa says:
    July 13, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    Muhammad was the first Muslim in his era it is true with the new scripture he was given being the first to accept it but all messengers who came before him from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Solomon, Moses and Jesus are described as muslims in the quran which is an adjective describing a state of surrender to the will of God and at the same time connecting their faith in the One God and his massage to humanity throughout time.

  14. emilylhauser says:
    July 13, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    Because of course I’m behind on my blog reading I’m just now seeing this. So I wish you good luck and bon voyage and as I’m anxiously awaiting the outcome, I can really only say: Hurry up already! Catch the apples!

    🙂 Good luck!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 19, 2011 at 6:56 pm

      Thanks Em — am hurrying as fast as I can (but feel rather like Aesop’s tortoise…)

  15. Andrew Pataki says:
    July 14, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Really looking forward to your book Lesley, I’ve really come to love your style during the past few months, best of luck charging the mountain!

    Greetings and best wishes from Hungary! 😛

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      September 8, 2011 at 3:51 pm

      Thank you — am a third of the way up the mountain! — L.

  16. Elaheh says:
    July 19, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    I just found your weblog a few weeks ago, and I think I’m so unlucky that you’re not going to write for a while! Anyway, good luck with your writing and I’m eagerly looking forward to read your book about the biography of Mohammad.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      July 19, 2011 at 6:53 pm

      Thanks Elaheh — I’m looking forward to being able to read it too!

  17. Saima Abbasi says:
    July 28, 2011 at 4:59 am

    Ma’am Lesley,
    Hope you are doing fine with your book?I am reading your book ‘After the Prophet’ salaat o salaam.and I want your attention about some details about the burial of Prophet Muhammad salaat o salaam.
    I did a research paper on the death of Prophet Muhammad Salaat o salaam. I wish to add that the details of His salaat o salaam are not the whole truth, the main source of Prophet Muhammad salaat o salaam’s life are the books of Hadith. Kindly check these references because in these books their is diffrent account about burial.
    For the life of Prophet Muhammad salaat o salaam only history books are not enough as Hadith books has more authentic and detail about His life.
    Waiting for your rerply.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      August 1, 2011 at 11:31 am

      As you’ll see if you read more of this blog, I don’t subscribe to the idea of a single truth, let alone whole truth or absolute truth. One tries for truth in the very human acknowledgment that is always debatable. I try to come as close to historical fact as I can, using the earliest sources and deep context in the form of cultural, political, economic, and comparative religious studies.

      • Saima Abbasi says:
        August 2, 2011 at 2:51 pm

        Ma’am Lesley,
        i am really and deeply sorry if my comments are inappropiate,
        i am not judging you or your work here or any time.writing a book is a creation and very hard work.
        as a matter of fact i watched your ted video about reading Quran and really like it and in your book After the Prophet (salaat o salaam) i cried on the account of death of Ali.
        very humbly and with due respect i just want to state that history can be made in drawing rooms today and in past.
        as you mention in your book how Hadiths were collected so in my opinion for the life of Prophet Muhammad (salaat o salaam) hadiths books are more reliable.
        your details about Prophet Muhammad (salaat o salaam)’s burial support the basic idea or theme of your book,that why shia splited from main stream and it support shia thoughts as well…
        if you like i will send you those refrences about the burial in hadiths books.
        i have so many questions for you also…

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          August 2, 2011 at 3:32 pm

          No insult taken, Saima. I appreciate your intent, but right now, mid-book, is not the time to explain myself or my research. You might just have to trust me that I get at least something right… Ramadan mubarak — L.

  18. Saima Abbasi says:
    August 2, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Good for me coz as the month of ramadan has it’s own different activities from rest of the year so this thing is also taking up my time. I will wait till you ll have time.
    Good luck with your book.

  19. Nisreen says:
    August 8, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Lesley .. do you have an active facebook page?

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      August 19, 2011 at 10:39 am

      Sort of…

  20. Mirza says:
    September 18, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    Hi Lesley, we have been waiting quite long for your new book. And I am not able to get updates anywhere. Would you be kind enough to give us idea on when it would be out.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      September 18, 2012 at 2:19 pm

      Updates at your service, Mirza!
      Here: http://www.amazon.com/First-Muslim-Story-Muhammad/dp/1594487286/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348003028&sr=1-1&keywords=the+first+muslim+hazleton
      And here: http://accidentaltheologist.com/2012/08/30/an-early-nod-for-the-first-muslim/
      Publication date is January 24.

      • Meezan says:
        September 19, 2012 at 11:36 pm

        This will be available on kindle, right? I don’t see any kindle link.

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          September 20, 2012 at 8:44 am

          Am sure it will be. Patience…!

  21. Mirza says:
    September 19, 2012 at 9:31 am

    Thanks Lesley. And God bless you.

A Baby Video?

Posted March 1st, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

No kidding.  I’ve already tweeted this, but for a writer, it’s such the perfect antidote to a bad work day — rip it up and laugh! — that I think I need to post it right here on the Accidental Theologist.   To be filed, of course, under ‘existence’:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc]

Share this post:  Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
File under: existence | Tagged: Tags: laughter, paper, writing | 3 Comments
  1. Lynn Rosen says:
    March 1, 2011 at 11:15 pm

    With this—you make the day not only bearable but full of delight. Huge thanks.

  2. Tea-mahm says:
    March 3, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    I love that you posted this, Lesley! I can see you sitting there laughing in the midst of what else the world is up to. Cheeers! Tamam

  3. Chee says:
    April 26, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    I love this. I can’t stop watching it! 🙂

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