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islam

Unmanned

  1. Serrekunda’s beach, the Gambia’s biggest tourist draw, empty again. Two years ago it was fear of Ebola. Now, political crisis, checkpoints, soldiers with AK-47s, bazookas. Alex Sesouy, a tourist guide, had time to talk. Still, he hesi [...]

Illustration by Eleni Kalorkoti

Souvenir

The ferry, tied still to the dock, pointed north, toward where the Bosporus opened into the Black Sea. The boat wasn’t headed there, but was bound for Istanbul, and it left in fifteen minutes, at three. 

“ ‘Nicely done, nicely done,’ ” Chris said, inspired by the sight of the Australians sitting a hundred feet away, not on the ferry yet but at one of the waterfront cafés.

The Road to Enlightenment

Nomad: From Islam to America, A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Free Press, $27 “Yes, it is true that what you say is in the Quran, but I disagree with it. Yes, you ask me to follow the example of the Prophe [...]