Umm Zakiyyah

Hearts We Lost Umm Zakiyyah

In this novel that spans the Atlantic, from Saudi Arabia to America, internationally acclaimed author of the If I Should Speak trilogy and the novel Realities of Submission shares with readers a heart-moving tale of faith, betrayal, and affection. Sharif, the main character of this novel, after completing his undergraduate studies in America, is asked by family and friends to leave the comfort of the land he has known since childhood to study at a prestigious Islamic university in Riyadh. Haunted by the sudden death of his father who would have wanted this opportunity for his son, Sharif reluctantly agrees to the proposition and to assuming the position as imam over the small suburban Maryland masjid where his father once held the same post. After his six-year study abroad, Sharif returns to America changed in ways he cannot fully comprehend. Now doubting his engagement to his childhood friend, Sharif is confounded by questions of marriage and how he should practice the Islamic faith. As he searches for answers to spiritual perplexities and the deeper affairs of the heart, he finds guidance in a vision he sees while asleep, a vision that is made all the more perplexing when it manifests itself in real life. Navigating the enigmatic world of dreams and the mystery of the human soul, Hearts We Lost is by far the author's most powerful novel to date, and the most unforgettable.