Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey Into Muslim Europe (Bradt Travel Guides (Travel Literature))

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It was one of those books where I didn’t want it to finish and savouredthe last few pages by reading them slowly. His family accompany him on his journey, and this imbues the prose with a sense of warmth and humour.

Hussain takes us on a tour of Muslim heritage in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania.The most interesting parts were about the present-day and the people the author met, so it's a pity that this aspect wasn't as prominent as the long discourses on history and architecture (thank goodness for internet photographs, I say). Damn, the Islamophobia was deep”, said Saleh [a tourist from Manchester], no longer sounding surprised. While reflecting on the tragedy during his visit to the country, Tharik also highlights the cultural achievements and historic legacy that that survives today – something that often goes unnoticed in the long shadow cast by war. Tharik revitalises the existence of these monuments with his mastery writing - ladened with sincerety, warmth and real connection. Had the author not tried to weave this thread of identity through the book, or at least dove deeper into it, it would have been a much stronger work.

Winner of a BGTW Members’ Excellence Award: Travel Narrative Book of the Year – The Adele Evans Award. After discovering Muslim communities in Bulgaria he decides to travel round the Western Balkans with his family, through BiH, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, discovering the Muslim areas of Europe. He visits the Mostar Bridge that was rebuilt after it was destroyed during the Croat–Bosniak War, prays in mosques that are older than the Sistine Chapel and talks to many different factions of Muslims from Sunni’s to dervishes.I’m sorry that people unfamiliar with the region will read this text and believe every word the author says. The Bosnian war in the 1990’s and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by Serbian forces, saw the deaths of thousands of Bosnians- a truly immeasurable loss.