A journalist explores his familyand's history to reveal the hybrid cultural and political landscape of Pakistan, the worldand's first Islamic democracyand and and and Shahan Muftiand's family history, which he can trace back fourteen hundred years to the inner circle of the prophet Muhammad, offers an enlightened perspective on the mystifying history of Pakistan. Mufti uses the stories of his ancestors, many of whom served as judges and jurists in Muslim sharia courts of South Asia for many centuries, to reveal the deepest rootsand--real and imaginedand--of Islamic civilization in Pakistan.and and and More than a personal history, The Faithful Scribe captures the larger story of the worldand's first Islamic democracy, and explains how the state that once promised to bridge Islam and the West is now threatening to crumble under historical and political pressure, and why Pakistanand'sdestiny matters to us all.