First, my husband, who makes everything possible.
Second, Robert Guinsler, my ever optimistic, prescient, and superb agent at Sterling Lord: a man who is intensely loyal and never gives up. Dr. Yousuf Zafar, you are undoubtedly a good doctor, but foremost you are the best photographer I know and I am honored to showcase some of your work. A big thank you to my brilliant author friend Cole Stryker, who suffered more than most have to in the creation of this book and who I hope, now married, spends less time on the dark web. A big thank you to my diligent, patient, and smart editor Vy Tran, who allowed herself to enter a world that was completely unknown and then make sense of it. So grateful for Glenn Yeffeth, Adrienne Lang, Aida Herrera, Jennifer Canzoneri, Monica Lowry, Sarah Avinger, Alicia Kania, Rachel Phares, and Aaron Edmiston—the outstanding team at BenBella who worked so hard to put this together. A big thank you is also due to Rona Vail, Juliet Widoff, Mark Mankoff, Jeff Hoffman, Loveleen Tandan, Sajid Akbar, and Vivek Mansukhani for their unflinching support. So many friends and colleagues have lived this journey with me and I don’t know where we would be without them. So thank you A. T., H. V. A., P. Austin, and E. Goldstein. Aseem Chhabra and Cynthia Biboso, a special thank you. And Andrew Herwitz, Firoozeh Khatibi, Laila Jarman, Mallika Dutt, Lopa Banerjee, Vivek Rai, William O’ Connor, Ambassador Rufus Gifford and his lovely husband Stephen DeVincent, Scott Long, A. A., Anni Zonevald, Adam Berman, Rhoda Kanaaneh, Nuzhat Leedham, Alia Younes, Asif Kamal, Aroon Shivdasani, Ahmed Moor, Adam Horowitz, Raed El Khadem, Hiba Haidar, Mark Berthold, Layla Al-Zubaidi, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Hamid and Melissa Rahmanian, Philip Weiss, Brian Whitaker, Sourena Parham, Alison Amron, Sarah Masters, Zahir J., Shakeel V., John Murphy, Ross Posternak, Sandip Roy, Yassir Islam, Mike Galaviz, Geoff Burkhart, Leena Jaiswal, Lucas Verga, Michelle Hua, Peter Friedman, Michael Sanzone, Amy Goodman, Daayiee Abdullah, Tula Goenka, Faisal Alam, Muhsin Hendricks, Nadia and Shahinaz, Mazen el-Fares, El-Farooq Khaki, Vivek Rai, Sandi Dubowski, Max Carlson, Michelle Hua, GMHC, Mahdis Keshavarz, Bilal and Irum Musharraf, Steven Kopstein, Reza Aslan, Asra Nomani, Ensaf Haidar, Bonte Minnema, Bertho Makso, Georges Azzi, Brent Alberghini, John Avalon, Kevin Sessums, Cleve Jones, and so many more, including the folks in the Obama-era US Department of State and the US Department of Homeland Security (those were the days!). Also thanks to the EU and German Green friends, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. And Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami for listening and teaching from more countries than I can count.
This book would not exist without many friends and colleagues, some whose full identities cannot be revealed for safety reasons. They have often let me into their lives and secrets that I would normally not be privy to. Thank you Aisha, Zaffar, Rokhsana, Safa, Rafik, and so many others in Beirut. Thank you Adham and Salman in Jidda, Saudi Arabia. Nora in Riyadh and Zafar and Sadeem in Al-Qatif and al-Awammiyah, Saudi Arabia. In Cairo, much gratitude to A. A.; Garth O’Connor; Razia and Rausha at Al Azhar and Naseem at the American University of Cairo; the Younes, Asfour, Malouf and Khoury families; and the many nonprofits that have helped me over the years in Egypt. In Tehran, I would like to thank Arash Afsanian, Behrouz Farrokhzad, Arash Aryan, N. S., and the Hooshang and Jehangir families. In Pakistan, some of my own family and also Afzal, Karim, Khalida, Afsheen, Mehak, Ghalib, Tahir K., and the NGOs I worked with in Lahore, Islamabad, Dhaka, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan over the years, teaching me invaluable lessons about the region and information that I otherwise would not have been able to get access to. In India, my own family, Imam Khalifa and Maulana Hasan at the Nadhwa seminary in Lucknow, Zainab Bakhtiar, Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi, Ahsan, and Qasim. In Bangladesh, S. K., S. D., Bandhu, and the many NGOs that have taught me so much. In Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi, Ghalib, K. A., T. K., R. R. and S. Jahangir, G. A., R. F., R. T., and yes, even the “deplorables” at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
To every single voice that needs an “Inquilab Zindabad” (“Long live the revolution”) in the Indian subcontinent.
To each voice that dared to call for “Marg Bar Diktator!” (“Death to the dictator!”) in Iran’s unfinished 2009 Green Revolution.
To the courageous warriors that yelled in unison “Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam” (“The people want to bring down the regime”) on the streets of Cairo in 2011 and now face the consequences of so many unfinished Arab Springs.
And to my fellow soldiers Adham and Shahinaz.
So much remains unfinished in the business of freedom.