Islamic Books

Jannah

There are so many books written about Islam, it's difficult to distinguish the genuinely informative and insightful from those with ulterior motives, so I thought it'd be nice if we could post about really great books about Islam that we've read recently. Hopefully through this both Muslims and non-Muslims will be able to gather more knowledge on Islam- after all, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) constantly emphasised the need for both males and females to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave

"Love in a Headscarf" - Shelina Zahra Janmohamed
This book gives a really personal and insightful look into the life of a modern day Muslim woman who is learning to establish her identity as a Muslim, an Asian and a British citizen. She has a really impressive knowledge of Islam and her interpretations of its values are really uplifting and inspirational. She is not only pious, but an extremely modern thinking, humorous and well balanced woman. She chronicles her search for a husband through an arranged marriage and her search for her dream husband, but it is in no way like the 'chick lit' books out there where women are devoting all of their time and energy simply into hunting down their Mr Right- the love she's looking for is the love of her family, a husband and also her love of Allah. Most importantly, it proves to people that Muslimahs are every bit as much of a woman as any other female and that they too experience the same trials and tribulations in finding love. However, it is Shelina’s dedication to her faith which really shines through and gives her the strength to know that there is someone out there who is meant for her, which is brilliant.

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" - Benazir Bhutto
Of course, the author of this book is widely known as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan whose assassination in December '07 came as a huge loss to the entire Muslim community, as she contributed so much to both her homeland and people's perceptions of the role of women in Islam. Some of my favourite parts are when she talks about ijtihad which is the interpretation of the Qur'an in order to apply its principles to our current age, her explanation of Sharia laws and of how Islam and democracy are not only compatible, but inseparable. Her views on how an Islamic country can be run successfully without compromising its principles are remarkable and it's definitely well worth a read.

"Teach Yourself Islam" - Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood
This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about the Islamic faith and its practices, as it explains all areas thoroughly, including many topical and controversial areas that some books tend to shy away from such as FGM, female Imams, Wahhabism and fundamentalism. She is extremely diplomatic in providing information and gives very good Qur'anic quotes to back up her points. A really great book for anyone who is either beginning their journey into Islam or who wants answers to their criticisms of Islam.

Filan

Have you reverted to Islam Jannah?

Jannah

No, I suppose you could say I'm still in the process- still gathering information, learning more about it and evaluating my life. It seems such a huge decision! Also, there's the worry of what my parents will say, but I feel that's secondary to how much I have been inspired by Islam, especially the women- there really is no better role model than a muslimah

Filan

I wish you fulfilment regardless...the heart is always a good compass and if it takes you to Islam then I recommend that you follow it...what exactly is it about Islam that you find inspiring? ....

Jannah

Thanks Filan! It's so great to hear a positive response!! Usually when I tell someone I'm considering Islam they look horrified!
I think Islam has a lot to offer, especially in our modern society. It's beliefs are simple and logical- the belief in one God, who one acknowledges and keeps in mind throughout the day. It's not a weekly chore that a person can simply forget about and start to do wrong once they step out the door, but a lifestyle and a constant reminder that we're here to do good by one another. It's freedom- freedom from the pressure to drink, from the belief that success means materialistic wealth and from the need to be 'sexy'. I really do believe that it's a happier and more fulfilling life and it's got so many layers, you can always learn something new and insightful all the time.

I'm finding it really hard though- it's like a one woman mission lol. While a don't mind learning about Islam on my own, it would be nice to know Muslims who I could get some kind of support or companionship from as well as a different perspective on all sorts of issues, but sadly the Muslim community in Cork is limited.

toomevara

Virtually anything by Charles Le Gai Eaton..All provided me with a unique insight into Islam and the muslim world, and made me fundamentally reconsider my relationship with God;

My Favourites; King of the Castle
Islam and the Destiny of Man
Remembering God: Reflections on islam

But perhaps my absolute favourite of the many books I have read on Islam is Hamza Yusuf's Purification of the Heart...an amazing book.

Jannah

Oooh thanks for those Toomevara! I'm dying to find good sources- there are quite a few out there which get a bit boring. I'm trying to plough through Karen Armstrong's biography of Muhammad's life and it's heavy going

toomevara

Jannah wrote: »

I'm trying to plough through Karen Armstrong's biography of Muhammad's life and it's heavy going

If you're finding Armstrong a wee bit turgid (it is), try Tariq Ramadan's The Messenger.

getz

Jannah wrote: »

No, I suppose you could say I'm still in the process- still gathering information, learning more about it and evaluating my life. It seems such a huge decision! Also, there's the worry of what my parents will say, but I feel that's secondary to how much I have been inspired by Islam, especially the women- there really is no better role model than a muslimah

not all in islam is good to know the downfalls ,look up the web site answering -islam,this is the kind of thing that lets it down

Frank Grimes

Take a read of anything Muhammad Asad wrote; specifically The Message of the Quran and The Road to Mecca. You don't to be religious to enjoy the latter, it's an amazing book that covers his spiritual journey as well as his physical journey around parts of the Muslim world in the 20s.

Martin Lings' biography of Muhammad is very good, been a while since I've read it - it was heavy going in parts from what I remember but worth the read. Try The Conference of the Birds too for some Sufism. I'd second Islam and the Destiny of Man by Le Gai Eaton, it's another amazing book.

Hobbes

getz wrote: »

not all in islam is good to know the downfalls ,look up the web site answering -islam,this is the kind of thing that lets it down

As pointed out in the warning on the forum Answering-Islam is not a good site to get your information from, also appears to be offtopic to this thread.

Jannah

toomevara wrote: »

If you're finding Armstrong a wee bit turgid (it is), try Tariq Ramadan's The Messenger.

Oooh will do! Thanks! Yeah, Armstrong is just a constant narration of defending Islam by showing up other religions (suppose she's a little bitter being an ex-nun and whatnot) but it's not a defence but information that I'm looking for. It really does help if the writer is a practicing Muslim- they have the emotional connection to the religion and are able to talk about it in a more personal way, which is really lovely. That's why I love "Love in a Headscarf"- her insights of what she personally gets out of religion are second to none

Frank Grimes wrote: »

The Road to Mecca. You don't to be religious to enjoy the latter, it's an amazing book that covers his spiritual journey as well as his physical journey around parts of the Muslim world in the 20s.

That sounds really cool- there's actually a LOT of symbolism in the Hajj that many completely overlook- even the clothes alone have a purpose. I'd love to find a book that explains Sharia in an indepth way- it's impossible to find anything on it on the internet without being bombarded by women being stoned and decapitated and whatnot, like there must be some kind of logic there

hivizman

I'd like to endorse toomevara's recommendations - particularly Hamza Yusuf's Purification of the Heart. He converted to Islam and studied with various scholars before returning to the USA and establishing the Zaytuna Institute for the teaching and study of Islam.

As well as Tariq Ramadan's biography of Muhammad, which is interesting in the way he develops a range of themes around the life of the Prophet, and tries to explain the continuing relevance of Muhammad's life in today's times, another very readable book is Barnaby Rogerson's The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography. Rogerson wrote a follow-up covering the 50 years after Muhammad's death The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad, which gives a good account of the spread of Islam under the "rightly-guided Caliphs", and the conflict between the descendants of the Prophet (Ali, Hassan, Husayn) and the Umayyad dynasty.

I bought the next book in Canada, but I think it's available over here. This is Seyyed Hossein Nasr's The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity. The book focuses on the moral and ethical teachings of Islam and how these support a particular vision of the community and society.

Finally, I don't know of a "light" introduction to Sharia, but a clearly written scholarly introduction is Mohammad Hashim Kamali's Shari'ah Law: An Introduction, which discusses the formation and early development of Sharia, the various "schools of thought", the purposes of Sharia, how Sharia evolves (including the role of the fatwa), and some current issues (such as the debate over the specified punishments for offences such as theft and fornication, the position of women, and the role of human rights).

hivizman

By the way, thanks Jannah for the favourable comments on Love in a Headscarf - this came up on my Amazon recommendations list, and I'll definitely order it now.

Jannah

hivizman wrote: »

By the way, thanks Jannah for the favourable comments on Love in a Headscarf - this came up on my Amazon recommendations list, and I'll definitely order it now.

Do! Seriously, it's probably the best portrayal of a 'real' Muslim woman I've ever come across. I'm always fairly wary when I see men writing about what it is to be a woman (a good exaple of this being Khaled Hosseini)- while it may make for an interesting read, they usually condemn the women as being completely submissive or subjugated. Ugh!! Shelina's insights are beautiful- no matter who's reading it, it's hard not to see the good that Islam has brought into her life.
I lent the book to a guy in my year's sister who is a Muslim and she really seems to love it- it was so sweet, she came over to me today to thank me and said she couldn't put it down- what a cutie! People like that make me really proud of Islam, there's definitely a great bond between the women- a thing that I've found tends to be lacking among other women. I suppose it's because the whole competitive aspect with men and beauty which has been taken away and it's more about the person. It's really nice.

hivizman wrote: »

As well as Tariq Ramadan's biography of Muhammad, which is interesting in the way he develops a range of themes around the life of the Prophet, and tries to explain the continuing relevance of Muhammad's life in today's times

That's exactly what I was looking for! It really is the most important aspect of learning about the prophet Muhammad's life to see firstly how he behaved and to learn from his examples and secondly to see how his life and events he faced it still relevent today. It's easy to get a bit sidetracked with the culture shock but behind it all, people are people and he too was human at the end of the day.

hivizman wrote: »

Finally, I don't know of a "light" introduction to Sharia, but a clearly written scholarly introduction is Mohammad Hashim Kamali's Shari'ah Law: An Introduction, which discusses the formation and early development of Sharia, the various "schools of thought", the purposes of Sharia, how Sharia evolves (including the role of the fatwa), and some current issues (such as the debate over the specified punishments for offences such as theft and fornication, the position of women, and the role of human rights).

Perfect! I'll definitely have a look for it- I really want to get to the bottom of what exactly the logic is behind all the various aspects of Sharia- Benazir Bhutto gives a good account in her book, but it's a little too short. Haha, ya, I don't suppose there's really any simple version of Sharia but sher, I'll plough through and we'll see how it goes! Thanks for the advice!

ChocolateSauce

Jannah wrote: »

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" - Benazir Bhutto
Of course, the author of this book is widely known as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan whose assassination in December '07 came as a huge loss to the entire Muslim community, as she contributed so much to both her homeland and people's perceptions of the role of women in Islam. Some of my favourite parts are when she talks about ijtihad which is the interpretation of the Qur'an in order to apply its principles to our current age, her explanation of Sharia laws and of how Islam and democracy are not only compatible, but inseparable. Her views on how an Islamic country can be run successfully without compromising its principles are remarkable and it's definitely well worth a read.

To this I would like to say that her death wasn't just a loss to the Muslim world, but to the whole world. I always admired her intelligence and her bravery.

Jannah

Very true! She was amazing- she knew that people had wanted to kill her yet never let it stop her. A really poignant part of her book is where she describes how she was handed a baby at a rally which turned out to be strapped with explosives and her bodyguard pulled her away before the explosives on the child were detonated- yet she never stopped, right up until her death. I think that religious or not it's difficult not to see all the good she did and how brave she was.

toomevara

hivizman wrote: »

I bought the next book in Canada, but I think it's available over here. This is Seyyed Hossein Nasr's The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity. The book focuses on the moral and ethical teachings of Islam and how these support a particular vision of the community and society.

I've read his 'Ideals and Realities of Islam'...which I found fascinating and instructive especially the Chapter on Shia Islam and the Sunni/Shia divergence.

Finally, I don't know of a "light" introduction to Sharia, but a clearly written scholarly introduction is Mohammad Hashim Kamali's Shari'ah Law: An Introduction, which discusses the formation and early development of Sharia, the various "schools of thought", the purposes of Sharia, how Sharia evolves (including the role of the fatwa), and some current issues (such as the debate over the specified punishments for offences such as theft and fornication, the position of women, and the role of human rights).

That sounds like an excellent recommendation...thanks, I'll give it a whirl.

hivizman

Jannah wrote: »

"Love in a Headscarf" - Shelina Zahra Janmohamed
This book gives a really personal and insightful look into the life of a modern day Muslim woman who is learning to establish her identity as a Muslim, an Asian and a British citizen. She has a really impressive knowledge of Islam and her interpretations of its values are really uplifting and inspirational. She is not only pious, but an extremely modern thinking, humorous and well balanced woman. She chronicles her search for a husband through an arranged marriage and her search for her dream husband, but it is in no way like the 'chick lit' books out there where women are devoting all of their time and energy simply into hunting down their Mr Right- the love she's looking for is the love of her family, a husband and also her love of Allah. Most importantly, it proves to people that Muslimahs are every bit as much of a woman as any other female and that they too experience the same trials and tribulations in finding love. However, it is Shelina’s dedication to her faith which really shines through and gives her the strength to know that there is someone out there who is meant for her, which is brilliant.

When I was in South Africa a few weeks ago, I picked up a book by Amulya Malladi The Sound of Language (published by Ballantine in 2008). I don't think that this book has appeared yet in Europe. It's a novel about Raihana, a refugee from Afghanistan who settles in Denmark. In order to become a Danish citizen, she has to learn Danish, which at first sounds like the buzzing of bees to her. As part of her path towards citizenship, and to improve her language skills, Raihana has to find a job, and she works for Gunnar, a Danish beekeeper who has recently lost his wife and has withdrawn into depression. The novel tells how the presence of Raihana helps Gunnar to come to terms with his wife's death, and how, when Raihana faces violence from a Danish neo-Nazi, Gunnar mobilises the local community to defend Raihana and other Muslim immigrants.

I thought that the novel gave an interesting perspective on the lives of refugees trying to fit into a very alien community. Raihana grows in strength through the course of the novel, and by the end is a powerful character. There's also a lot of fascinating material on beekeeping!

balkanac

CENSORSHIP BY A NON MUSLIM MODERATOR

Abdalhakim

balkanac wrote: »

never mind benazir bhutto and politics of islam a muslim needs a lot of knowledge before they start debating the shariah/politics and rulings of the religion the basics are the most important for a starter do not go down that path for islam has many roads and not eaven a tom tom will guide you through all of them and what they have to offer but if you rush through you will get lost in the maze.

Thanks for the links to the kalamullah.com website, brother. An incredible collection of books and other stuff to help us grow in our deen.

Jannah

balkanac wrote: »

Winning the Heart of your Husband

Lol, I hope there's an edition for men to win the hearts of their wives too!

balkanac

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Jannah

HA! Lol, that's very good!!! I think I'll buy it and keep it for my future husband lol!!!!

balkanac

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Jannah

Winning Your Husband's Heart

"Have you got a husband?" she said "Yes" he asked "how do you treat him?" she replied "I spare no pains in obeying him, except what I cannot do" the Prophet then said "Make sure you obey him, because he is your paradise or hellfire"

Islam has given women many rights and imposed on her some obligations. One of her most significant rights is that of her husband over her.

When the Prophet was asked which woman was best, he replied "The one who pleases (her husband) when he looks at her, obeys him when he gives a command and does not go against his wishes..."

They also go on to condemn the woman who:
"does not greet him properly" when he arrives home
"leaves hims alone without asking about him"
"Worse than that, she might even welcome him with a gloomy face, a noisy voice, various complaints and bitter resentment"

The book also praises a woman who, after her son had died, had sex with her husband before telling him (of course, her own grief is secondary to his) "How great is Umm Sulaim's wisedom!"

There is also a mother in law who, when her son tells her how much he loves his new wife she warns him "I swear that men have never been inflicted with a worse evil than a spoilt woman. So discipline your wife"

"The rights of a husband over his wife are greater than hers over him"

"If a husband calls his wife to bed (to have sex with her) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the Angels will curse her til morning"

"A wife will not find the sweetness of Eeman (faith) until she fulfills her husband's right even if he asks her for sexual relation while she is on a hump".

Aisha "Oh women! If you knew the right of your husband over you, you would clean the dust of your husband's feet with your cheeks"

"... (she) should not be arrogant and raise her voice to him as some weak women do"

"A woman in her husband's house is like a slave and a captive. She has no right to go out of the house without her husband's permission"

And the last and most, eh, inspirational part of this book is:
Prophet Muhammad "The right of the husband over his wife is that if there is a wound in his body and she licks it, or if his nostrils drip mucus and blood and then she swallows them, she will never pay her husband his due".



Well, that completely disproves any ideas I had about there being such a thing as a Muslim feminist! I don't particularly care to be treated like a dog, thanks.

balkanac

CENSORSHIP BY A NON MUSLIM MODERATOR

Jannah

I already replied to this, but my post appear to have mysteriously disappeared...

balkanac wrote: »

There is no compulsion in Islam take it or leave it, a muslim is one who submits to Gods laws

Unless a woman is born into a Muslim household, in which case she has no choice but to accept her father and then her husband as her master, as well as Allah

balkanac wrote: »

men and women have their place and i am afraid femminism is alien to such a relationship

How convenient that the men get the sweet deal, eh? Feminism isn't about women triumphing over men, it is about getting an equal standing with them and so long as a woman must 'obey' her husband, there will never be equality

balkanac wrote: »

women in Islam unlike christianity are not blamed for the fall from paradise nor do they bear the eternal damnation and are associated with evil i think that is more diffucult for a womans psyche than sleeping with her horny husband as you have quoted

Women are "associated with evil" in the bible? The Arabic for "woman" comes from the word "haram" so in fairness, they can't trump Christians there. Personally, I'd prefer to be portrayed incorrectly in a metaphorical story that had no input into my life than constantly be under the rule of my husband which is very much reality.
The problem with what you simplified as being "more diffucult for a womans psyche than sleeping with her horny husband" (I've never met a woman who's had a damaged psyche from this symbolic story, but whatever) is that men can never be charged with raping their wives- she is quite literally his property which he can go to as a means to satisfy his sexual needs whenever he feels like it and completely disregarded the feelings of his wife- a HUMAN BEING believe it or not. He's pretty much just masturbating with a woman on the other end.

balkanac wrote: »

whats wrong with greeting her husband nicely at the door

There wouldn't be anything wrong with it if a man was ordered to do the same thing.

balkanac wrote: »

being in a loving sexual bond is sex not part of love and marriage, and whats wrong with pleasing your husband ?

When sex is unwanted by the wife, it is to her detrimant to force her (ie rape) to have sex. Being blackmailed that Angels will hate you all night if you don't have sex with your husband is not the basis of a "loving sexual bond".

balkanac wrote: »

men are meant to be kind caring and loving and please their wives thus i dont see any "dog" treatment there

What's a pat on the head if a woman knows she will always be compelled to be 'obedient' to him?

balkanac wrote: »

i see SEX LOVE CARING AND BONDING WITH ONE ANOTHER

I see sex as a consentual shared decision between two people of equal standing, neither of which is being blackmailed by their religion to do so

balkanac wrote: »

"... (she) should not be arrogant and raise her voice to him as some weak women do" no man like bitching pardon my un professional and un english language nor do women like mans criticism do you want men to tell you you are fat or something no we say what pleases you that looks nice on you honey bunny

If a woman is bitter and complaining, wouldn't it be a whole lot more constructive to communicate with the woman and find out what is wrong and sole the issue than to whine that she is bickering at you?
So men can criticise women, yet they are not allowed to criticise them?? Ridiculous! If he is mentally abusing her, all she would be able to do is grin and bear it- so long as she's greeting him cheerily, right?

I feel like I've been transported back to the stone age......

balkanac

CENSORSHIP BY A NON MUSLIM MODERATOR

Jannah

What's happening to your posts??

hivizman

Jannah wrote: »

What's happening to your posts??

I think that Balkanac is trying to make a point that he (or she) is being censored by the moderator. Balkanac actually put up some interesting stuff, and it's a shame that he (or she) has gone systematically through the various posts and edited them.

The moderator, Hobbes, quite reasonably locked a rather silly conspiracy theory thread that Balkanac had set in motion, and flagged up another conspiracy theory video that Balkanac had linked to as dubious. But some of the posts of Balkanac are actually useful, for example the links to kalamullah.com, which has a lot of downloadable Islamic material available. We may well question much of the material on this website as heavily biased towards a Salafi position within Islam, but it's still useful to have access to the material.

hivizman

Getting back on thread, a very interesting collection of books is the "Islamic Quintet" of novels written by Tariq Ali. The author is someone I associate with non-Islamic radicalism - he was associated with the International Marxist Group in the 1970s, and has written several books on the politics of Pakistan and on more general political issues. So I was surprised that he would write a series of very interesting novels, which address key periods of history when Muslims came under pressure for change.

So far, four novels have appeared in the Islamic Quintet. The first, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, is the story of a family dealing with the aftermath of the fall of Granada. Some convert to Christianity, others resist, and the novel communicates the dilemmas that families well-established in a particular community have to face when there is a major upheaval. The second novel, The Book of Saladin, is written as a biography of Salah-al-Din, the great Ayyubid general of the 12th century. The third novel, The Stone Woman, is set in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th Century, and addresses the tensions between traditionalism and modernism. The fourth novel, A Sultan in Palermo, is set in the court of Roger II of Sicily, described by some as "a ruler between East and West", and purports to be the memoirs of the geographer Muhammad El-Idrisi.

If you like historical novels, then the whole series will be worth reading. I'm eagerly awaiting the final volume of the Quintet.

balkanac

Hivizman you are a sound man

whats the point of posting i am new to boards and i already have two warnings

one of them for advertising
HOW AM I ADVERTISING BOOKS WHEN ALL THE BOOKS I HAVE LINKS TO ARE ONLINE E-BOOKS FOUND IN PDF FORMAT

they are free books

if someone here a non muslim asks for a guidance of course you are going to guide them i do it by giving links to FREE BOOKS

i am not going to say here buy this or that no non muslim will do that

so i was warned about that every one else posts links on all other threads the mod here doesnt like expression

i have tried starting a few topics

like obama? and the mod feels its irrelevant to islam

i dont think so islam is all about politics muslims are not only internal but also external muslims


i have edited my posts in order to please my non muslim host

i am no buddhist monk i will not burn my self and i am no gandhi

if he chooses to ban me i will move on and find my self another home

i will probably get a warning about this message KEEP IT ON TOPIC ok I will

here are a few more Islamic Sunni Gems

http://www.islambasics.com/

100`s of FREE ISLAMIC BOOKS

how is that advertising

hivizman

Another writer whose books I have been reading recently is Yasmina Khadra. Despite the female-sounding name, the author is actually a male from Algeria, currently living in France.

Yasmina Khadra has written four novels set in North Africa or the Middle East. The Sirens of Baghdad is set in post-2003 Iraq, and tells the story of a former university student who is gradually and inexorably sucked into jihadist terrorism. The Attack focuses on an Israeli Arab doctor, first shown treating the victims of a suicide bombing, and then discovering that the bomber was his wife. The book documents the main character's growing awareness that his life had been a lie.

The other novels, which I haven't got to yet, are The Swallows of Kabul and Wolf Dreams.

hivizman

By the way, I'm interpreting the theme of this thread broadly: "Islamic books" thus includes books about Islam as a religion and way of life, books set in predominantly Muslim countries, particularly if some aspects of Islam as a religion and way of life are important to the books, and books involving Muslim characters.

The books on the websites that balkanac linked to (kalamullah.com and islambasics.com) tend to be "Islamic books" in a more specific sense, for example being analyses of specific issues by reference to the Qur'an and Sunnah, or material to help people study Islam as a religion and way of life. I should caution that several items on the kalamullah site are copyright material, and so it may not be appropriate for them to be accessible.

Jannah

balkanac wrote: »

i dont think so islam is all about politics muslims are not only internal but also external muslims

Lol, I think there's something about God in there too

hivizman wrote: »

By the way, I'm interpreting the theme of this thread broadly: "Islamic books" thus includes books about Islam as a religion and way of life, books set in predominantly Muslim countries, particularly if some aspects of Islam as a religion and way of life are important to the books, and books involving Muslim characters.

Ya, exactly- I find that books set in Muslim countries are some of the best for finding out about how Islam is really practiced- most books that only focus on the theology part tend to be a bit boring to read. I've decided I don't like the books where someone's giving advice on how to live as a Muslim / in an Islamic marriage!! It's simply one person's opinion- and that's all it is- an opinion. It doesn't show the whole truth and leans heavily towards the extremist side in some cases... :S

hivizman

Jannah wrote: »

I find that books set in Muslim countries are some of the best for finding out about how Islam is really practiced- most books that only focus on the theology part tend to be a bit boring to read. I've decided I don't like the books where someone's giving advice on how to live as a Muslim / in an Islamic marriage!! It's simply one person's opinion- and that's all it is- an opinion. It doesn't show the whole truth and leans heavily towards the extremist side in some cases... :S

I've just bought a book called "The Consequences of Love", by Sulaiman Addonia. From the back:

It is summer in Jeddah but Naser's life seems bleak. An immigrant in an unfriendly land, his friends have fled town for cooler climes and left him to his dead-end job and the scrutiny of the religious police, who keep watch through the shaded windows of their government jeeps. He spends his time writing to his mother in Africa and yearning to meet a woman - but in a country that separates men and women with walls and veils he feels increasingly trapped. Then, one of the black-clad women drops a piece of paper at his feet, instructing him to follow her pink shoes and suddenly his black-and-white life blooms into colour. But relationships between unmarried men and women are illegal under the strict Wahhabism of Saudi state rule - and it's not long before their forbidden love must face the hardest test of all.

It will have to join the queue for reading after "Love in a Headscarf", but I'll give my comments on the book when I've read it.

hivizman

1. Love in a Headscarf - Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

I really enjoyed this, though I thought that the author's quest for a husband had a more universal significance than something that was just Muslim. Perhaps there was a bit more structure in the process of seeking potential husbands through a range of different introduction methods and meeting them in a formal setting, but as the book progressed and the author tried a range of other approaches, including speed dating, I thought that her experiences could have been those of any woman. Many of the men described in the book were "right bastards", though, and I wonder whether the author was suggesting that males were more likely to develop in this way in a Muslim household. But overlying the religious issues, there were also cultural issues, and perhaps many of the experiences of the author were more related to the fact that most of the people in the book were from India or Pakistan, or descended from people coming from these countries, than specifically because they were Muslim.

Anyway, an amusing and entertaining read.

2. The Consequences of Love - Sulaiman Addonia

This was heavier in a sense, because it was describing the experiences of a male (originally from Somalia) in Jeddah, and the difficulties he faced in making any sort of contact with a female in an environment where men and women are kept rigorously separate and the religious police exercise strict but arbitrary control. Underlying the book is an atmosphere of corruption and hypocrisy, and there is sufficient doubt at the end of the book to wonder whether the apparent happy ending will turn out as the main character hopes.

3. Born Under a Million Shadows - Andrea Busfield

This was a Richard & Judy Book Choice, and tells the story of Fawad, an 11-year old who lives in Kabul with his mother. When his mother goes to work as housekeeper for three westerners, Fawad observes the complex love affair between Georgie, a western woman working for a non-governmental organisation, and Haji Khalid Khan, a former warlord and drug dealer. The book contains much interesting description of life in post-Taliban Kabul through the eyes of a child who has perhaps experienced more in his short life than he really should.

To some extent, this book has echoes of The Kite Runner, but it is a bit more "Mills & Boon" in style and content. It's an enjoyable and undemanding read, but I didn't feel as emotionally involved as I did with the other two books.

Zaynzma

Hasan Gai Eaton has already been mentioned but I can't praise him enough

- Islam and the Destiny of Man
- The Concept of God in Islam
- The Concept of Justice in Islam

The latter two are very short and can probably be found on the net, and for the first one you can find excerpts in some blogs, but anyhow well worth buying.

I enjoyed Jeffrey Lang's books:

Struggling to Surrender
Even Angels Ask

He is an american convert and he speaks very openly about his experiences and his difficulties.

Zaynzma

Jannah wrote: »

Winning Your Husband's Heart

That book sounds familiar I think it was the one I ended up hurling at the wall. I wouldn't bother with any type of book like that. the quran says men have rights and women have similar rights and speaks of love and mercy between husband and wife, that we should be a 'garment' to each other and so on. These kinds of books, as well as 'the Ideal Muslim' and 'the Ideal Muslimah' just create tension and despair and unrealistic expectations - who is 'ideal'? certainly not my hubby hehe. and that goes double for me.

hivizman

I recently read From My Sisters' Lips, by Na'ima B. Robert (Bantam Books, 2005). From the back cover:

Na'ima Robert recounts the compelling story of her conversion to Islam and offers first-hand accounts of just some of the extraordinary women she has come to know in recent years - women like herself who have chosen to live as Muslims. What emerges is a vivid and intimate portrait of a sisterhood. As they speak candidly on diverse subjects ranging from marriage to motherhood, stereotypes, submission and self-image, we hear the strong, proud voices of those who are seldom heard.

As a non-Muslim male, I thought that the book provided some helpful insights into the joys and challenges faced by women coming from a variety of backgrounds (non-religious, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, non-practising Muslim)and choosing to live a life dedicated to pursuing the deen. The author provides a detailed narrative of how she gradually moved from a simple headscarf to full covering with niqab and abaya, and it is clear from this part of the book that she and her friends saw such covering as at the same time submitting to what they considered was pleasing to Allah and liberating themselves from the pressure of being "on display".

hivizman

Recently out in paperback is The Night of the Mi'raj by Zoë Ferraris (Abacus, 2009). This novel, set in Jeddah, is at the same time a murder mystery and an examination of how Muslims living in Saudi Arabia deal with the customs and Sharia-inspired restrictions that make interaction between men and women difficult and fraught with danger. The main male character. Nayir, has been brought up in a society where even glancing at the uncovered face of an unrelated female is a sin that can lead to dire consequences, and the novel describes how Nayir becomes less uncomfortable with women as he comes to realise the frustrations and limitations that even those women who are happy to accept the austere form of Islam predominant in Saudi Arabia chafe under. The author comments that the title of the book reflects the journey of spiritual discovery that Nayir undergoes during the course of his investigations.

In an earlier post, I mentioned another book set in Jeddah, The Consequences of Love. I found The Night of the Mi'raj more satisfying, partly, I think, because it portrayed characters who were not presented as corrupt or hypocritical, but rather were trying sincerely to do what they believed to be right and avoid what they believed to be wrong, even if their conceptions of what was "right" and "wrong" matured during the course of the book.

This is certainly a book that I'd recommend. By the way, the book is called Finding Nouf in the USA.

hivizman

I thought that I'd try to revive this thread with some more book recommendations.

These are "Islamic Books" in a very loose sense, but we agreed that we could interpret the expression widely.

Jason Goodwin has written (so far) three novels set in 19th century Istanbul, featuring the character Yashim the Eunuch. He works as a freelance detective, and the book contains rich descriptions of the old city of Istanbul, the Topkapi Palace, and the harem. The three books are:

The Janissary Tree (London: Faber, 2006, ISBN 978-0-571-22924-6).
The Snake Stone (London: Faber, 2007, ISBN 978-0-571-23647-3).
The Bellini Card (London: Faber, 2008, ISBN 978-0-571-23994-8).

Jason Goodwin has also written Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire (London: Vintage, 1999, ISBN 978-0-099-99400-8), and he recycled a lot of his research for the history book into his novels.

I spent a few days in Istanbul this summer, and while I was there I read Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul: Memories and the City (London: Faber, 2005, ISBN 978-0-571-21833-2). Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. The book is highly evocative of an Istanbul that still lingers on in obscure corners even though Istanbul is increasingly a cosmopolitan city looking westward to Europe rather than eastward to Asia.

Finally, for those interested in European History, I'd recommend Mark Mazower's Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950) (London: Harper Perennial, 2005, ISBN 978-0-00-712022-2), which I've had for a couple of years but finally managed to read over the summer. The book describes how Salonica (now Thessaloniki) became a multi-cultural melting-pot, with an indigenous Greek population conquered by the Ottomans and then the city becoming one of the main destinations of Sephardic Jews evicted from Spain in the 16th century. The city became part of Greece only in 1912, and the final part of the book is particularly poignant, describing the major exchanges of Greek and Turkish populations that took place after the First World War, and a generation later the extermination of the Jews, which transformed the ethnic make-up of the city. The book is both a paean to the rich possibilities of multi-culturalism and a condemnation of the tragic excesses of nationalism.

Zaynzma

that sounds interesting, I might try and order that from Amazon for my bookshelf, although I probably won't get around to reading it for a while (got at least 2 shelves full of books I'm dying to read but have no time).

hivizman wrote: »

Finally, for those interested in European History, I'd recommend Mark Mazower's Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950) (London: Harper Perennial, 2005, ISBN 978-0-00-712022-2), which I've had for a couple of years but finally managed to read over the summer. The book describes how Salonica (now Thessaloniki) became a multi-cultural melting-pot, with an indigenous Greek population conquered by the Ottomans and then the city becoming one of the main destinations of Sephardic Jews evicted from Spain in the 16th century. The city became part of Greece only in 1912, and the final part of the book is particularly poignant, describing the major exchanges of Greek and Turkish populations that took place after the First World War, and a generation later the extermination of the Jews, which transformed the ethnic make-up of the city. The book is both a paean to the rich possibilities of multi-culturalism and a condemnation of the tragic excesses of nationalism.

hivizman

I have been reading the recently published book by Tariq Ramadan What I Believe (Oxford University Press, 2010 - yes, I know we're not into 2010 yet, but that's what it says in the book, and not even an "inshallah"!).

Tariq Ramadan is considered to be one of the world's leading thinkers (he was included in Prospect Magazine's 2008 list of the top 100 global intellectuals), and he recently became Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. He wrote, among other books, To Be a European Muslim, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, In the Footsteps of the Prophet and Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation.

This short book (it's about 140 pages, no more than 50,000 words) is intended to set out Ramadan's main philosophy. He argues that Islam needs to engage with modernity, and that this engagement has been taking place, almost without being noticed, in Western countries, where Islam is a minority religion often having to engage with cultures where religion in general no longer carries weight in society or is specifically excluded under a doctrine of secularism. He calls upon Muslims in the West to consider themselves as full citizens of the countries in which they live rather than remaining in self-built ghettos. His conception of the West is that of dar ash-shahadah, the land of witness, where Muslims should witness to the value of Islam through how they live their lives, and he argues that this duty to witness isn't unique to Islam but is (or should be) part of the faith-influenced behaviour of anyone claiming to adhere to a religion.

For a short book, What I Believe is quite heavy going - Ramadan argues that his thought is subtle and complex, and can't be reduced to over-simplifications, but at times his writing comes across as evasive. Ramadan has been criticised for saying different things to different audiences, and a couple of times I was calling on him to say clearly what he actually thinks. For example, he devotes a chapter to "The Issue of Women", and correctly points out that much interpretation of Qur'an and Sunna in this area is excessively literalist, ignoring the context of revelation. Subsequent interpretation itself has been heavily determined by the cultural environment of the interpreters - Ramadan argues that it is thus necessary to do a sort of double deconstruction - read the scriptural sources in the context of revelation and read subsequent commentary within its own context. This, Ramadan believes, will help to strip away the patriarchal bias in Islamic scholarship as addressed to the roles of women. Ramadan suggests that some modern Islamic teaching on the place of women suffers from a reflex rejection of "Western permissiveness", identified as a consequence of colonialism, and he sees a trap in "refusing 'Western' domination by betraying one's own religious message", which leads to defining Islam not in its own right but by contrast to an imagined "other".

Although Ramadan calls for women to be allowed to get more involved through becoming scholars and through running mosques and other Muslim organisations, he does not comment specifically on whether women should be able to lead the prayer in a mixed congregation. I recently attended a lecture given by Ramadan in which he was asked a question on this point, and I must say that he did not give an unequivocal answer. He said, in another context, that he believes that Islam contains a core of "immutable truths" that have to be maintained and defended, and perhaps he believes that he needs to demonstrate to sceptical Muslim audiences that he is not an "apostate".

Overall, an interesting though demanding read, and an insight into the thinking of a leading intellectual. If you haven't read anything by Ramadan, I'd recommend starting with In the Footsteps of the Prophet.

hivizman

I'm a little surprised that I haven't posted in this thread for nearly six months, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been reading (sorry for the double negative!).

A book that has just come out is Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction, by Adam J. Silverstein (Oxford University Press, 2010: ISBN 9780199545728). As the title suggests, this is in the series of short books that OUP has been bringing out for several years, providing brief (around 50,000 word) guides to various topics.

This book begins by providing a summarised narrative history beginning with Muhammad, then the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the expansion of Muslim territorial control at the expense of the Byzantine and Persian Empires, the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties, the Asian invaders, the Ottoman empire and expansion into India, and then the gradual decline and colonisation of the Islamic lands, finishing in the 19th century. There are specific consideration of three "peoples" - the Arabs, Persians and Turks, and also discussion of three "institutions" - the Mosque, the idea of Jihad, and the concept of the Caliphate (with some examination of the Shia concept of the Imamate).

There then follow two chapters that discuss issues not so much of narrative history but rather of historiography - why should we today believe the historical story? Silverstein discusses the sources for Islamic history, and notes how significant historians such as Al-Tabari collected many hadiths, often contradictory, and how dependent modern historians are on haphazard survivals of documents and other artefacts. He discusses the criticism by Edward Said of much European writing on Islamic History in the 19th and 20th centuries (what Said labelled as "Orientalism"), and also the unsuccessful attempts by John Warnsbrough, Patricia Crone and others in the late 1970s to develop a critical and revisionist history of the origins of Islam.

The final part of the book looks at the use of Islamic history in the present period, and Silverstein emphasises the contrast between a modern Western attitude to history that suggests it doesn't matter (he quotes George W. Bush as stating: "I think we agree: the past is over), and a Muslim attitude that the history of Islam is crucial. Silverstein attributes to Edmund Burke the famous statement "Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it", and contrasts this with what he sees as the Muslim view of history as something that must be learnt precisely in order to repeat it. He notes how various trends in modern Islam (such as the Salafi movement) see the early generations of Muslims as constituting a "golden age" to which we should return, rather than as an archaic time that we should distance ourselves from. Silverstein concludes by noting how history is complicit in constructing and debunking the "myths" (shared narratives) by which people live, and he comments on how new "myths" (he refers to what he abbreviates as GAS - the "Golden Age of Spain" story that sees the Muslim Al-Andalus as a sort of happy land where people of all religions lived together in harmony) can emerge out of old history.

Overall, this is a very good introduction that doesn't just "tell the story" but also discusses why the story of Islamic History should matter.

af_thefragile

And Muhammad is His Messenger by Annmarie Schimmel is a really good book which explores the love, respect and veneration of the prophet by people who follow Islam.
It's goes into details of the life of the prophet and is really beautifully written with samples of poetry and prose in praise of the prophet.

It gives you an idea of how highly muslims regard the prophet and might also give you an understanding of why muslims are so deeply offended when people try to depict the prophet in media (the cartoons and such) which most people in the west may think as a very insignificant thing but for muslims even the slightest disrespect towards the prophet is the grievous of crime.

So if you wanna know why most muslims get so easily offended by such "small" things as depictions of the prophet in some Danish or Swedish newspaper or a TV show, reading this book could make you understand why its so...

You probably won't find it in Easons or most books stores in Ireland but its easily available from Amazon.

hivizman

af_thefragile wrote: »

And Muhammad is His Messenger by Annemarie Schimmel is a really good book which explores the love, respect and veneration of the prophet by people who follow Islam.

Good recommendation - here's a link to the book on Amazon.co.uk.

Annemarie Schimmel was a German academic who developed an appreciation of Islam, particularly the Sufi tradition, while teaching at the University of Ankara. Her other books include Mystical Dimensions of Islam, originally published in 1975.

hivizman

I've bumped this thread back up because I wanted to mention two books that I've recently been reading.

First, Jonathan A. C. Brown Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2011 - ISBN 978-0-19-955928-2). This replaces a title of the same name that OUP published in 2001, by Michael Cook. This is probably a good thing, since Cook would be regarded by most Muslims as an "orientalist", someone basically suspicious of or hostile to Islam. Brown, on the other hand, converted to Islam and aims to combine the strengths of both Western and Islamic scholarship. His book Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (OneWorld: 2009) is a very clear and scholarly introduction to the topic that gives due weight to the rigour of the methodology adopted by the great collectors of hadith while providing a critical examination of the ways in which many Western scholars questioned the authenticity of hadith and their authority as evidence for past events.

Brown's present book consists of three chapters. The first of these provides a summary narration of Muhammad's life, drawing heavily (as many other lives of Muhammad do) on the Sirat Rasul Allah of Ibn Ishaq. Chapter 2 discusses the sources for the life of Muhammad, noting how Ibn Ishaq relied on oral traditions (akhbar, singular khabar). He also discusses how Ibn Ishaq's work is itself known only through subsequent editions. In this chapter, Brown discusses the problems that Western-trained historians have with the nature of the evidence represented by Ibn Ishaq and other early sources, and the tendency of such historians to discount almost instinctively biographies narrated by "supporters" of their subject. Brown also discusses the "revisionist" historians of Islam such as John Wansbrough, Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, concluding that their arguments have little evidential support.

The final chapter is a bit of a mish-mash of multiple themes, seeking to examine Muhammad's influence on Islamic life and civilisation. One of the themes discussed by Brown is the question of portraying Muhammad through visual images. Brown notes that such images were not uncommon in the 13th to 16th centuries, particularly in Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and India, although Muhammad was often portrayed with his face veiled.

As a basic introduction, this book will be of interest to many who want to learn more about Muhammad and his prophetic role.

I'll do another post about the second book.

hivizman

hivizman wrote: »

I'll do another post about the second book.

And here it is.

M. M.Al-Azami The History of the Qur'anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments (UK Islamic Academy: 2003 - ISBN 1-872531-65-2).

If you want a fully-detailed discussion of the received view of how the Qur'an was revealed, recorded, compiled, edited and transmitted, then this book provides a clear and well-referenced study, with many illustrations of early Qur'anic texts and inscriptions. The author does not duck the issue of variant readings, although non-Muslims may find the explanation (that all the variant readings were revealed to Muhammad) rather convenient and difficult to accept (and also hard to reconcile how, if Uthman's recension of the Qur'an was intended to provide a single uniform text, different readings still persist).

Although a positive feature of the book is its comprehensive treatment of the topic, a negative aspect is the way in which the author deals with "orientalist" criticisms. One has to accept that this is just an area where Islamic scholarly conventions differ from Western ones, but I was uncomfortable reading accusations that Western scholars were "liars", "cheats", "frauds" and similar names.

The book contains a discussion of the transmission of the Old and New Testaments, designed to show that these have a much more problematic history than the Qur'an. The author on occasion chastises the transmitters of these documents for actions that he tends to excuse in the case of the Qur'an - for example, "scribal errors" with respect to the Qur'an become "scribal alterations" in the case of the New Testament. He points out inconsistencies in English-language translations of the Bible, though inconsistencies are by no means absent from English-language translations of the Qur'an. When he reviews specific passages, the author simply does not accept the common position among Western historians that passages in documents that appear to go against the "positive" view that the historians expect authors to put forward are more likely to be reliable than passages that reinforce the "positive" view. For example, passages in the Gospels that portray the disciples of Jesus as having difficulties in understanding the teachings of Jesus, or of being afraid and going into hiding at the time of Jesus's arrest, are regarded by the author as showing the disciples in a bad light and therefore most improbable, whereas Western historical theologians are more likely to argue that, as they show the disciples in a bad light, that makes the stories more probable.

Despite these reservations, this book is a valuable resource for those who wish to study the received Muslim viewpoint on how the Qur'an has come down to us.

The book has been scanned and uploaded here, but I cannot state whether or not this is with the permission of the copyright holders.