Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board

A R C H I V E S

Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!

Madina Archives


Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board

Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
Red
03/07/03 at 22:28:12
[slm] everyone!

I hope inshallah everyone is doing well and is in the best of health!

I am in need of some help in finding some really really good books on Islam.  Allhumidallah there is soooooooo many books on Islam, but, i am so confused on what to give to my friend who is interested in reading about islam. She reads about all religions, she is reading about Jewish religion right now, and she has a masters is religion. She has asked me to give her a book about Islam and I am not sure what to give her  ???

I am sooooooo lost right now about what i should give her, i have gone to soundvision and other places, but there are mashallah lots of books to choose from,  but i want to give a really good book, so if anybody has some good recomendation please let me know!


red  :-)
Re: Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
AbdulJalil
03/08/03 at 00:21:08
assalamu alaikum


Please give her this book

"Islam the Natural Way"  by Abdul Wahid Hamid. it is really really good.

May Allah(swt) guide her.
Re: Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
Anonymous
03/09/03 at 01:47:38
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

As a convert myself, and given your friend's background in religious studies, I would
highly recommend the following two books:

1.  "The Vision of Islam", by Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick.  You can find this
pretty easily in major bookstore chains (Chapters and Indigo, in Canada where I live).  
This is a comprehensive introduction to Islam that covers in detail, the five pillars of
Islam, the six pillars of Iman, and the concept of ihsan in Islam.  It is a university
text for an introductory course on Islam written by non-Muslim authors, who are professors
of religious studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, but their
discussion of Islamic concepts is for the most part, extremely good, particularly because, rather
than merely limiting themself to a simple factual description, they really manage to
convey quite effectively the spiritual significance, and the holistic nature of all three
dimensions of the dee--islam, iman, and ihsan.

2.  Also good is "Unveiling Islam" by Roger Du Pasquier, translated by T.J. Winter.  This
is a smaller book, which can be purchased from www.ihyaproductions.com, if you have
trouble finding it.  It is also very good, although the level of writing is quite high, given
your friend's academic background, I don't think that is a problem.  In fact, I would
guess that both of these books would be much more interesting for her than some of the
simple Intro. to Islam texts, because, although they can be read by someone with little to no
knowledge of Islam, they really take a more indepth and intellectual approach to the
deen--hopefully they will give her much more food for thought.

Hope that these suggestions help.

Both of these books
Re: Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
AbdulJalil
03/09/03 at 10:56:31
assalamu alaikum


i  just wanted  to add some comments about  the post of "Anonymous" . Personnaly i would never ever sugest a book on Islam written by Non-Muslims. Even though it might have some overall quality, you always find in their books, some distortions about Islam, whether it is intentional or not,whether it is because they don't understand a concept of Islam, or because they have ulterior motives. Anyway, i have to admit i have no ideas about the books that "Anonymous" suggested.  

But  for example, Karen Armstrong in one of her book, when she starts talking about "Allah" as God,  she makes it sound like Allah was just another arab pagan god ,and that the Prophet(pbuh) had just single Him out ,out of all the other gods.  She fails to let the readers know , that the Arabs had made Allah into a pagan god because their beliefs had degenerated into paganism, and NOT that Allah was a pagan god originally.  This is just a detail, but is nonetheless serious, because from then on the readers might think that Allah was actually an arab pagan god oiginally.


Also, to red be careful when you buy "Unveiling Islam" because, there is another book with exactly the same title, but with DIFFERENT authors, and that other book is an anti-islamic book. So beware to correctly note the authors of the right book.



I also wanted to say that  "Islam the Natural Way"  might be described as a book for young adults, but is nonetheless excellent for adults too.(  This book is actually recommended for  6 years old, up  to adults).



03/09/03 at 11:18:17
AbdulJalil
Re: Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
Mujahideen
03/09/03 at 18:16:20
  [slm]
     Rather then simply suggesting that all books by non-Muslims are not Ok and they should be avoided altogether in favor of books written by Muslims - it would be better and more intellectually sound to actually take the time to read the books and then judge then based upon their content; which is all that really matters anyway.

     The problem is that there is a serious void of good books written by Muslims – many are fraught with error and distortions, some of which are founded by the introduction of culturally specific practices as Islamic explanations (so although there is concern about distortions etc, in books by non-Muslims, the same kind of problems may also arise in books by non-Muslim authors). Some books by Muslims authors whose first language is not English are also guilty of poor grammar, and some Muslims are really not qualified in their own right to be writing books on Islam. While there are a number of books that fulfill the requirements of a very simple and basic introduction to Islam, there are hardly any which really convey the intellectual and spiritual depth of the deen.   Another problem, is that many of these books are written by Muslims who are unfamiliar with the society and culture of the specific target audience in the West.

     Islam the Natural Way is a good example of this – I read this book before converting and found it to be very simplistic and really devoid of any substantive content. While there is nothing seriously objectionable in the book - its just simply not a very intellectual book – and while good for Dawa’ purposes for the uneducated or young people  – it would not be a book I suggest for the woman mentioned in the original post. It may be a very good book for other people such as young teens or people with a less than average education. But for someone with a Masters degree in Religious Studies one has to address more comprehensively and specifically the advanced ideas within the Islamic tradition.
Similarly ‘ The complete Idiots guide to understanding Islam’ would not be a good choice for the same reason – while I feel this is actually a very good book generally it is also targeted at a very basic level, and by its nature, can only examine certain Islamic concepts at a very superficial level, and perhaps is not the best choice for someone with her education and background.

           ‘The Vision of Islam’ is quite simply the best book in English about Islam I have read. There is nothing seriously objectionable in this book – and while I may have written certain passages and areas differently I cannot use that as a pretext to dismissing it altogether.
“Unveiling Islam” is less comprehensive and has very advanced language and would be difficult for anyone with less than a University level of education to understand. Most Muslims would find this book difficult to understand, not because the ideas themselves are complicated, but simply because the language and the reading level is quite advanced.  So while this might be a very good dawah book for those with an advanced education and a high reading level, it might not be a good choice for the average joe on the street.  

          I think we really need to re-evaluate Dawah in North America – what little we have been doing quite simply is not working very well. We need to stop recommending poorly written books (just because they are written by Muslims – because this unfortunately is not a guarantee of any anything).  Let’s look at each book’s contents and base our decisions upon content only –simply put we should not judge a book by its cover.  We need to tailor our dawah to people of specific backgrounds rather than assuming that only one or two books that we happen to like are good for everyone simply because we like how they are written.

            We need to actually spend time reading the books we want to use for Dawah (as well as those we disapprove of) rather then just skimming them. While this sounds obvious, surprisingly it is often not done. In my community they give out this ‘really great’ pamphlet on ‘how to pray according to  the Qur’an and Sunnah’ to new converts that all of the Muslims love - but I don’t think any of them have actually read it. First it really makes absolutely no sense unless you already know how to pray because it is so poorly written; also it has Qiblah as SE (we are in North America) -  this sort of leads me to believe they didn’t bother to actually read it and at best skimmed it. While I don’t really want to get into a debate about the Qiblah in this post as it is beyond the scope of what we are addressing – most Muslims believe it to be NE and would find a book stating it was SE as objectionable. So why exactly are they giving this thing out?

           Yes there are some books that are not good (written by both Muslims and non-Muslims). Generally I am not as huge a fan of Karen Armstrongs’ books as other Muslims are and don’t generally recommend them – but then again there is more good than bad in her books and they are still better then some of the books I have read by Muslims. Same for John Espisito’s work – its generally quite good despite the fact that some of the things are somewhat distorted. I don’t think we can wait for the perfect book to come along in order to give Dawah – we will simply have to work with what we have, while we make the intention to produce high quality, intellectually rigorous books by educated Muslim authors in the future. There is a lot of new stuff that has come out within the last few years and it is high time to dispense with what we have been using for the past twenty years.

             Since I seem to have stepped onto some sort of soapbox I’ll mention something I witnessed this December. My non-Muslim brother who is studying in Amsterdam came home to visit. I brought him to one of the Islamic bookstores in town – the man who owned the store give him a book as a gift – he said it was a ‘great book’ one of the best he has ever read. I had never heard of it and was a little suspicious so I read through it and quickly stumbled upon numerous statements that were absolutely horrible from a Dawah and Islamic perspective. The book in question was ‘The Spirit of Islam Doctrine and Teachings” by Afif Tabbarah is pretty much your typical Dawah book written by Muslims. Simplistic, illogical reasoning and really simply a book parroting and justifying contemporary Arab society under an Islamic mandate or banner. Its’ chapter on women is horrible and has nearly nothing to do with Islam - but it’s a really great social commentary on contemporary Arab society and you can really see their views on women and their use of Islam to justify their social practices. Needless to say I would not recommend this book at all for Dawah purposes. Again this is an example of someone who either did not bother to actually read the book he recommended for Dawah or he simply does not understand the society he chooses to live in and the people within that society.

[wlm]  (As I step off my soapbox)
Re: Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
Red
03/10/03 at 20:23:33
[slm],

thanks AdulJalil, Anonymous and Mujahideen, i think inshallah i will look over both "Islam the nautral way" and "Vision of Islam".... mujahideen hit the points hard that alot of muslim writers with english as a second language have lots of grammar mistakes plus difficulty explaining things. I also do what to give her a book with more than just basics, but i still what to include a book with basics just in case. I actually heard lots about "Unveiling Islam" good and bad, so i think i am going to stay away from that book. I really do appreciate all the input you guys provided, you all made some good points.

thanks and wasalam
red  :)
Re: Help!!!! Books on Islam needed!!!!
bhaloo
03/10/03 at 22:33:36
[slm]

I remember when I read, Unveiling Islam I wasn't impressed.

Islam the Natural Way isn't bad, but I recommend Yahiya Emerick's: What Islam is All About (he's the author of Islam for Dummies, and is a revert and educator as well).  He tells it like it is, English was his first language so naturally he understands the culture and language and what its like to grow up here, so he explains things really well.  


Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
A R C H I V E S

Individual posts do not necessarily reflect the views of Jannah.org, Islam, or all Muslims. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the poster and may not be used without consent of the author.
The rest © Jannah.Org