Recommended books on Quran/Islam & related topics

ayani · February 12, 2008, 12:32:22 PM

The Garden of Truth : Seyyed Hossein Nasr

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Believing Women in Islam : Asma Barlas

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My Mercy Encompasses All : Reza Shah-Kazemi

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The Other in Light of the One : the Universality of the Quran and Inter-Faith Dialogue : Reza Shah-Kazemi

Arnold Yasin · February 12, 2008, 01:52:43 PM

Quote from: House M.D. on February 12, 2008, 12:31:47 PM
Hey man in this world, you gotta take what you can get. Shabbir's no angel himself; not by a long shot.

Anyone promoting hate, oppression, slavery and rape is no authority in my eyes. Nobody is perfect, Dr.Shabbir also has his flaws and he can be harsh sometimes in his behaviour, but he never ever has promoted anything close. So this comment is useless.

Both you and me will take a lifetime do as much in the service of Islam as he has done.

AlFajr · February 12, 2008, 03:17:31 PM

Quote from: Arnold Yasin on February 03, 2008, 06:03:34 PM

The Quran: Unchallengeable Miracle (Paperback)

This is a great book. And also available free here:
http://www.quranmiracles.com/

David_K · February 12, 2008, 03:26:47 PM

Thanks bro's

This is a great thread. i gotta buy some of those books.

Peace
David

Arnold Yasin · May 30, 2008, 08:09:39 AM

Exploring Islam in a New Light: An Understanding from the Quranic Perspective
By Abdur Rab

http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-47940-5

Emphasizing the Quran?s messages of peace, tolerance, and compassion, this book intentionally avoids Hadith-based ideas to significantly contribute to the ?Quran only? movement in Islam.

Book Description
This Islam is spiritual, humane, and scientific, far from its fanatic and militant image it carries in the West. It shows how man can evolve spiritually to lead an enriched, progressive, and blissful life. It advocates tolerance and peaceful co-existence and disapproves of gender or human discrimination and harsh punishments. Abdur Rab argues that, regrettably, the Hadith undermines and misrepresents Islam. Numerous Hadith texts contradict the Quran, reason, and science and send conflicting, confusing messages. The criteria used to authenticate the Hadith are flawed and simply inadequate.

This book is an impassioned call to understand Islam solely in Quranic terms and to reform practiced Islam, distorted by Hadith-based ideas.

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I just received the book and skipped through it. The first thing I noticed was the foreword by Prof. Riffat Hassan, the well known feminist Muslim scholar and student of GA.Parwez. Next to this the very good reviews by convert Prof. Jeffrey Lang (author of "Loosing my Religion" & "When angels ask", prof. in Islam) and prof. Reza Aslan (author " No God but God") and others.

All of them praised its' Qur'anic approach and also agreed on the need to return to the Qur'an. This coming from 2 well-known Islamic professors shows that the Qur'anic stance is gaining ground everywhere.

The topics are laid out very good and his approach is very professional. Next to laying out some well-known issues, he also brings in some fresh ideas. Good use of footnotes and quoting of Qur'anic verses makes this a very good work and important for us to have.

A must have for progressive Muslims!

Arnold Yasin · June 14, 2008, 12:46:50 PM

Arnold Yasin · August 02, 2008, 02:32:05 PM

The Arabic Language
by Kees Versteegh

A general introduction to Arabic, which places special emphasis on its history and use. Charting the history and development of the Arabic language (mother tongue of more than 150 million speakers) from the earliest beginnings to modern times, the text concentrates on the difference between two types of Arabic: the Classical standard language; and the dialects. It offers the student a solid grounding in the structure of the language, its historical context and its use in various literary and non-literary genres, as well as an understanding of the role of Arabic as a cultural, religious and political world language. Intended as an introductory guide for students of Arabic, this book aims to act as a catalyst for discussions from historical-linguistic and socio-linguistic perspectives.

I found it very impressive in its honesty and how in 288 pages it describes all special matters on how Arabic developed, how it incorperated other languages, how the Quran used these, and how later on Arabic developed into Classic Arabic and then to Modern Arabic. It discusses the development of grammar and meanings on many keypoints.

As we discuss the Arabic language much here, and also speculate much, this book is a must have and I recommend it to everybody how wants to learn more about the Arabic language in an honest and very professional way. I see it as a must-have for Quranic research.

Arnold Yasin · August 29, 2008, 05:54:54 PM

Hadith as Scripture by prof. Aisha Y. Musa

"Hadith as Scripture is the only book that covers both the earliest and most recent discussions on the authority of the Hadith. The authority of Hadith is a concern to Muslims in their daily lives, as well as a question of academic interest. Hadith as Scripture contains the first-ever Western language translation of the earliest extant text on the subject. This work explores the earliest extant discussions on the authority of the Hadith in Islam and compares them with contemporary debates."

I just received the book today and have almost finished it. It is written superbly. Without a doubt Prof. Musa shows that the proponents of Hadith as divine authority were the new kids on the block around 800CE as their writings show they were trying to convince the majority of Muslims to accept Hadith as divine. The famous Kitab Jima al-Ilm (The book of the amalgamation of Knowledge) and other works by Imam Shafi are written as a response to other writings which professed the Qur'an alone as divine source and authority. And thus show Qur'an alone was not only present in early Islam, but also dominant among Muslims. It is amazing also to know that no scrap of writing has remained of these Qur'an "alone" scholars. Which in my eyes not only show political influence in the debate (the rulers clearly wanted no traces remained), but also that the arguments supporting Hadith were not as strong as the majority believes. The following of Hadith became dominant as there was no literature remaining that attacked this view.

This book is important for everyone to read, to widen their knowledge and to know:

"The role they (the Hadith) have played has been so influential for so long that both Muslims and non-Muslims alike generally assume they have always uncontested authority. However, a survey of Islamic history shows that the Hadith did not always enjoy such widespread acceptance and authority.[...] Ignorance of these early disputes has contributed to the common misconception that opposition to the Hadith as an authoritve scriptural source of law and guidance is a modern-day, Western, Orientalist-influenced heresy," [Introduction to the book]

L.Hu · August 30, 2008, 10:38:59 AM

Peace

Can you Arnold post 1 or 2 chapters. I looked it up on Amazon. It was $50. There was also no perview on Google Books. So again brother can you post 1 or 2 chapters personally though 3 chapters would be better.

GodBless
Lareb

Arnold Yasin · August 30, 2008, 11:56:15 AM

Peace,

1. The Early controversies: Sources and issues
2. Al-Shafi? and Ibn Qutayba: Prophetic reports as revelation
3. Later works on the problem of hadith
4. The question of authority in the modern period
5. Internet resources and discussions
6. A translation of Kitab Jima al-Ilm
7. List of Qurnaic verses used in the Quran alone debate

The book is worth it's 50$ for anyone interested in studying the subject in detail.

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Recommended books on Quran/Islam & related topics

David_K