A Basic Hanafi Primer on Faith, Prayer, & the Path of SalvationAllah has commanded us to worship and obey Him, with sincerity, out of reverence, love, and thankfulness. He says in the Quran, And they are ordered only to serve Allah, keeping religion pure for Him, to remain upright, and to establish worship and to pay the poor-due. That is true religion (Quran, 98.5).This worship is not possible without knowledge. This short work outlines the absolute essentials of this knowledge: in faith, prayer, and key points related to ones life and dealings.It is based on the methodology of traditional Sunni Islam, according to the Hanafi school, the largest school of Islamic law, and its purpose is to make ones worship valid, sound, and proper in a short amount of time. Learn the basics & essentials of Islamic beliefs Make your purification and prayer proper, sound, & valid Learn key issues on the path to Paradise
From the author of "Racism Explained to My Daughter" comes another model for teaching difficult subjects to children, using an accessible question-and-answer format.
Summarizing the core beliefs of the Muslim faith, this eye-opening guide counters widely held Western views of Islam as a fierce and fanatical religion by using classical texts to illustrate the truth about three key Islamic principles. Explaining that submission, faith, and beautification complement and complete each other, the study reveals that embodying all three attributes simultaneously is what Muslims strive to achieve in order to meet the Qur'an's definition of fitrah, or true nature. This drastic contrast to many issues and concerns about Muslims--especially the stereotypical attitudes that have arisen since 9/11--is fully explored in the account's quest to foster mutual understanding between cultures. Using a famous encounter between the prophet Muhammad and the angel Gabriel as its outline, this analysis presents a fully holistic view of a world religion that has thrived for more than 1,000 years.
The essential introduction to Islam by a leading expert Hardly a day goes by without mention of Islam. And yet, for most people, and in much of the world, Islam remains a little-known religion. Whether the issue is violence, terrorism, women's rights or slavery, Muslims are today expected to provide answers and to justify what Islam is - or is not. But little opportunity exists, either in the media or in society as a whole, to describe Islam: precisely the question this short and extremely accessible book sets out to answer. In simple, direct language it will introduce readers to Islam, to its spirituality, its principles, its rituals, its diversity and its evolution.
Among the unsettling social shifts in the wake of 9/11 was the global attention paid to Islam. Here in the United States, we became divided, often sadly along partisan lines, between those who believed every Muslim was a potential threat and those who believed no Muslim could do wrong. For conservative Wisconsin native and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, these radical times meant facing a new reality as a devout Muslim and a patriot—a certain betrayal within his faith, and a need to answer a question that crossed the minds of even the most sensitive and politically correct: “Can a good Muslim be a good American as well?” Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) to instill in young American Muslims an appreciation for the distinctively positive impact that this nation’s ideals of liberty have had upon the world. As a nationally recognized expert on Muslim radicalization, he offers non-Muslims a definitive comprehension of the difference between Islam and the spiritual cancer known as Islamism, or political Islam, and how violence and extremism run counter to Islam’s true teachings. As he persuasively argues, until we acknowledge the threat of Islamism in all its forms, the majority of Americans will be gulled into recognizing only the most obvious: terrorism. In A Battle for the Soul of Islam, Jasser embraces both his faith and his country while asking hard questions: * Are American Muslim children learning entitlement as victims, or are they being taught individual responsibility and critical thinking? * Are poisonous conspiracy theories dividing their American identity, or are they gaining exposure to reason, nationalism, and patriotism? * Are Muslims publicly critical of the Islamist movements of the Middle East, or do they remain silent on aspects of religious doctrine that conflict with modernity and universal equality? * Is the American press downplaying the seditious threat of homegrown Islamist radicalism and the influence of Islamists’ propaganda arm on our governmental policies? * Is our culture of political correctness a major obstacle toward long-overdue Muslim reform against Islamism? All these years after 9/11, it’s time for us to understand the true threat of Islamism. It is a Muslim problem that needs a Muslim solution, and A Battle for the Soul of Islam builds a solid, balanced, and imperative must-read foundation for the fight.
The perfect coming of age gift from a Muslim parent to their child. On recognizing the dire need of the present time, this series of Handbooks are being compiled; as a clear, unambiguous compilation of the Beliefs & Rationale of Islām. Handbook 1 is focused upon the essentials & fundamentals of Islam. As per the Qur'ān and Sunnāh; what our Beliefs as a Muslim entail; Likewise, it also highlights the Rationale of Islām in regard to its requisites & obligations.
Khaled Abou El Fadl, a prominent critic of Islamic puritanism, leads off this lively debate by arguing that Islam is a deeply tolerant religion. Injunctions to violence against nonbelievers stem from misreadings of the Qur'an, he claims, and even jihad, or so-called holy war, has no basis in Qur'anic text or Muslim theology but instead grew out of social and political conflict. Many of Abou El Fadl's respondents think differently. Some contend that his brand of Islam will only appeal to Westerners and students in "liberal divinity schools" and that serious religious dialogue in the Muslim world requires dramatic political reforms. Other respondents argue that theological debates are irrelevant and that our focus should be on Western sabotage of such reforms. Still others argue that calls for Islamic "tolerance" betray the Qur'anic injunction for Muslims to struggle against their oppressors. The debate underscores an enduring challenge posed by religious morality in a pluralistic age: how can we preserve deep religious conviction while participating in what Abou El Fadl calls "a collective enterprise of goodness" that cuts across confessional differences? With contributions from Tariq Ali, Milton Viorst, and John Esposito, and others.
The present book aims to take on this challenge by looking at the major problems from these various aspects, as just mentioned. Obviously, one short book can hardly address all these problems and suggest solutions without certain simplifications and potentially controversial assertions. Nevertheless, it can hope to present a systematic analysis and suggested prognosis based on a coherent philosophy. As indicated above, nothing is more needed in our times, and second to spiritual weakening, the greatest problem of all facing the Islamic World (and indeed the whole world) is lack of understanding of the true natures and essences of things. This book examines ‘our times’ from an Islamic philosophical worldview, looking at the problems facing the Islamic World in the near past, present and future respectively in three mutually complementary parts. At the end of each part, it suggests holistic and easily applied remedies to the problems it examines. In other words (and for those who enjoy sonorous German and Greek philosophical terms) it examines the Zeitgeist from the Weltanschauung of Islam and suggests panaceas. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad has written a number of books and guides for thinking people, and this small but potent work before you sums up many of his most keen and cogent insights and conclusions; for that reason, this may be his most impactful and motivational work to date.
