Recommended books on Quran/Islam & related topics
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Dictionary of Holy Quran by Abdul Manan Omar
http//islamusa.org/dictionary.pdfFor those who dont know, this book is used a lot by many here, and is considered really good. Surprised its available free online to be honest. Grab it while you can!
Thanks!
Salaam.
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The Qur'an An Encyclopedia by Oliver Leaman
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Bookreview of What is All The Fuss About Religion? EarthTrek volume 1
By Anita Herawati Moormann.
WCM Press 2009.
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Bookreview by Arnold Yasin Mol, DeenResearchCenter November 2009.
Moormanns book is an interesting and pleasant work to read. It is a disclosure of the personal questions Moormann asked herself over the years about life and meaning, and these are questions shared by most humans on earth. Being a product of a pluralistic society and child of an ambassador, from childhood on the different ideas and beliefs mankind has were exposed to her which all claimed to be truths. From this, a list of questions emerged which she slowly found answers for. Questions as what is religion?, is religion necessary?, does God exist?, there are so many religions, which is the right one?, and many more of these common questions. Self-study and reflection created a set of answers, which she started to explain in her book, the first of a three volume series. As her questions are shared by many people, she wanted to help other people by sharing her own journey.
As myself having had an academic education in Science and Theology and long self-study on Philosophy, Islam and Quranic interpretation, I was surprised by the professional level of many of Moormanns explanations, although her being an amateur on these subjects. Her story of her youth showed the universality of mankinds journey of being confronted by the diversity of thought. Although coming from a Muslim background, she started to research other religions and wanted to know if there was a common ground between them, and if there really was a conflict between modern thought and religions. Her answers on there being proof of a Creator are well explained, and shows her ability to present sophisticated ideas to a normal audience.
After reflecting there being only one Creator force, she skips non-monotheistic religions in her assessment as these are disproven by scientific philosophical thought. So she then focuses on a comparative studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As the first two share mostly the same book, the comparison is made between the Bible and the Quran. She examines the history and development of the three religions, the influences of pagan beliefs on them, and then goes into a step by step subject comparison of the Bible and Quran. These are done very professionally and thorough. She shatters the myths that the Quran is a violent, hate-mongering and primitive book, and shows the Bible is far more focussed on violence, and has many contradicting ideas about God. Her conclusion that the Quran has a logical view on God, and its focus and ideas of righteousness, liberty and justice represent the best of what a human can be, and thus that the Quran is an asset to mankind, are very convincing.
Although she makes a few amateuristic mistakes and discusses some new-age ideas that are too simplistic, these can be overlooked as her book is a valuable work for the every day person. Many people do not take being alive very serious, and just accept what their upbringing has given them. Moormanns journey shows the importance of honestly reflecting all ideas and discoveries created by mankind, and thus entices people to start their own journey, but also gives them an idea of what direction to go to.
Her work is compelling and convincing for a person just telling her own journey and I was happy to walk along.
You can buy the book on Amazon
What is All The Fuss About Religion? by Anita Moormann
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Bookreview of ?What is All The Fuss About Religion?? EarthTrek volume 1
By Anita Herawati Moormann.
WCM Press 2009.
Hmm, the author's name is... Indonesian. I wonder who she is.
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Islam
Islam a challenge to religion - Ghulam Parwez
Islams response to contemporary issues - Mirza tahir ahmad
Introducing Islam - Ziauddin sardar and Zafar abbas malik
Debased culture of Superficiality - Harun yahya
The religion of the Ignorant - Harun yahya
Pains of the false world - Harun yahya
Those who exhaust all their pleasures in this life - Harun yahyaPhilosophy and Science
Jonathan livingston seagull - Richard bach (Rational living, following your dreams)
Biology of belief - Bruce H. Lipton (Revolutionary ideas on mind, matter and conciousness).The books above are some of the best books i have read. And i totally recommend them. I will advice you to borrow them from a library or read them online instead of buying them. I think there is no point in buying books which we can get for free. Only books which can't be found in library or online should be bought.
I hope you will like the books. Enjoy! -
Wow! Great books!
I've several myself. Just finished compiling an annotated bibliography of progressive/gender-neutral interpretations of Islam and will share that here in due time. They include the credibility of the authors as well (most of them are females). -
A perspective on the Signs of Al-Quran through the prism of the heart by Saeed Malik.
Excerpt
Like the oil in the kernel and the spark in the flint-stone
Your Lord is within. Wakeup if you can. Wakeup!The Arabic Quran is not a mere book. It is God?s speech, living and transformational, directed to the spiritual heart. In every earnest heart it will awaken a quest and for every quest it offers its own pace and own mileposts. God beckons the heart to reflect, or as Rumi would say, ?sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment?
Had We revealed this Quran upon a mountain
you would see it humble itself and implode in awe of God
We propound such analogies so that they may reflectSincerity is single-heartedness. There cannot be duplicity of purpose or desire; one longing above all longings. The cleansed and emptied heart, places itself at the mercy of the beloved! Leave trepidation behind because this Beloved is the Fount of Mercy.
God is God and there is no other
Knower of the hidden and imperceptible {Ghaib} and the evident
The Source of Compassion {Rahman}, The Merciful {Raheem}A mystical tryst, like no other is on offer. A drop of water is being called by the sea. Can the drop offer any terms of surrender? Can its journey end any other way?
God is God and there is no other
The Sovereign {Malik}, The Holy {Quddus}, The Source of Peace {As Salaam},
The Guardian of Faith {Mumin}, The Giver of Safety {Muhaimin}, The Almighty {Azeez}, The Compeller {Jabbar}, The Overwhelming {Muttakabir}
Exalted is God, above any partners they may associate (with Him).The kaleidoscopic forms and colors of life are expressions of Divine Artistry, which moulds us, shapes us, and moves us. The heart is moved by beauty though it will need guidance and wisdom to discern between what is truly beautiful and what merely poses for beauty. True beauty flows from the Divine. The contemplation of this beauty in an expressed or silent form is the remembrance of God (Dhikr).
This is God, the Creator {Khaliq}, The Originator {Bari}, The Shaper {Mussawwir}
To Him refer the Most Beautiful Names
Celebrated by all there is in the Heavens and the earth
And He is boundless in Might {Azeez}, complete in Wisdom {Hakeem}The ?Most Beautiful Names? (of God) are Arabic Names sprinkled throughout the Quran. They are often used to conclude a verse, imprinting the context with a contemplative residue. These Divine Names are also referred to as Divine Attributes. Sometimes a Name is used by itself and often it is used in juxtaposition with another Name (such as Barrun Raheem, Ghafoorul Raheem). Some of these Attributes are just shades apart (Al Khaliq, Al Bari, Al Musawwir) and some are ?opposites? such as AZ Zahir and AL Batin, Al Awwal and Al-Aakhir. Together, the union of shades and the union of opposites leave nothing out, enfolding all contemplation, phenomena and time, space and physicality. Contemplation of these names yields no vision. The imagination trying to tie God to a form is quickly frustrated; much like the eye probing the sky for its limit or imperfections withdraws unto itself tired, defeated and dazzled. Creation, leaving the Creator aside, is beyond imagination. How then to imagine the Creator? One cannot. No vision can comprehend God.
God transcends, time and magnitude. The magnitude of Al Kabeer and Al Wasi is not static, not physical and is limited by our own capacity. Contemplation of His Names will humble the mind and thus soften the heart. This is the Dhikr of God. The Dhikr of God challenges the false ?complacency of knowing? so that we make room for the Truth. It confronts the self so that it aligns to the Self. It expounds Unity, so that we may participate in It. Says, Rumi, the eloquent participant in Unity, there is no use being a swimmer when the ocean has no edges. It is time to let the ocean hold you, mould you and let it carry you; it is the ocean of Divine Guidance.
The journey of Dhikr is towards the Real, towards transcendence and towards the Source. Dhikr is also the pursuit of beauty as His are the most Beautiful Names. For some like Rumi, Dhikr exposes their separation from our Source, so that they long for re-union.
God is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Caring and the Stern, the Just and the Forgiving, the Conceiver and the Creator, the King and the Master, the Source and the Goal, the Giver and the Taker, the Forbearing and the Compeller. We seek refuge in God, in His Mercy and away from His Wrath. God is both near to us (by the attributes of Tasbih, (attributes in which we can participate in this life) and far from us (by attributes of Tanzih, attributes in which we can have no participation). The attributes of God convey both his Jamal (beauty and compassion) and Jalal (majesty and sternness). Said the Prophet, ?Peace of Faith (Emaan) reposes between fear and hope?.
The Divine Word ?Be? {Kun} is the singular and absolute cause of all causes. Within this Word is the knowledge of all that will be caused to happen and it is free of any impediments, including the impediment of time. All phenomena and time (the latter being the medium in which phenomena exists) flow from Kun. Each being (and its allotted time) is the Divine Word. Time circumscribes human life and knowledge and therefore serves as the medium in which human experience exists. Time is extraneous to the fulfillment of the Divine Command. Being and its knowledge is the Divine command ?Be?. The Divine knowledge is complete and has always been complete. Divine knowledge of the Day of Reckoning is as complete as the knowledge of the Day of Creation. Human experience and knowledge emanate from events, or simply said, events make news. With God events emanate from Knowledge.
No affliction befalls in the earth or in yourselves but it is in a Book before We bring it into being. Indeed that is easy for God
It may be said that from the Divine perspective, before and after, cause and effect are coincident. To the human experience, which must exist and operate in time, this is paradoxical. Dhikr invites contemplation outside of this paradox, to a state of awareness (or understanding, if you will) in which the paradox begins to fade and disintegrate. Dhikr nurtures a ?supra logic? within which rests ?analytical logic??un-impaired, un-hindered, and fully reconciled. This is not mere polemics. Were it so then the science of Physics would not be any less polemical or baffling even to the scientist. Consider that we are all made of atoms, same as those that make up the wooden and plastic wares around us. Our atomic construct is no different than that of a table! And atoms too are mostly empty space. The nucleus of an atom, its solid core, is like a ball in a coliseum, far, far smaller than the empty space that forms its outer boundary. An indeterminate cloud is the outer non-substance of our physical ?form?. We and our world are a physical paradox. It should suffice, to stay clear of the pre-destination versus the free-will conundrum that while our physical existence flows from the Divine Word, our free-willed intentions (as they relate to our participation (sincere or otherwise) in the Divine Plan) are fully autonomous. Through our sincere participation in the Divine Plan we find ourselves inside the stated purpose of the Divine Word?Mercy. And yes, God does invite us to participate in the Divine Plan of beauty.
Anyone who fosters goodness and beauty,
We will add goodness and beauty to itBy skirting or fighting the Divine Plan we merely foster an illusion. A heart that does not consistently remind itself both of its dependence upon God and accountability to Him becomes the host of its own vanity and gratification. It lives in denial, hoisting more veils between itself and Reality. Our fixation on ourselves, fostered too by modern life?s insulation from Nature, is spiritually cancerous. Dhikr helps to scrub, renew and realign the heart, rolling up the veils that cloister it from true and abiding peace and harmony. One purpose of Dhikr is to move ones ?center? from the self to the Absolute Reference that is God. Without this Absolute Reference we are wayward and ill-prepared for the Return. Dhikr is an effort to approach and embrace Tawheed (Oneness)?an effort and a journey without limits and beyond words?perhaps akin to the journey of a rain-drop back to the sea.
God has absolute primacy over each of His attributes. ?There is no god but God? may be amplified to ?There is no god but Rahman? and-or ?There is no mercy except God?s Mercy.? Beauty, Power, Control, Mercy, Creativity and Forgiveness belong to God alone. God invites his deputy to participate in these attributes, in compliance (Islam), conscientiously (with Emaan) and with the purity of devotion (Ehsan). Dhikr is to discover our bond with God. A bond that is both universal and personal, within and outside of time, on earth and in heaven.
?Try to gain one moment in which you see only God in heaven and earth.?
According to a mystic tradition, ninety-nine Divine Names hold the key to a transformational spiritual awakening. The following list is compiled to present the Name in reference of a selected verse. The verses are trans-interpreted. Their rendering here, far from being sufficient, is intended to encourage the reader to seek and recite the Arabic Source. The Most Beautiful Names are the beads of a meditative rosary; Whisper often upon these beads. The Most Beautiful Names are also the breath-taking patterns of a spiritual kaleidoscope. Contemplate, because the kaleidoscope holds, for Adam and Eve on earth, the beauty of Paradise. The Prophet was reported to have said that the people in Paradise will have no regrets except for the regret of those moments on earth which passed without the Dhikr of Allah.
The musings of the author, alongside each Divine Name, are mere gravel at the starting point of the meditative path. God {Al Haadi} is the Guide. The Divine Attributes are ?pathways of the heart?. The journey of the heart is on wings. The Destination is within
Truly We have created man
And We know the whispers within his innermost being,
And We are closer to him than his jugular vein.
Kabir?s Doha. Jaise til mein tel hai, jyon chakmak mein aag; Tera Sain tujh mein hai, tu jaag sake to jaag
Al Quran 5921
Al Quran 5922
Al Quran 5923
Al Quran 5924
Tasbih and Tanzih are discussed in great depth in The Vision of Islam by Murata and Chittick
Hadith, Bukhari
Al Quran 5722
Al Quran 4223
The Vision of Islam by Murata and Chittick
Abu Yazid al-Bistami, translated and quoted in ?The Enlightened Mind? An anthology of Sacred Prose edited by Stephen Mitchell
The Sufi Book of Life, 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish, by Neil Douglas-Klotz
Al Quran 5016
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A must-read imho
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Qur'an and Woman Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective
Fourteen centuries of Islamic thought have produced a legacy of interpretive readings of the Qu'ran written almost entirely by men. Now, with Qu'ran and Woman, Amina Wadud provides a first interpretive reading by a woman, a reading which validates the female voice in the Qu'ran and brings it out of the shadows. Muslim progressives have long argued that it is not the religion but patriarchal interpretation and implementation of the Qu'ran that have kept women oppressed. For many, the way to reform is the reexamination and reinterpretation of religious texts. Qu'ran and Woman contributes a gender inclusive reading to one of the most fundamental disciplines in Islamic thought, Qu'ranic exegesis. Wadud breaks down specific texts and key words which have been used to limit women's public and private role, even to justify violence toward Muslim women, revealing that their original meaning and context defy such interpretations. What her analysis clarifies is the lack of gender bias, precedence, or prejudice in the essential language of the Qur'an. Despite much Qu'ranic evidence about the significance of women, gender reform in Muslim society has been stubbornly resisted. Wadud's reading of the Qu'ran confirms women's equality and constitutes legitimate grounds for contesting the unequal treatment that women have experienced historically and continue to experience legally in Muslim communities. The Qu'ran does not prescribe one timeless and unchanging social structure for men and women, Wadud argues lucidly, affirming that the Qu'ran holds greater possibilities for guiding human society to a more fulfilling and productive mutual collaboration between men and women than as yet attained by Muslims or non-Muslims.
peace
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Peace all
I recommend this interesting book
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You can read some good reviews of the book here
http//www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591430046/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=04D6DSMHNEG9MSXCWHET&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
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I also recommend this interesting book
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You can read a review of the book here
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The Veil And The Male Elite A Feminist Interpretation Of Women's Rights In Islam
Muhammad was a chief of state who publicly acknowledged the importance of affection and sexuality. He was a polygynous husband whose wives were not just background figures but often shared decision-making with him. According to Moroccan sociologist Mernissi (Beyond the Veil), the founder of Islam asserted the equality of women, rejected slavery and envisioned an egalitarian society. Mernissi further claims that successive Muslim priests manipulated and distorted sacred texts, from the seventh century onward, in an effort to maintain male privileges. Her close textual analyses of the Hadith, or stories of words and deeds attributed to the Prophet, support her far-reaching reinterpretation of the historic roots of Islam and its modern tendency to reduce woman to a "submissive, marginal creature."
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Muhammad and the Believers
by Fred M. DonnerUniversity of Chicago professor Fred Donner presents the intriguing view that the early Islamic movement, as presided over by Muhammad, actively included Jews and Christians in the flock as part of a general monotheistic community. It was only later, after Muhammad's death, that a new generation of Muslims began ritualizing Islam with its own distinctive practices, such as the hajj (pilgrimage) and the five daily prayers...He raises many original points, gleaning evidence from everything from coinage to original source documents. Questioning longstanding stereotypes, he argues (and proves) that Muslims are not, by nature, anti-Jewish and also that, based on archeological evidence, Muslims did not routinely tear down churches. The early Muslims, though brutal in war, created a sophisticated and organized civil system. For those curious about Islam's beginnings, no book is as original and as evenhanded as this succinct read.
http//www.amazon.com/Muhammad-Believers-At-Origins-Islam/dp/0674050975/
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Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform 2008 A Collection of Articles from Contemporary Thinkers on Islam
Editors Edip Yuksel Arnold Yasin Mol Farouk A Peru
This important book is a collection of writings of more then 30 modern writers on Islam that were present at the 2008 conference bearing the same name. From professional Islamic scholars to individuals writers and thinkers, this collection is unique as a serious collection of 21st century Islamic thought on critical research, reform and renewal in Islamic and Qur'anic interpretation. With diverse subjects on the interpretation and message of the Qur'an and its relation to human rights, freedom and wellfare. History of Islam, society and thought. Modern experience of being a Muslim, the concept of gender and needed actions for reform.
Read the complete book here
http//www.deenresearchcenter.com/LinkClick.aspx?link=CRITICAL+THINKERS+for+ISLAMIC+REFORM+2.pdf&tabid=36&mid=577&language=nl-NL
