Best of
Islam

1987

The Niche of Lights


Abu Hamid al-Ghazali - 1987
    Beginning his career as a skeptic, he ended it as a scholar of mysticism and orthodoxy. The Niche of Lights, written near the end of his illustrious career, advances the philosophically important idea that reason can serve as a connection between the devout and God. Al-Ghazali argues that abstracting God from the world, as he believed theologians did, was not sufficient for understanding. Exploring the boundary between philosophy and theology, The Niche of Lights seeks to understand the role of reality in the perception of the spiritual.

When You Hear Hoofbeats Think of a Zebra


Shems Friedlander - 1987
    Here he presents ancient Sufi teaching stories rooted in the Islamic tradition. With common sense and insightful wit, he addresses questions and problems of contemporary life and awakens our attention to the often overlooked moments that give importance and meaning to our lives. Through the re-telling of classical stories and his own commentary, a pattern unfolds that helps to distinguish knowledge from information, reality from imagination, and makes what seems to lie beyond our perception - understanding and brief - accessible. Our spiritual potential as human beings is realised in "When You Hear Hoofbeats Think of a Zebra".

Love is the Wine: Talks of a Sufi Master in America


Muzaffer Ozak - 1987
    A fine story-teller, a mature human being, a respected author in his native country, he was well-suited to bring the richness of the Sufi tradition to the West. The chapters of this book, skillfully edited and compiled by the psychologist and Sufi teache,r Dr. Robert Frager, were derived from talks given during visits to America over the last years of his life.

The Formation of Islamic Art


Oleg Grabar - 1987
    In a new chapter, Oleg Grabar develops alternate models for the formation of Islamic art, tightens its chronology, and discusses its implications for the contemporary art of the Muslim world. Reviews of the first edition: “Grabar examines the possible ramifications of sociological, economic, historical, psychological, ecological, and archaeological influences upon the art of Islam. . . [He] explains that Islamic art is woven from the threads of an Eastern, Oriental tradition and the hardy, surviving strands of Classical style, and [he] illustrates this web by means of a variety of convincing and well-chosen examples.”—Art Bulletin “A book of absorbing interest and immense erudition. . . All Islamic archaeologists and scholars will thank Professor Grabar for a profound and original study of an immense and complex field, which may provoke controversy but must impress by its mastery and charm by its modesty.”—Times Literary Supplement “Oleg Grabar, in this book of exceptional subtlety and taste, surveys and extends his own important contributions to the study of early Islamic art history and works out an original and imaginative approach to the elusive and complex problems of understanding Islamic art.”—American Historical Review

The Eleventh Hour: The spiritual crisis of the modern world in the light of tradition and prophecy


Martin Lings - 1987
    The Eleventh Hour has its roots in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. The following questions run through the book: why did the latecomers receive the same wage as those who had laboured throughout the heat of the day? Why were they the first to be paid? And why, did Christ say 'And the last shall be first?' These questions are answered in the light of the concept of the Millennium, which is clearly the equivalent of the new Golden Age of the next cycle of time, and which is found in all three monotheistic religions, bringing them into line, in this respect, with Hinduism, Greco-Roman Antiquity and Buddhism.

Health and Medicine in the Islamic Tradition: Change and Identity


Fazlur Rahman - 1987
    The author explores Wellness and Illness in the Islamic World view, the Religious Valuation of Medicine, The Prophetic Medicine, Medical Care, Medical Ethics and Passages.

Rumi and Sufism


Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch - 1987
    Rumi is one of the great mystics of Islam. He founded in the XIIIth century a brotherhood in the Turkish city of Konya, famous for the use of music in the context of spiritual experience. To understand Rumi is to enter the world of Islam in its true sense: known as a Sufi, Rumi is on par with the spiritual Masters of all great religious traditions. Written by Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch, a French scholar who became a believer in Islam through her works on Sufism, this book is the best initiation not only to Rumi, but to Islamic thought: it is clear, elegant, scholarly, beautiful. It is an excellent tool for serious students of Islam as well as for the general public who wants to approach Islamic civilization with the respect and competence it requires. It should be on the program of any studies dealing with Islam, comparative studies of religions, the values and politics of the Islamic world. It is a key to the underlying world-view which it is impossible to understand without comprehending its spiritual roots. But this book is also about the life and writings of one of the great poets of the world.

Coherence in the Qur'an


Mustansir Mir - 1987
    

Islamic Awakening Between Rejection and Extremism


يوسف القرضاوي - 1987
    

The Quran's Numerical Miracle: Hoax and Heresy


Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips - 1987
    

This Law of Ours and Other Essays


Muhammad Asad - 1987
    The essays in this book, written as far back as in the 1940s, aim to contribute something of a clarification the confusion prevailing in the Muslim Ummah as to the scope and practical implications of Islamic law.

Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects


Matti Moosa - 1987
    Moosa's comprehensive study of the origins and cultural aspects of the different extremist, or Ghulat, Shiite sects in the Middle East is a ground-breaking work. These sects whose 'extremism' is essentially religious are generally a peaceful people and, except for the Nusayris of Syria, are not political activists.

Roman, Provincial and Islamic Law: The Origins of the Islamic Patronate


Patricia Crone - 1987
    Some authorities stress the importance of the contribution of Roman law; others that of Arabian law. Most are agreed that Jewish law contributed, but not explained further. Dr Crone tests the Roman hypothesis with reference to one institution, the patronate, which does indeed appear to owe something to Roman law. He concludes that Roman law contributed only in so far as it was part and parcel of the rather different legal practice of the Near Eastern provinces, and that provincial law would repay further consideration by legal historians.

The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution


Amir Taheri - 1987
    In this detailed, balanced study, Taheri, former editor of the Iranian daily Kayhan and now resident in Europe, traces the rise of this "quintessential" mullah, who began life in an oasis-village religious family, pursued an eccentric, lone-wolf career, and emerged in the 1960s as a strong critic of the Shah and others.

In the Garden of Myrtles: Studies in Early Islamic Mysticism


Tor Andrae - 1987
    Here are their ascetic practices; their attitudes toward women and marriage, toward food and drink, and toward music and poetry; and here is their ecstatic experience. This is a study in holiness and the love of God, but it is even more a study of men and women overcome by that holiness and love, and locked in the paradox of loving a God who makes vast demands on them. The early Sufis were not seeking consolation. Who they were and what they were after, the reader will discover here.Topics discussed include the historical background of early Muslim mysticism and the relations between Muslim and Christian ascetics. Andrae suggests parallels drawn from his vast reading in the literature of religious experience, both East and West.