Jerusalem in The Qur'an


Imran N. Hosein - 2001
    It is a world in which the cause of Islam appears to be a lost cause. But having read this book the reader would now know, if he or she had not already known it, that the reality is quite different. When they know for certain that it is the destiny of Jerusalem to give a spectacular validation of Islam's claim to Truth, Muslim should be able to summon the strength to resist the present war on Islam in which the godless world is makng the greatest possible effort to destroy their faith in Allah Most High.

In the Name of Honour: A Memoir


Mukhtar Mai - 2006
    While certainly not the first account of a female body being negotiated for honor in a family, this time the survivor had bravely chosen to fight back. In doing so, Mai single-handedly changed the feminist movement in Pakistan, one of the world's most adverse climates for women. By July 2002, the Pakistani government awarded her the equivalent of 8,500 U.S. dollars in compensation money and sentenced her attackers to death — and Mukhtar Mai went on to open a school for girls so that future generations would not suffer, as she had, from illiteracy.In this rousing account, Mai describes her experience and how she has since become an agent for change and a beacon of hope for oppressed women around the world. Timely and topical, "In the Name of Honor" is the remarkable and inspirational memoir of a woman who fought and triumphed against exceptional odds.

The House of Islam: The Hearts and Minds of a Billion Believers


Ed Husain - 2017
    It introduces us to the fairness, kindness and mercy of Mohammed; the aims of sharia law, through commentary on scripture, to provide an ethical basis to life; the beauty of Islamic art and the permeation of the divine in public spaces; and the tension between mysticism and literalism that still threatens the House of Islam. The decline of the Muslim world and the current crises of leadership mean that a glorious past, full of intellectual nobility and purpose, is now exploited by extremists and channelled into acts of terror. How can Muslims confront the issues that are destroying Islam from within, and what can the West do to help work towards that end?Ed Husain guides us through the nuances of Islam and its people, contending that the Muslim world need not be a stranger to the West, nor its enemy, but a peaceable ally.

Mecca: The Sacred City


Ziauddin Sardar - 2014
    It is the birthplace of Muhammad, the direction to which Muslims turn when they pray, and the site of pilgrimage that annually draws some three million Muslims from all corners of the world. Yet the significance of Mecca is more than purely religious. What happens in Mecca and how Muslims think about the political and cultural history of Mecca has had and continues to have a profound influence on world events to this day.In this insighful book, Ziauddin Sardar unravels the meaning and significance of Mecca. Tracing its history, from its origins as a “barren valley” in the desert to its evolution as a trading town and sudden emergence as the religious center of a world empire, Sardar examines the religious struggles and rebellions in Mecca that have significantly shaped Muslim culture. An illuminative, lyrical, and witty blend of history, reportage, and memoir, Mecca reflects all that is profound and enlightening, curious and amusing about Mecca and takes us behind the closed doors to one of the most important places in the world today.

Motivational Moments by Mufti Menk


Ismail Musa Menk - 2016
     Motivational Moments brings you a compilation of 500 of the best quotes by Mufti Menk; the most popular quotes liked or shared by YOU, from his Facebook and Twitter accounts. His empowering words instil hope and patience in people across the globe daily. They have been translated into many languages.

Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed


Sadiq Hussain Siddiqui - 1944
    The greatest warrior of Islamic history also called "Saif-Ullah" i.e. Sword of Allah.

Dil Darya Samandar / دل دریا سمندر


Wasif Ali Wasif - 1998
    Powerful, moving, poignant - this is a soft book with great depths to it.

An Introduction to Shi`i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism


Moojan Momen - 1985
     It deals with the history and development of this important religion, giving an account of Shi’i doctrines and focusing in particular on those areas in which it differs from Sunni Islam.  “Momen’s book fills an important gap in the general literature in English on Twelver Shi’ism, and should be carefully studied by anyone who wants to know more about what is happening in the Middle East today….This is a fine work which deserves the widest possible readership.”—Malise Ruthven, The Middle East “An extremely useful reference source on the establishment and evolution of the Shi’ite branch of the Islamic religion.”—Cecil V. Crabb, Jr., Perspective “An unpretentious style, interpretive clarity and . . . sound judgment characterize Momen’s writings. The various aspects of Twelver Shi’ism are carefully distinguished to satisfy both the general reader and the aspiring student.”—Norman Calder, Times Literary Supplement “Specialist and nonspecialist alike will benefit from its lucid exposition of both elite and popular Shi’ism. Especially valuable is the way the work presents modern critical scholarship on Shi’i history alongside the orthodox history, which still has great influence on the religion’s self-understanding.”—Mel Piehl, Library Journal  Moojan Momen has written extensively on Iran and Middle East religion.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist: From Book to Film


Mira Nair - 2013
    Covering every aspect of the film-making process, this magnificently designed film book comprises an incredible array of images as well as short essays by those involved in the filmmaking process. Mira Nair discusses how the novel was turned into a screenplay; Mohsin Hamid reminisces about his first experience on a film set; production designer Michael Carlin recounts the thrill of transforming Old Delhi into contemporary Lahore; lead actor Riz Ahmed reveals how he got under the skin of his character Changez; and editor Shimit Amin demystifies some of his tricks on the editing table. This book also features a series of gorgeous black-and-white photographs by celebrated photographer Brigitte Lacombe.‘A pro-America film that dares voice un-American thoughts’—Damon Wise, Empire‘Tense, thoughtful and truly international’—Time

Scattered Pictures: Reflections Of An American Muslim


Zaid Shakir - 2005
    Scattered Pictures is an anthology of essays, which discuss difficult and oftentimes controversial topics. In these turbulent times, these are issues that if left un-addressed, could continue to spiral downwards into serious political, social and religious discord. This shining book will appeal to all readers interested in critical solutions for a harmonious understanding across divides in humanity and is an innovative guide for students at both the high school and college levels. One of the most respected and influential Muslim scholars in the West, Imam Shakir is also a former member of the US Air Force and a Political Science professor. With long-standing dedication to the human community, Imam Shakir has helped to shape a better understanding of the conflicts we face. He has forged campaigns for human rights and social justice, and his devotion stands in helping to build and reinforce intellectual and spiritual roots, so that we as a global community may begin to adopt solution-oriented strategies.

Heaven On Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World


Sadakat Kadri - 2011
    Even as “shari‘a” became a loaded word and an all-encompassing explanation, most of us remained ignorant of its true meaning. And we were doing this at our peril. In Heaven on Earth, Kadri brings lucid wit and analytical skill to the thrilling and turbulent story of Islam’s foundation and expansion. He shows how legal ideas gradually evolved out of thousands of reports about the Prophet Mohammad, most of which were not even written down until two centuries after his death. And he explains how, just in the last forty years, the shari‘a has been appropriated and transformed by hardliners desperate to impose their oppressive vision. In the second half of the book, Kadri takes us on an extraordinary journey through more than half a dozen countries in the Islamic world, where he explores, in striking detail, how the shari‘a is taught, read, reinterpreted, reverenced, and challenged—beginning at the eight-hundred-year old Indian grave of his Sufi mystic ancestor, and ending in Cairo’s City of the Dead, where one of Islam’s greatest legal scholars still gets daily requests for legal miracles twelve centuries after his death. Heaven on Earth is a brilliantly iconoclastic tour through one of history’s great collective intellectual achievements, as complex as the religion that brought it to life. The shari‘a continues to shape both explosive political circumstances and the daily life of more than a billion Muslims, and Sadakat Kadri has given us a compelling and clarifying portrait of a changeable world of faith, reason, and justice.

Mother of the Believers


Kamran Pasha - 2009
    As his message of enlightenment sweeps through Arabia and unifies the warring tribes, his young wife Aisha recounts Muhammad's astonishing transformation from prophet to warrior to statesman. But just after the moment of her husband's greatest triumph -- the conquest of the holy city of Mecca -- Muhammad falls ill and dies in Aisha's arms. A young widow, Aisha finds herself at the center of the new Muslim empire and becomes by turns a teacher, political leader, and warrior. Written in beautiful prose and meticulously researched, Mother of the Believer is the story of an extraordinary woman who was destined to help usher Islam into the world.

Letters to God


Norhafsah Hamid - 2018
    An introvert by nature, Sarah struggles to balance her work, life and her spiritual longing while trying to adapt to her new surroundings. She found friendship along the way and also experienced hostility and heartache. Not knowing who to turn to, she decided to rant and rave to her Creator.This is a story of how a young girl, who made a decision to write letters to God, telling Him of all her worries, and pain. She believes that one can talk to God at any time, any place, even outside prayers.Did Sarah find solace?Or did she continue to be lost?

The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason, 1798 to Modern Times


Christopher de Bellaigue - 2017
    Flying in the face of everything we thought we knew, The Islamic Enlightenment becomes an astonishing and revelatory history that offers a game-changing assessment of the Middle East since the Napoleonic Wars.Beginning his account in 1798, de Bellaigue demonstrates how Middle Eastern heartlands have long welcomed modern ideals and practices, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from seclusion, and the development of democracy. With trenchant political and historical insight, de Bellaigue further shows how the violence of an infinitesimally small minority is in fact the tragic blowback from these modernizing processes.Structuring his groundbreaking history around Istanbul, Cairo, and Tehran, the three main loci of Islamic culture, de Bellaigue directly challenges ossified perceptions of a supposedly benighted Muslim world through the forgotten, and inspiring, stories of philosophers, anti-clerics, journalists, and feminists who opened up their societies to political and intellectual emancipation. His sweeping and vivid account includes remarkable men and women from across the Muslim world, including Ibrahim Sinasi, who brought newspapers to Istanbul; Mirza Saleh Shirzi, whose Persian memoirs describe how the Turkish harems were finally shuttered; and Qurrat al-Ayn, an Iranian noble woman, who defied her husband to become a charismatic prophet.What makes The Islamic Enlightenment particularly germane is that non-Muslim pundits in the post-9/11 era have repeatedly called for Islam to subject itself to the transformations that the West has already achieved since the Enlightenment—the absurd implication being that if Muslims do not stop reading or following the tenets of the Qur’an and other holy books, they will never emerge from a benighted state of backwardness. The Islamic Enlightenment, with its revolutionary argument, completely refutes this view and, in the process, reveals the folly of Westerners demanding modernity from those whose lives are already drenched in it.

Women in the Qurʼan : An Emancipatory Reading


Asma Lamrabet - 2010
    At the heart of this debate Muslim women are seeking to reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own destinies, calling for the equality and liberation that is at the heart of the Qur'an.However, with few female commentators on the meaning of the Qur'an and an overreliance on the readings of the Qur'an compiled centuries ago this message is often lost. In this book Asma Lamrabet demands a rereading of the Qur'an by women that focuses on its spiritual and humanistic messages in order to alter the lived reality on the ground.By acknowledging the oppression of women, to different degrees, in social systems organized in the name of religion and also rejecting a perspective that seeks to promote Western values as the only means of liberating them, the author is able to define a new way. One in which their refusal to remain silent is an act of devotion and their demand for reform will lead to liberation.Asma Lamarbet is a pathologist in Avicenna Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. She is also an award-winning author of many articles and books tackling Islam and women's issues.Myriam Francois-Cerrah is a writer and broadcaster whose articles have been published in the Guardian, Salon, and elsewhere.