Best for those with a good grounding in Greek philosophy and little knowledge of Islamic. At times it gets lost in the minutiae of an argument, but overall a good overview.

This is the best book I have seen on the subject, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Islamic philosophy or Islamic cultural history. The reason for its success is that it not only covers the individual thinkers and their philosophical movements, it also places them in their historical and cultural contexts, spending a considerable amount of time tracing the sociology of ideas in the Middle East. Here's the contents:

1. The Legacy of Greece, Alexandria and the Orient 2. The Early Political and Religious Tensions 3. Beginnings of Systematic Philosophical Writing in the Ninth Century. 4. The Further Development of Islamic Neo-Platonism. 5. Neo-Pythagoreanism and the Popularization of the Philosophical Sciences 6. The Diffusion of Philosophical Culture in the 10th Century 7. Interaction of Philosophy and Dogma 8. Rise and Development of Islamic Mysticism 9. Arab-Spanish Interlude and the Revival of Peripateticism 10. Post-Avicennian Developmets 11. Theological Reaction and Reconstruction 12. Modern and Contemporary Trends

As you can tell from the contents, Fakhry focuses mostly on the famous medeival philosophers, but he situates them within the context of the political and religious movements in Islamic history. He does not spend much time on newer Islamic thinkers, but when he does it is done well. I would recommend this book over Oliver Leaman's introduction to Islamic philosophy. That book is a good, quick read, but it merely scratches the surface of a difficult subject.

I have read many translations of Al Quran, and although I was somewhat disappointed with this one, it has its merits. The english is more similar to everyday language than other translation, so it is easier to understand. Some passages (for example, arabic figures of speach that are not to be taken literally) that might have been ambiguous due to rigid arabic-to-english conversion in other English translations are clearer in this version. However, translating Al Quran into modern English has its drawbacks: without the arabic idioms left in (as, for example, in A.J Arberry's translation), the suras are not as pretty. Even with old english or brittish translations, you are able to have a glimpse of the beauty of the arabic Quran, but with modern English, it reads as if it is an everyday conversation, and the suras sound less inspirational, in my opinion. The other thing that this translator does which did not work for me was putting footnotes in the text of the suras and short explanations in the bottom margin of the pages. The original Quran did not have commentary, so I don't see why the English translation should, seeing as it is a translation and not an exposition of the Quran. All in all, this one is ok, not great.

This is by far the clearest and most faithful rendering of the Qur'an into English. I would recommend this translation for anyone who actually wants to understand precisely what the Qur'an is saying, without the old fashioned fuzzy imprecision of translations such as Arberry's. I used to recommend Pickthall's version to students; this one is vastly superior. It is also one of the few translations with a decent (albeit minimal) scholarly apparatus.In short, it promises to remain the best and most accurate English version of the Qur'an for some time to come.