The producer of a scant but very important selection of profoundly humanistic and moving works, including poetry, prose and theater, Muhammad al-Maghut is one of the unknown greats of world literature, an often forgotten figure today even in his native Syria. This book is a welcome, although hard to get, introduction to the work of this great man who should be better known everywhere, especially in the west with its tendentious and shallow understanding of the Arabs and Arab intellectual life.

This book is too expensive, but if you can find it at a lesser price, get the book. Although it is in question as to if this is REALLY an Ibn Ata'ullah text, the teacher who I studied this book did not say it was not, as well, he had the original in Arabic..hummm...

certainly, this text is beautiful, easy to read. Although it is not your normal sufi text. This book offers solutions to your problems with prayer, worshiping Allah, and remembrance of Him. Have a problem with wondering off in wherever land when you pray? Wonder why when you make remembrance of Him (dhikr) your heart does not "feel" like it is there?

This book offers many great antedotes to common problems why we face these delemas in our worship-they have become only for show. and not sincere! This book is for those who need some direction into how to worship Allah, help your heart, and soften it! Salafi's I highly recommend it because have you ever wondered why you condem every Muslim who wants to Worship Allah as though you see him? This texts will open new doors to softening the hearts of the dryest person!

A Learner's Book on Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS), Ramadan & Hajj

Istafiah Is'harc's A Learner's Book on Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS), Ramadan & Hajj is an overview aimed at those new to Islam, secondary school students learning about their own faith or studying comparative religion, or anyone seeking to gain a basic understanding of the world's fastest-growing religion. Although, since Muslims never cease to learn and study their religion, there is a place for this clear and concise exposition of its fundamentals in any English-speaking Muslim's library.

The book falls into two parts, the first of which uses the story of Islam's establishment to frame a summary of its teachings. It deals with the world into which the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) was born, the life and revelations of the Prophet (SAAS) and the electrifying effect they had on that world and its people. This story of how the true Islam was revived leads very naturally to an explanation of what it is, through its primary teachings and achievements.

The second part is a more detailed and practical description of two of the Five Pillars of Islam, Ramadan and Hajj, each clearly drawing on profound personal experience, but written nevertheless from an objective standpoint, and never straying from historically grounded fact and common experience.

A Learner's Book on Islam is rounded off by a useful list of the months of the Muslim calendar, and a very comprehensive glossary. Books on Islam often fall into one of two categories - ones which make frustrating assumptions about prior knowledge of jargon and concepts, show no understanding of cultural, or even geographical, differences and tend towards poor English, and ones which are written from a European cultural standpoint but also from a non-Muslim one, and are therefore objective and critical in tone. Those few which bridge this gap include Martin Lings' excellent Muhammad, which Istafiah Is'harc's book echoes in some ways, but A Learner's Book on Islam has the advantage of brevity (at 160 pages) and a clearly signalled structure, making it as useful a reference book or teaching resource as it is an introduction.

Both the language and the form of A Learner's Book on Islam are deceptively simple. The language achieves the elusive quality of invisibility, the mark of prose which is beautifully written but unfailingly modest, leaving the foreground always to the subject matter. It is also remarkable for the fact that, despite its concision, there is always room for the telling detail, and for the meaning hidden in events and concepts.

The moving passage dealing with the death of the Prophet (SAAS), for example, achieves its power by using the grief of Bilal to illustrate both the general desolation caused by Prophet Muhammad's (SAAS) passing and the beauty of the legacy which he left in the hearts of believers. And the single chapter which follows manages the feat of encapsulating in 12 pages the importance of the Hadith, the historical influence of Islam, its social, legal, political and cultural implications, its essential beliefs, the Five Pillars, the Muslim diet and true Muslim behaviour, while still finding room for the meanings behind the facts and how they interrelate. One example is the intriguing observation that the dietary laws are in effect a prohibition on self-harm, intimately related to the need to avoid harming others.

Written with a modern Western context in mind, A Learner's Book on Islam also gives useful explanations of how the rituals of seventh-century Arabia translate into the lives of Muslims today, and quietly debunks much of the widespread misinformation about Islam, with the simplicity and sincerity, born of deep faith, which characterise the whole book.

Matthew Shorter

medicine for today's society and people

This is an excellent biography of the life of Muhammad the messenger of God (peace and blessins upon him). Whilst the language is academic, the book is very captivating and commands the reader to continue reading to the very end. Professor Siddiqui did an Excellent job in presenting the facts to the English reader. Keysar Trad

In this book Jews, Christians, and Muslims share their experiences on how Subud brought to them a living reality of their religion.

This collection of papers is the best way to approach this field of nonlinear science. The selection of papers is very well processed by the editors. All of them are the pioneers on the nonlinear signal processing and present the basic principles of the theory without giving emphasis to secondary details.

The Egyptian Leader Muhammad Farid was my uncle, my late Father's ( Ahmad Muhammad Youssef )Farid brother: They were both heros as their father: Ahmad Mohammed Farid Bacha.

I found Imam Ghazali's Mishkat Al-Anwar an awesome book. Many parts of the book amazed me and left me in awe of the author. A truly mind expanding experience.

Imam Ghazali takes the Light Verse from Surah Nur of the Quran and writes a book on it:

"Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light!" - Quran 24:35

He first explains what the verse means, and explains man's relation to his creator. Then before he finishes the book, he delves into the inner machinations of the cosmos and how it all services Allah.

This book will blow your socks off. But be warned, this is a philosophical book, that reaches some very deep levels. Anybody ready for deep philosophy and willing to examine man's relation to God, will find this book very illuminating.

Lastly, I believe that the translator/commentator tried to write a useful commentary, but he came at the whole book/concept from a non-Muslim viewpoint. The viewpoint is alien to the Muslim mindset, and could be considered unIslamic.

Some people might find the commentary useful, I found it unuseful.

There is a more expensive version with better type-print etc by David Buchman (Translator).

Kevin Dwyer has a doctorate and all the qualifications needed to write a book that only fellow anthropologists could love. Though the first and last chapters were written primarily for the profession, he fortunately for us has a more general audience in mind and "Moroccan Dialogues" is an enjoyable and fascinating description of daily life in a small Moroccan village. Mr. Dwyer lived in that village for an extended period of time. He decided to communicate what he saw and learned by capturing numerous extended conversations with a respected resident who came to be a valued friend. This "Dialogue" approach provides unusually clear insight into a very different and older culture.

"Moroccan Dialogues" is particularly valuable reading during the present time of misunderstandings and conflict between Western and Arab societies. Its gentle, non-judgemental description of how many arabs live and think reminds us that fanatics are an aberration in any society. People are more alike than not regardless of their backgrounds and circumstances.