This collection, dependent heavily on Bukhari, sanitizes what Bukhari himself reduced: the then-known collection of over 400,000 haditha to over 7000. The original 9th Bukhari's compilation runs about 1300 pages with over 7000 haditha.(You can find Bukhari's full text collection online.) The really odd and frightening stuff is in the full Bukhari version. One never knows with these collections what hazrat Mohammad really said since they were collected 150-200 yrs after he lived and are subject to the collators preconceptions about what Mohammad would, in fact, have said. Remember, there is no canon for these sayings. I gave my copy away after taking pains to download the full electronic collection.

A Manual of Hadith by Maulana Muhammad Ali should not be regarded as a comprehensive or _per se_ theological work. It is clearly pastoral and missionary. It has a pronounced ideological bent that places it squarely in the camp of modernization and humanism as subordinated to Islamic traditions on the Sub-continent. The reader should bear in mind that the collection must have been assembled and translated in the first part of the 20th century.

The author claims to be a devoted Muslim, and Muslim tradition suggests that he should be accepted as such baring strong evidence to the contary. The modernizing humanist branch of the Salfia movement _al la_ Muhammad Abduh is certainly controversial and less vocal than that of Sayid Qutb and his ilk, but must surely be in the realm of Islam and its evolving theology.

If the doctrinaire Qutbis give a Westerner an excellent argument for atheism or Buddahism, A Manual of Hadith (viewed as a document from a certain time in India) redeems Islam and is moreover an effective missionary missive to English speaking peoples.

This is a superb resource for students of classical Arabic. Arabic and English texts are set side by side on the same page, only the essence of each hadith is presented (eliminating long isnads and variations of the hadith), and the Arabic texts are fully voweled. This is the ideal work for an intermediate level between textbook readers and slogging through real old Arabic texts. The editor's notes and introductions are interesting, providing insight into at least one Muslim's view of the meaning and relevance of hadith in modern times. Whatever weaknesses this book may possess it was good enough to lead me to a deeper study of the original sources.

I have found this book very broing unreliable and a complete waste of time. No sooner had i started reading this book but i discovered the author had absoultely now idea or grasping of the subject at hand. I believe he needs to sit a rethink what it is he is trying to say because i does little more than confuse the reader. i have to regretfully state that the purchasing of this book was an extremely poor investment on my part.Mr Khan the author of this book is not qualified any shape or form to talk about this subject, he is not academic, scholar and does not fall into the maintstream orthodox muslim community and as such does not give even a remotely close rendition of his account. I am surprised that anyone deemed it fit to publish such a 'book'

Mr Muhammad Zafrulla Khan presents a very clear picture of Ahmadiyyat. He starts with the history of the movement and then puts its teachings in different chapters in the founder's own words. This book is a must read. Mr Zafrulla Khan was a very scholarly figure both in the field of Islam and Political scene of the world. He has been on posts like Foreign minister of Pakistan, Judge of the International Court of Justice, President of the United states General Assembly etc. And some glimpse of his wisdom can be seen by reading this book.

An incredible account of Ahmadiyyat...the wave of the present and the future. The author has fulfilled his responsibility by doing such a good job. This book is a must buy for anyone who has the urge to find the truth.

Yet another stiff, unimaginative version of the great poet Hafiz. This is a poet of the heart and spirit, not someone who can be pinned down in word-for-word translation. Still, this is an honest academic effort; just not rewarding or uplifting for the spirit.

Elizabeth T. Gray is one of the very few translators who can come close to doing justice to Hafiz. Forget Ladinsky; if you want to get an idea what Hafiz really said, get Gray. To correct a misconception, the convention in Sufi poetry is to invoke Allah as a woman, lover of the male human Sufi. That's why so many Sufi poems are about love for women named Layla or Salma. The Sufi vision of God tends to be female. This is more explicit in Arabic Sufi poetry, because Arabic uses gender unlike Persian. Muhyi al-Din ibn al-'Arabi said in Arabic we can call Allah either huwa 'He' or hiya 'She', the latter because the ultimate Divine Essence (al-Dhat) is Feminine. The genderless Persian pronoun leaves an interesting ambiguity that you can't duplicate in English, but by calling God "She," Elizabeth T. Gray is well within the authenticity of the Sufi poetic tradition. I have heard her speak about how she discovered these poems, and read Hafiz aloud; she told of her deep spiritual connection with these poems and the divine love they inspired in her, and of her visit to Hafiz's tomb in Shiraz. The poet himself must be smiling from Heaven upon seeing her presenting his poems to us moderns with such love and care.

This is the book I was trying to find when I ordered "The Gift," which is an absurd series of forgeries.

This book, clearly a labor of love by Elizabeth Gray, presents the Persian and the English on facing pages. Gray does tend to translate "the Beloved" with a female pronoun, BUT in her very useful introduction she points out that this is probably wrong, since the typical "Beloved" in Hafiz is male.

There's much much more. There is a very useful discussion of the history and form of the ghazal, the meter is annotated, the individual words and similes are extensively discussed, and we are able to understand how Hafiz is the most spiritual of poets through the separate introduction by Daryush Shayegan.

Until I saw this book, Persian poetry in general and Hafiz in particular were totally opaque to me, although I have some knowledge of Farsi and used to speak it fairly well. Now that I have seen this book, the veil is lifted, and I can begin to see.

Thank you Elizabeth Gray and White Cloud Press for this labor of love!

i was a beginner when i bought this book for a quarter at a charity book sale.. i was glad it only cost a quarter, because that's all its worth for a beginner in assembly programming.. its just not explained in a good manner like the other books out there..

An excellent book on it's subject. I believe the book should be bought only if u have a basic understanding of assembly and microprocessors.

I have been searching libraries for a long time looking for an advanced and practical book on assembly programming, but with little luck. This book astonished me when I browsed and read it. It's so direct on the subject with lots of well thought of examples on the PC interfacing and practical knowledge. Its well written and shows a great experience in teaching the subject. I give it 5 stars and put my word on it. Every one can check it for themselves and see what I mean. Good job except for its high price.

I would not recommend this book to anyone: especially not to someone who does not know this subject very well. The author has taken bits and pieces of historical texts and woven them together into a fictional account of the life of a historical figure. This books present the author's personal fantasies about a historical character as if they were history. The fact that it has a distant basis on historical texts makes it even more dangerous. Because of the half-true assertions one comes away not being able to distinguish between the historical Bilal and the Bilal the author has created.

Written in the form of a novel, Bilal is a beautifully fictionalized account of early Islam through the eyes of one of its most endearing historical figures. I found the book to be deeply respectful of the subject and characters which it addresses and wonderfully "Truthful" to the powerful spirit of peace and justice that is Islam. The book was a simple and poignant reminder of the positively transformative nature of a religion that is too often misunderstood, no less by its own followers than by those of other religions.

This is a must read for all who wish to know about the Islamic tradition. And its excellent reading

Peace be unto all,

for those interested in learning about Islam, and for those interested in learning about Islam's view on the Prophets, please DISREGARD this book. This book is by a deviant cult that are not Muslims, but claim to be. They have twisted the meaning of the Qur'an and Sunnah (Tradition of the Prophet, pbuh) to suit their own purposes.

I highly recommend all to stay away from this book, and to find an accurate one.

Peace.

Maulana Muhammad Ali's wholesome knowledge of Islam is once again reflected in this thought provoking book.
People with shallow knowledge of Islam -but who think God appointed them to judge others' religion- find Maulana Ali's no nonsense writings hard to cope with.
Additional strongly recommended readings:
Holy Quran & Muhammad The Prophet by Maulana Ali, Islam to East and West by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, and Jesus in Heaven on Earth by Khwaja Nazir Ahmed.

Allah..

If you need to use 8051 in a work project, this is not the book for you. It's a not college level text, and the more advanced topics are either not covered or left as an exercise for readers. It's definitely not worth the price they charge.

I bought this book because of the five star rating, and I need a good 8051 book for my project. I spend about two days to go over this book, and are quite disappointed with the depth of the book. If you just want to know the very basic application of 8051, it's probably ok although there are quite a few typos.

There are three major flaws with this book:

1. Most of the serious topics are touched very lightly; it's almost useless for a firware/hardware engineer. For example, the memory map and the handshaking application of 8255.

2. Lots of trivial questions after each section, and each section is very short(again, nothing is really covered in details).

3. Very weak index, try to find memory-map!

I don't think the book deserves the price they ask for. I actually learned more from the 8051.com tutorial than from this book. The search for a good 8051 book is continued!!!

It is a great book for beginners ,It has been very useful for my first project ,It explains how to start programming and designing the 8051 microcontroller ,and I advice every engineer student who wants to get a good start in using 8051 in one of his projects to take access of this book.

After 9-11 I purchased The Koran to see what Islam was about. I suppose on some level I wanted to believe that maybe nihilism and anarchy weren't an endemic part of the religion and culture. Sadly, what I found is that The Koran (this edition) is quite frankly, poorly written, poorly organized, and WOW is it violent....Here is the truth: You can pick up ANY translation of The Koran and and turn indiscriminately to practically any passage and within a minute or two you will come across a violent/angry passage that casts judgement and blame. Here, let's try it, shall we? "And those who earn ill deeds, for them requital of each ill deed by the liike thereof; and ignominy overtaketh them -- They have no protector from Allah -- as if their faces had been covered with a cloak of darkest night. Such are rightful owners of the Fire; they will abide therein" Wasn't that fun? Let's try another: "How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after after they bore witness that the messanger is true and after clear proofs of Allah's sovereignty had come unto them. And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk. As for such, their guerdon (?) is that on them rests the curse of Allah and of angels and of men combined." Wow. Two for two. Try again? Whaddya think? Once more, ok? Good. Here we go: "And whosoever disbelieveth, let not his disbelief afflict thee O Muhammad. Unto Us is their return, and We shall tell them what they did. Lo! Allah is Aware of what is in the breasts of men. We give them comfort for a little, and then We drive them to heavy doom." Well, in the words of the Church Lady, "Isn't that special?" We could play this silly game all day, as The Koran is a rather lengthy tome. I'm no religious cat, but The Koran reads like the crazy blatherings of a lunatic who was never let out of the basement closet. Religion of peace? Puhleeze. RAGE, VIOLENCE, CONDEMNATION IS ON EVERY SINGLE PAGE.
EVERY...... SINGLE ...... PAGE.

The Pickthall translation comes highly regarded by most Arab speakers. The English used is a bit archaic; what the King James version is to the bible I would say is what the Pickthall version is to the Qur'an. But it also reads quite beautifully at times and apparently is quites close to the original Arabic.

The version I bought was relatively inexpensive but the drawback is that there is little in the way of notes or commentary for the Western reader.

Pickthall's translation is clear and easy to read, eschewing the flowery language common to translations of the Koran. Furthermore, it's fairly accurate, following the Koran line by line and balancing the need to make things make sense in English with the need to hold to the actual text. Reading other translations (Arberry comes to mind), I've had the impression that the author had decided to rewrite what many consider a holy book. As a practicing Muslim, Pickthall knew better and so produced the only translation I would recommend.

even though i respect the many good works of Maulana Muhammad Ali and i consider him to be very knoledgeble, but i can't agree with this book, and i certainly can't believe such intelligent thinker would write such as blasphemous book, may Allah have mercy on his soul.

Maulana Mohammad Ali is without a doubt one of the most prolific Islamic scholars of our age. His integrity is without a doubt unquestionable and his first person association with Mirza Ghulam Ahmed for a long period of time makes his accounts most authentic..
Also must reads are: his translation of the Holy Qur'aan and his title History of the Prophets.

The book indeed is quite an accurate account of the life Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It not only deals with historical background issues, but also his claims, position on Islamic principles as well as his project regeneration of the religion (ie. Islam) which was being lost to the material world.

As for the reviewer who claims that he was "bored", this is only indicative of his level of insight towards spiritual matters. The book is clear, consise and well supported with references from the works of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Any unbiased reader interested in the subject will not be disappointed!

Haykal is a biased historian. He has been very selective in including only those episodes of the Prophets life which support his point of view. In other places, he has silently omitted a few pieces of information which go against his own school of thought. I give you examples;

When the Prophet invited the members of his tribe to his house and gave them the invitation to join Islam, it was only Ali who accepted it. This has been recorded by Haykal but Haykal deliberately omits what the Prophet said in reply to this. He said Ali will be his chief assistant in his life time and his successor after him. This is found in both Tabari and Ibn Ishaq.

At the time of the treaty of Hudaibiya, Umar mutinied against the Prophet and even questioned his Prophethood. Haykal records this episode but does not mention the name of Umar but instead uses the term 'some companions'.

Haykal makes no mention of the episode of Ghadir Khumm, where the Prophet said "Whomsoever I am the Lord of (Mawla), Ali is also his Lord." This hadith has been handed down to us through more than 180 different chains (hence their is no doubt of its authenticity).

At the time of the death of the Prophet, he asked for a pen and paper so that he may write something of importance. However, Umar intervened and said that the illness has overwhelmed the Prophet. Haykal once again does not mention the name of Umar.

Haykal draws a sweeping conclusion that since Abu Bakr led the prayers at the time of the illness of the Prophet, hence he was the obvious choice to succeed. However, the truth is that when the Prophet asked Ayesha to tell Abu Bakr to lead the prayers, Ayesha said that Abu Bakr is too weak to shoulder such a responsibility. Hence the Prophet said to call Umar to lead the prayers, to which Umar upon his arrival said he will not lead the prayers in the presence of Abu Bakr. Then the Prophet said to ask Abu Bakr to lead the prayers and that he will not hear another word. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this episode is that it was immaterial who lead the prayers.

One has to be objective when writing a book on history. Anybody who is searching for the truth should stay clear from this book.

A better book on the Sirat of the Prophet would be Martin Lings, Muhammad.

Dr Haykal has a dangerous approach towards our prophet's life..He claims that the Quran is his only miracle.I don't agree with this view since we cannot ignore so many traditions ( hadith) regarding the other miracles like the splitting of the moon,and his companions' drinking water from his fingers.The scientific method should not mean to accept only things that we can support with our reason. It is also scientific to consider the confirmed traditions.It is just reasonable for our prophet (saw) to have miracles like the previous prohets in the sense that he is the seal of the prophethood .His being the seal of it requires to seal the miracles by having comprehensive miracles. As a result, besides being a comrehensive and easy-to-read book, the view he hold for our prophet's miracles is incorrect.

a splendid book, the best i have read so far on prophet's life...all those who have any question in mind about prophets life should must read this book..as it is written in a manner that one's interest in its contents keeps on growing as one reads further. every incident is mostly proven right by quranic verses..if not then by the sayings of prophet are used remarkably...which remove all the confusion from the mind of reader.
The writer has clearly stated arab before islam,how prophet started getting messages from allah and how he started coveying message of ALLAH,GOD to the people,what problems he faced,and how he fought along with his companions in the way of GOD.
it does not matter if you believe or not that there is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of GOD,if one has a lust to know what islam is all about.this book is a great help to understand the sprit of islam,the struggle of good and evil,and to know that how a single orphan ..grew into a the most powerful man only with the help of his God...that people believed in him and were ready not only to face the hardest blows of enemies but to die happily for their God,if you want to know this man you must read this book ..you will fall in love with this man.and you should know this man.