The Theology of Time is a lecture series given by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1972 over a series of 22 weeks which corresponds to the 22 chapters in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. In 1972, the N.O.I. had purchased an Greek Orthodox Church which at the time was rated one the ten most beautiful churches in America, and converted it into a mosque. The Theology of Time lecture series serves as the mosque's theological induction. The message contained in this book is profound. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad deconstructs Christianity as taught by ... and exciorates the slave mentality developed by ... people under the hegemony of Anglo-American civilization. No matter what your theological/ideological or philsophical orientation is towards the European representation of Jesus and the ... whether you are ... person or ...k person, your thinking would forever be changed by reading this book. For the reader wanting an introduction to the teachings of T.H.E.M., this is not the book to start off with first. I suggest that you read .... Our Savior Has Arrived in the order I described so that you will have the framework necessary to understand and appreciate the Theology Of Time. In the books just mentioned, T.H.E.M., breaks down in great detail some of the points that are covered in the Theology of Time. The lecture series given in 1972, served to reinforce and expound upon prior teachings/lectures given over forty years to his followers so there is/was no need for T.H.E.M. to deconstruct his teachings when that was done in prior books. So if the reader doesn't have this framework, she/he will either be lost or partially grasp the concepts discussed in the lecture series. No religious leader on the earth has before or since lectured on the matters introduced in this lecture series. This book cracks the atom of thought which releases tremendous energy and causes one to study many things.

This lecture series was the culmination of 40 years of public work of Messenger Elijah Muhammad. He brings the reader face to face with God, dispelling the old fairy tale beleifs of the past. This transcription is the perfect companion to the audio series and can be used alone or as a supplemnt to the audio. Worth 10 times as much as the cover price!

THIS BOOK BY MESSENGER ELIJAH MUAHAMMAD IS ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN BY ANYONE LIVING ON THE EARTH. THIS BOOK OPENS THE EYES OF THE BLIND AND RAISES DEAD PEOPLE TO LIFE, JUST AS ALL THE MESSENGERS BOOKS DO. DON'T MISS THIS ONE.I LOVED THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL TOO IF YOU HAVE SENSE.

A highly intellectual analysis of challanges which embrace the Muslim Civilization.

It highlights the role of the individual and consequently shaping of the Law - historically speaking that which, we refer to as the Sharia'.

The author succesfully disects the law and in a constructive yet highly admirable and critical fashion explains the inner workings to the contemporary reader.

Having read the author's "Road to Mecca" and "Message of the Quran". One can expect to find the intellectual Asad spring back to life after a couple of paragraphs from chapter 1 - Prolegomena.

Indeed this book can be seen in the spirit and tradition of the "Message of the Quran" - where he inspires the reader with the Quranic Verse " For those who think..."

The author Muhammad Asad explains why the Shari'ah is no longer a dominating factor in the lives of Millions of Muslims, as it once was in the very early history of Islam. The book is realy a collection of thoughts, essays and broadcasts made by the author over a 40 year period. At once we realise how Shari'ah has come to be manipulated in the hands of a few specialists who call themselves fuquha, who themselves have forgotten that the opinions of the four Imams are only time bound and could have no bearing on todays problems. Yet this absurd notion of piety for the dead scholars is continued to this day by many scholars, with endless rhetoric about nobody now is cable of understanding the Shari'ah. The author argues strongly that the Shari'ah, by its very nature a divine law cannot be subject to scholary opinion, but must be laid down in plain terms, technically called a nass. By their very nature most of these nass injuctions are always given in general terms, to allow for human social development.

This is one of the most incredible books you'll ever find to explain the modern day divisions within the Islamic world. It serves as an explanation of the historical decline in Muslim free thought and debate in favor of the current strict reliance on codified traditions and interpretations.

My mother and read this book together. Before reading it I didn't know much about Muhammad Ali, other than he was a great fighter. After reading a few of the poems with my mom, I began to ask questions about the life of Mr. Ali. I learned a lot from my mom, but his life seems so interesting that I want to do my next Black History Month report about him. I look forward to doing the research with my mom about a man that so many people are proud of.

Reading this book with my 11-year old daughter was a wonderful way to introduce her to the many accomplishments and triumphs of Muhammad Ali. Upon completion of the book, she was so inspired that she decided to do her next Black History Month report on "The Greatest!" She was genuinely moved by the author's eloquent writings about a man so deserving of his place in history. I recommend this book to those of you with small children, or those of you who teach small children. It is an excellent way to introduce a child to both Black history and the art of poetry.

Muhammad Ali, truly the greatest. A must read for fans of Ali and good writing. His greatness has been captured by the author in the most admirable of ways. A book dedicated to his life and sport obviously written from the heart. It's like the author was right there with him from his beginnings to today. This is a keeper, a highly recommended buy.

INTERRUPTS AND THE 8259 CHIP

This book has exceptional detail, all the way from debug routines to determine hardware addresses, to assembly and C programs to control the hardware. Numerous schematics and timing tables are also provided. Usually, several books are needed to provide the breadth and depth that this book provides. This book is succinct enough to present virtually all the information I need to dig into PC hardware. If you want to know exactly what is happening in the guts of the IBM PC compatible: from the BIOS calls, to interrupt servicing, to the chips that interface the PC to memory, to the exact timing of the strobe line on the printer port, you should get this book.

If you are familiar with the writings of Rifa‘a Rafi‘ al-Tahtawi, Muhammad ‘Abduh, Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid, Taha Husayn, ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq, Muhammad Husayn Haykal, Kasim Amin, Tawfik Al-Hakim, Nagib Mahfuz and all the liberal intellectuals of Modern Egypt, you would definitely add the former chief justice of Egypt Supreme Court Said Al-Ashmawy to this great enlightenment movement - "tanwir". It is not fair to summarize this book or any of Ashmawy's like "History of Kilafa", "Gawhar Al-Islam", "Roots of Islamic law" or "Al-Sharia Al-Islamia", "Ma'alim Al-Islam" and "Political Islam"; you need to read them carefully. His books are meant to shock you if your Islamic teachings are limited to school books, Badawin TV shows or Friday prayer speeches. This writer has a message and he is risking his life for his ideas after a thorough research in International Law, Egyptian Constitution, Islamic Studies and Literature, Greek and Egyptian Ancient History and Philosophy. For the last 15 years, he has a body guard assigned by the Egyptian government ;

So what is he trying to say? After reading his books, here are some of the issues he addresses:

Islam is practiced now in Egypt more than anytime in our 1400 years History since the Kilafa of Siedna Ali and Egyptian Law applies over 95% of Islamic law while omitting women slavery, marital abuse, polygamy and raising the age of marriage, allowing women to work, travel and drive a car etc..

History of Higab and the emancipation of Egyptian women by 1919, How the Egyptian Constitution is Islamic and respects Sharia? Who is the source of our new Badawin? Who is the source of our "Dual Character" of modernism and the oil-financed "neo-Wahabism"? The history of political Islam in this century and how the British tried to lead King Foaud and King Farouk (al-malik al-saleh) to be the Muslims' Kalifa ? Islam is mainly a religion of mercy and morality and has nothing to do with terrorism and social unrest? The righteous, balanced interpretation of the Quran in relation to our national identity, respect to other religions and human rights. Your identity is your nationality -so declares Islam -and so states the UN Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and how Islam differs from the Zionist-racist ideology of mixing religion and politics?

Judge Ashmawy provides his scholarly opinion that Egypt applies 95% of Sharia or Islamic law in a democracy unlike any period in the 1400 years of Islamic History. After Al-Kilafa Al-Rashida no Kalifa was ever elected but it was a kingdom from Amaweeon (Umayyad) to Abbasid Caliphate to Fatimiats to the Ottoman Empire and all Kalifas ruled for life by divine right....

His message is: do not look backwards but look forward, learn, ask for knowledge and only reject from the world civilization the small portion that is not compatible with our culture, respect yourself and your culture but do not dwell on the past. If you think Egypt and most Muslim countries are non-Islamic or Jahilia - because they separate religion from politics , think again; these countries - including Turkey - became secular after a long bitter experience of 1400 years of tyranny.

Ashmawy reminds Muslims that we recite before reading any Surah ÈöÓúãö Çááøåö ÇáÑøóÍúãóäö ÇáÑøóÍöíãö In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Rahma or Mercy -says Ashmawy - is repeated in the Holy Quran more than 70 times; Mercy and Morality are the message of Islam. æÇááå íÞæá : ( æãä íÞäØ ãä ÑÍãÉ ÑÈå ÅáÇ ÇáÖÇáæä ) "If they resort to peace, so shall you, and put your trust in GOD. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient." [8:61] "Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe,the Mercygiving, the Merciful" He adds you need to read the Quran and the dependable "tafseer" like: Al-Tabari, Al-Qurtoby, Al-Zamakshary. We should never be misguided by the fanatics by taking the holy verses out of context to fit in our purposes and ambitions; we need to understand the circumstances and "Asbab al-nuzul" or reasons for revelations ( Is the purpose of the holy text is to answer a question? Is it addressing a particular person? Is it Makia or Madania? Is for a particular situation like war or peace or against a particular group? etc)....

Ashmawy clarifies -with examples and references -that Extremists or "Muslim Brotherhood Gang" benefit from people's ignorance and illiteracy and so they generalize and misquote the Holy Quran. Any of their slogans, if repeated often enough, can come to be accepted as true, especially in a society where half the population is illiterate and the other half displays only a very modest standard of education and culture. The advocates of Medieval fundamentalism speak in the name of God in their pursue to overthrough all governments that do not agree with their school of thought ; they are the sole speaker and interpreter of God's words. They advocate an illusion of a glorious 1400 years that would throw the Muslim World into the darkness and tyrannies of the Middle Ages.

I hope that the majority will perceive him as a religious nationalist who aspire after " an Islamic Rebirth that does not reject the civilization of the day but stands next to it, absorbs from what modern civilization has to offer and perceives Religion as a motivational, powerful force that can contribute to growth and advancement of our people and not to darkness and dependency", "Western civilization should be perceived as a continuation to Islamic civilization" Ma'alem Al-Islam 1988. Also in Reader's Digest he wrote: " This intolerance and violence is not Islam which inspires more than a billion people. The religion the extremists preach is a cover for advancing their political agenda and their lust for power."

Al-Ashmawy begins by explaining how the Ancient Egyptian religion was essentially monotheistic (even before Akhenaten) though there were many aspects of God. An Egyptian religious text that he quoted sounded almost exactly like it could have been an Islamic writing. He then goes on with a long list of similarities between the Ancient Egyptian religion, Judaism, and Christianity. His purpose in this discussion is to point out that since all these religions have a common thread these religions should be able to peacefully coexist. "One religion, many paths." It not a true Islamic belief to reject everyone that is not of the same exact faith, even though over the millennia religion has been one of the greatest causes for war and schism.

Muhammad Said Al-Ashmawy is a former chief justice at the high court at Cairo. Even though I'm sure that some would attack his views as "modernist", he is a true Muslim and extensively cites the Qur'an to justify what he is saying.

After going of the basics of Islamic history, he calls for the politics of a land to be more or less separated from the religion. There should be a civil code based on the religion and with the politics working within this code. Just because the Umma was controlled by the Caliphate in history does not mean it is the only kind of Islamic government. He shows that the Qur'an does not prohibit democracy. This is how he describes a government that will serve Islam: "This government will care about education, culture, science, art, history, literature and civilization. It will encourage cooperation, understanding, planning, constructive labor and self-sacrifice. It will understand Islam as mercy rather than a sword, amity rather than enmity. It will offer Islam to all humankind as a way to God, a method for progress and a path for mercy. This the new and true Islamic government."

In the third portion of the book Al-Ashmawi goes into detail on specific laws that the Qur'an provides. He mentions repeatedly that Shari'a means "path, method, or way" and that what is called Islamic Law today is something that evolved out of Islamic jurisprudence. There are only four ayahs in the Qur'an prescribing particular punishments for crimes. He goes through and explains all the basic legal tenets and their stipulations for being used (punishments, zakat, hijab, jihad, etc). He is not trying to change the Qur'an, only to look at it from a 20th century perspective instead of a 7th century perspective. He willingly admits that not all that was done in Islamic history was perfectly done, and that the key to the future is not necessarily to look to the past. In a very well written conclusion he explains the difference between fanatical, extremist, militant beliefs and the liberal, intellectual, enlightened approach.

"This movement believes that everyone has the right to free speech and to express ideas and opinions the way he or she chooses. If these opinions prove to be correct, they will benefit the community; if not, they should be debated decently and not suppressed by any means.

"Finally this movement believes that men and women have equal rights--the right to free speech, the right to work, and to drive a car. Women should never be under the custody of anyone. If humanity has obligations to God, it also has rights. Humanity's first and major right is to be free, with free mind and free conscience, rather than enslaved by anyone, any political power, any religious group or any false media.

"To the liberal, intellectual, enlightened movement, jihad is self control. If jihad applies to war, it should only be applied for self-defense. To the liberal, intellectual, enlightened movement, each human being is a word of God and is entitled to every human right. To this movement, justice precedes punishment, the spirit is more important than the text and humanity is one community."

If you're an American, this is the Qur'an for you. Good commentary, plus clear, easy to read text. I've purchased both the English and English-Arabic versions.

This is the most helpful Qur'an I have found for Ramadhan, being an American revert to Islam. The book is broken into the 30 Juz for daily reading. I have also purchased the book with the Arabic included as well in the hopes that someday I will be able to read the Holy Qur'an in the original Arabic words.
Each page has notes in the margins to help explain a bit about the history or focal point of the writing which is most helpful since I was not born and raised as a Muslim.
This book is truly a blessing for anyone wishing to understand and study the Qur'an. The translation is clear and easy to understand without flowery language. There are well explained definitions for the most commonly used arabic words and reference list at the back of the book.
I first found this book at a local library and I wish all libraries would have copies on hand.

I have quite a few different English translations of the Qur'an, and I have to say the Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik's is by far the best. I like how he introduces each surah (chapter) with the background and key topics covered in it. It reminds me of the study Bibles I used to read before I reverted. The English used is modern English...no need to translate the English in reading it. :) Easy to Understand. Fun to read. What more do you need?

I would definitely recommend this Qur'an for people interested in Islam looking for a first Qur'an to read... new Reverts to Islam...and native English-speaking Muslims of all ages.

muhammad farooq-i-zan malik translation is unmatched in today's modern english. he gives excellent commentaries on each chapter explaining the histories,evnts,and other useful information that gives the average reader as well as scholars knowlege of the quaran thats pleasant to read!

Professor Mohammad Z. Yakan is to be congratulated for the time, effort and care he put into compiling the Almanac of African Peoples and Nations. This detailed and comprehensive work, describing hundreds of African peoples, will be an indispensable addition to the reference shelf of every African scholar and library." Professor Paul J. Magnarella, Anthropology Department, University of Florida.

"Almanac of African Peoples and Nations promises to be an invaluable addition for any reference library." Rolin Mainuddin, President of the Association of Third World Studies, North Carolina Central University

Annemarie Schimmel has studied Islam for years, writing many important books particularly on the subject of Islamic spirituality. The aim of this book is to explore the love for the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Islamic society. With samples of poetry and prose in praise of the Prophet, it captures some of the affection Muslims have for the man they revere as the "Mercy to Mankind." Although some biographical details appear, the book is not a biography per se. Instead the book represents a historical analysis of Prophet Muhammad's unique place in the life of his followers.

HI MY NAME IS MICHAEL i WANT TO BY THIS BOOK BUT PLEASE GIVE ME A REPORT ABOUT THIS BOOK michaelwsaad@yahoo.com

What subtle writing! When I read this book, I was struck by how ephemeral the imagery is, the strange, half-real world of a boy in circumstances that I consider exotic, the ways that he accepted (and didn't accept) his surroundings. I was struck by the re-occurring images, the melancholy air of the story.

And then I got to the end, and I just burst out crying. All of those little images that seemed interesting but disconnected all came together within the space of a single paragraph, and it's the most powerful paragraph in literature I've read thusfar. I had to set the book down because I was crying so hard. It was a very powerful experience.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a writing style that's different from the traditional western storytelling style, but not so challanging as to be unapproachable. Fans of movies like 'Unbreakable' and 'Signs' will probably appreciate it.

The Essence of Camphor is a wonderful story. It is mesmerizing how closely the childhood memories of a perfumer overlap the imaginary and the real. The camphor base of his perfumes mirror his loneliness, and the loss of a friend - she had said that like camphor, death is a cure for many pains. Most of the other characters appear ghostly or distant, as sometimes adults appear to children. At the same time, the image of the 'camphor sparrow' becomes very real, it literally takes flight from its frame in the living room. It reappears on a tree, reached it is dead -- hollow with ants, or again, sighted flying above the rooftop with a string attached, it is alive and free. These precise images are offset by a sketchy background of families of women where men are mostly absent. The boy-protagonist's adventures are very much his own, and passionate in his creation of objects which to him are 'real', more real probably than things around him. What are his creations and how real are they? Images telegraph back and forth till a sense of the past and the future is blurred, as the house once abandoned where people sat with their heads bowed is later inhabited with people who bring with them a similar uncanny melancholy. In the narrative, camphor becomes a metaphor for healing, for emptiness, for renewal, and for death. Heavily layered, read it carefully. Highly recommended reading!