A brief history of the Dar al-‘Ulum in Deoband in the Urdu language. For those who are unable to read Urdu, this would be a good project for the Urdu-capable to translate and share with others. Besides the history of the school, students will also find other benefits such as the original curriculum of the madrasah.

https://attahawi.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/tareekh-darul-uloom-deoband.pdf

Recently, someone was searching for a suggested reading list for English books that I had posted some years ago. I was able to locate it for them, but also suggested that they consider searching for the reading lists of some of the most well-read Muslim scholars I am aware of. I was referring to a few reading lists that I have come across over the years, which I believe are quite robust and cover incredible ground, including those of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad. Below I am linking a 2009 compilation by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, which I am sure could be updated with a long list of more recent additions.

Click to access TJ%20Winter%20Booklist.pdf

Beginners:

Abdel, Haleem M. A., trans. The Qurʼan (New York: Oxford UP, 2005).

Du Pasquier, Roger. Unveiling Islam (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1990).

Emre, Yunus. The City of the Heart: Yunus Emre’s Verses of Wisdom and Love. trans. Süha Faiz (Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element, 1992).

al-Haddad, Abdullah. The Book of Assistance (London: Quilliam Press, 1989). Hammad, Ahmad Zaki. Lasting Prayers of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (Bridgeview, IL: Quranic Literacy Institute, 1996).

Hofmann, Murad Wilfried. Islam: the alternative (Reading: Garnet, 1993).

Ibrahim, Izzedien and Denys Johnson-Davies. trans. Forty Hadith (Beirut, 1983).

Khan, Maulana Wahiduddin. Islam and Peace (New Delhi: Goodword, 1999).

Lawrence, Bruce. The Qur’an: a biography (New York, 2007).

Lings, Martin. Muhammad: his biography based on the earliest sources (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1986).

Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris. The Muslim Marriage Guide (London: Quilliam, 1995). Masri, Al-Hafiz Basheer Ahmad. Animal Welfare in Islam (3rd ed. Leicester: Islamic Foundation, 2007).

Murad, Abdal Hakim. Muslim Songs of the British Isles, Arranged for Schools (London: Quilliam Press, 2005).

al-Nawawī, Yaḥyā Ibn-Šaraf. Al-Maqasid: Imam Nawawi’s Manual of Islam. trans. Noah H. Keller (Evanston: Sunna Books, 1994). English translation and appendices by Sheikh Noah Ha Mim Keller.

Schleifer, Aliah. Mary the Blessed Virgin of Islam (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1998).

Shalabi, Abdul Wadod. Islam Religion of Life (London: Quilliam Press, 1990). Stockton, Peter. Transcending Jerusalem (Stockton, 2008). Web. <http://www.transcendingjerusalem.com&gt;.

Tawfiq, Idris. Gardens of Delight: A Simple Introduction to Islam (London: Stacey International, 2007).

Winter, Tim, and John A. Williams. Understanding Islam and the Muslims: The Muslim Family and Islam and World Peace. (Louiville KY: Fons Vitae, 2002).

Wolfe, Michael. The Hadj: an American’s pilgrimage to Mecca (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993).

Wolfe, Michael, ed. Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim their Faith (New York: Rodale, 2002).

Yusuf, Hamza. The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (Hayward CA: Zaytuna, 2007). Intermediate

Akhtar, Shabbir. A Faith for All Seasons: Islam and the challenge of the modern world (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1990).

al-Akiti, Shaykh Muhammad Afifi. Defending the Transgressed by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians (U.K.: Aqsa Press, and Germany: Warda Publications, 2005).

Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Quran (new edition, London: The Book Foundation, 2008).

Ayub, Muhammad. Understanding Islamic Finance (New York: Wiley, 2008). Burckhardt, Titus. Art of Islam: language and meaning. Commemorative edition (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2009).

Esposito, John and Mogahed, Dalia. Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think (New York: Gallup Press, 2007).

Hallaq, Wael B. Islamic Legal Theories: an introduction to Sunni usul al-fiqh. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

al-Hanbali, Ibn Rajab. The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom (London: Turath Publishing, 1428/2007).

Helminski, Camille Adams. Women of Sufism: a Hidden Treasure (Boston: Shambala, 2003).

Izetbegovic, Alija. Islam between East and West (Indianapolis: American Trust Publications, 1984).

al-Jawziyya, Ibn Qayyim. The Invocation of God: al-Wabil al-Sayyib min al-Kalim al- Tayyib. Tr. Michael Abdurrahman Fitzgerald and Moulay Youssef Slitine (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2000).

Kamali, Mohammed Hashim. The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2002).

Legenhausen, Muhammad Islam and Religious Pluralism (London: Al-Hoda, 1999). Lumbard, Joseph E.B. ed. Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition (Bloomington IN: World Wisdom, 2004).

Mahmutcehagic, Rusmir. The Mosque: the heart of submission (Fordham: Fordham University Press, 2007).

Momen, M An Introduction to Shii Islam (London: George Ronald, 1999).

Roald, Anne Sofie. Women in Islam: the Western experience (London: Routledge, 2001).

Sheikh, Aziz and Gatrad, Abdul Rashid. eds. Caring for Muslim Patients. Second edition (Abingdon: Radcliffe, 2008).

Siddiqi, Muhammad Zubayr. Hadith Literature: its origin, development and special features (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1993).

Tura, M. Nusret. The Path of Love (Istanbul: Insan, 2008).

Winter, Timothy. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Yaran, Cafer S. Understanding Islam (Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2007).

Advanced

Açar, Halil Rahman. Is Scientific Knowledge Rational? (Istanbul: Insan, 2008). Açıkgenç, Alparslan. Being and Existence in Sadra and Heidegger (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1993).

Akhtar, Shabbir. The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam (London: Routledge, 2007).

Bakar, Osman. Classification of Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1998)

Hacinebioglu, Ismail Latif. Does God Exist? Logical foundations of the cosmological argument (Istanbul: Insan, 2008).

Iskenderoglu, Muammer. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and Thomas Aquinas on the Question of the Eternity of the World (Leiden: E.J.W. Brill, 2002).

Jackson, Sherman A. On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s Faysal al-Tafriqa (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002).

Kamali, Muhammad Hashim. Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1997).

Koshul, Basit Bilal and Kepnes, Steven, eds. Scripture, Reason and the Contemporary Islam-West Encounter: Studying the ‘Other’, Understanding the ‘Self’ (New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

al-Misri, Ibn Naqib. Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. Trans. Nuh Keller (Beltsville: Amana, 1993).

Murad, Abdal Hakim. Bombing without Moonlight: the Origins of Suicidal Terrorism (Bristol: Amal Press, 2008).

Murata, Sachiko. The Tao of Islam: a sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992).

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein and Leaman, Oliver, eds. History of Islamic Philosophy (New edition. London: Routledge, 2001).

al-Said, Labib. The Recited Koran: a history of the first recorded version (Princeton: Darwin Press, 1975).

Sentürk, Recep. Narrative Social Structure: Anatomy of the Hadith Transmission Network 610-1505 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005).

al-Shafi’i. Al-Shafi’i’s Risala: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, tr. Majid Khadduri (Repr. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1987).

Shihadeh, Ayman, ed. Sufism and Theology (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007).

Shihadeh, Ayman. The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (Leiden: E.J.W. Brill, 2006).

Yazdi, Mehdi Ha’iri. The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy (Albany NY: State University of New York Press, 1992).

Review by Mawlana Abu Asim Badrul Islam

Title:  Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-Karkhi Author: Imām Abu ‘l-Ḥusayn al-Qudūri (b. 362 AH/973 CE) Editor:  Dr. ῾Abd Allāh Nadhῑr Aḥmad Genre:  Ḥanafi fiqh Publisher:  Asfār (Kuwait) Year of publication:  1443/2022 (1st edition) Number of volumes:  9

عنوان الكتاب : شرح مختصر الكرخي المؤلف : الإمام أبو الحسين أحمد بن محمد القدوري البغدادي المحقق : د. عبد الله نذير أحمد عبد الرحمن الموضوع : الفقه الحنفي الناشر : أسفار (الكويت) سنة النشر : 1443 هـ _ 2022م رقم الطبعة :1 عدد المجلدات : 9

Title:  Sharḥ al-Jāmi῾ al-Ṣaghῑr Author: Imām Fakhr al-Dῑn al-Ḥasan ibn Manṣūr al-Auzjandi al-Farghāni (d. 592 AH/1196 CE) – known as Qāḍῑkhān Editor:  Dr. ῾Abd Allāh Nadhῑr Aḥmad Genre:  Ḥanafi fiqh Publisher:  Ismaeel Books (United Kingdom) Year of publication:  1443/2022 (1st edition) Number of volumes:  3

عنوان الكتاب : شرح الجامع الصغير المؤلف : الإمام فخر الدين الحسن بن منصور الأوزجندي الفرغاني المعروف بقاضيخان المحقق : د. عبد الله نذير أحمد عبد الرحمن الموضوع : الفقه الحنفي الناشر : مكتبة إسماعيل (بريطانيا) سنة النشر : 1443 هـ _ 2022م رقم الطبعة :1 عدد المجلدات : 3

Title:  Sharḥ al-Jāmi῾ al-Ṣaghῑr Author: Imām Abu Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abi Sahl Aḥmad al-Sarakhsi (b. 400 AH/1009 CE) Editor:  Dr. Ertugrul Boynukalin Genre:  Ḥanafi fiqh Publisher:  Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayinlari (Turkey) & Dār al-Rayāḥῑn (Beirut/Amman) Year of publication:  1443/2021 (1st and 2nd editions) Number of volumes:  2

عنوان الكتاب : شرح الجامع الصغير المؤلف : الإمام أبو بكر محمد بن أبي سهل أحمد السرخسي المحقق : أ. د. أرطغرل بونيكالن الموضوع : الفقه الحنفي الناشر : نشريات وقف الديانة التركي (تركيا) و دار الرياحين (بيروت\عمان) سنة النشر : 1443 هـ _ 2021م رقم الطبعة : 1 و 2 عدد المجلدات : 2

شرح مختصر الكرخي للإمام القدوري ط. أسفار
Published in nine large and beautiful volumes (each volume comprising 650-700
pages) by Asfār (Kuwait), this is the first time this monumental work of a leading and
authoritative imam of the ḥanafi legal school (madhhab) is being published. It is the detailed commentary of the short fiqh text (mukhtaṣar) of another yet greater and
earlier (by a century) imām of the school.
Imām Abu ‘l-Ḥasan al-Karkhi – b. 260 AH (874 CE) – of Iraq and Imām Abu ‘l-
Ḥusayn al-Qudūri – b. 362 AH (973 CE) – of Baghdad (Iraq) require no introduction
to scholars and students of knowledge of the ḥanafi school, and to scholars of the
other three schools.
This beautiful edition has been produced using five manuscripts. The researcher-
editor, Shaykh Dr. ῾Abd Allāh Nadhῑr Aḥmad of King ῾Abd al-῾Azῑz University
(Jeddah), states that he relied mainly on two of these manuscripts and consulted a
third when needed. He also sporadically consulted the other two partial and poor-
quality manuscripts.
The overall quality of the print, in terms of the paper, binding, design, font etc., is
very good. This is reflected in the current price tag of £150 for 9 volumes, here in the
UK. On the downside, as with the researcher-editor’s recent first ever publication of
شرح مختصر الطحاوي (Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-Ṭaḥāwi) by Imām al-Isbῑjābi in four large
volumes, it is very difficult (practically impossible) for the reader to ascertain where
the original text (matn) of the author (Imām Karkhi) begins and ends, and where the
commentary of Imām Qudūri begins and ends. He explains in his introduction (p. 10)
that the reason for this is that the commentator, Imām Qudūri, per the style of many
commentators during that period, has not indicated where the original text of the
author is and where his own commentary begins and ends. The result is that the two
works – the original text (matn) and the commentary (sharḥ) – have been diluted.
This makes the reading experience frustrating, unless you read it as if the entire
book is written by Imām Qudūri. Any attempt to demarcate the text from the
commentary is further compounded by the fact that the original text of Imām Karkhi,
as a separate and independent work, has been lost.
The other shortcoming, in my view, is the overall academic value of the editor’s
footnotes. They contain mainly brief takhrῑj of the aḥādῑth in the earlier volumes, and
a few comments here and there in the later volumes. The researcher-editor excuses
himself for doing so, citing the need for brevity and avoidance of unnecessary
expansion of the book. Some may like this while others not. My personal preference
– and this is something not every student of fiqh may agree with – is to have a
moderate level of cross-referencing and explanatory notes (with references),
wherever there is a need for this. I also like a moderate level of ḥadῑth takhrῑj in the
footnotes, but not dumping everything that one can copy and paste from electronic
sources like Maktabah Shāmilah! A moderate level of pointing out differences in the
manuscripts used, wherever these occur, is also interesting and beneficial, in my
view. Doing so is part and parcel of the preservation of the original academic
heritage. This must all be moderate, which, of course, is a relative and subjective
term. Having browsed through the volumes, I am conscious that many may feel that
this is precisely what the researcher-editor of this current publication has done, and
that it is how it ought to be – وللناس في ما يعشقون مذاهب. The researcher-editor’s other
work – Sharḥ al-Jāmi῾ al-Ṣaghῑr by Imām Qāḍῑkhān – which has been published
around the same time (see my comments below) fares worse in this regard. It
contains very few footnotes.
In terms of the contents of the book, I must admit that I found it much richer than I
had anticipated. Without any doubt, this is one of the most detailed works of the early
jurists of the ḥanafi legal school – especially, of the ῾Irāqi branch of the school. Imām
Qudūri goes into tremendous depth in expounding each mas̕alah (ruling). He
presents the various opinions of the imāms within the ḥanafi school and some who
were not adherents to the school, scrutinises, comments and gives preference.
Some of these are opinions of imāms, which have not been recorded elsewhere. He
also presents the opinions of the imāms of the other three schools of sunni
jurisprudence with their evidences and legal theories – especially, the shāfi῾i school,
which has historically been the second most dominant school in the world after the
ḥanafi school and seen as its main rival in jurisprudence – before strongly critiquing
and refuting them with textual evidences from the Qur̕ān and ḥadῑth, and
logical/intellectual evidences. The book is rich in this, and, as such, is a treasure
trove for scholars and students alike.
Imām Qudūri has added a huge amount of additional topics to what Imām Karkhi has
included in his text. Often, where Imām Qudūri feels Imām Karkhi’s topics and sub-
topics are incomplete or imbalanced, he has pointed this out and added extra
material, clearly marked as his own.
In analysing and commentating on each mas̕alah, Imām Qudūri also presents a lot of
elucidation from Arabic lexicography (lughah) and Qur̕ānic exegesis (tafsῑr), making
his own comments as he does so.
Overall, this is an excellent publication, marking another milestone in the growing
field of preservation of ḥanafi academic heritage specifically, and Islamic heritage
generally. The money spent on the book will be very well invested, in-shā̕Allāh.
Considering the very lofty status of the author (Imām Karkhi) and the commentator
(Imām Qudūri) within and beyond the ḥanafi legal school, the early period that they
were both from, and the comprehensiveness, depth, overall richness and
encyclopaedic nature of this work, one may draw similarities and a parallel with the
first ever publication of the eight-volume Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-Ṭaḥāwi in 1431 AH
(2010 CE) – the author being the magnificent imām of the ḥanafi school, Imām Abu
Ja῾far al-Ṭaḥāwi (d. 321 AH/933 CE), and the commentator, Imām Abu Bakr al-
Jaṣṣāṣ al-Rāzi (d. 370 AH/981 CE).

---

The second work:
شرح الجامع الصغير للإمام قاضيخان ط. مكتبة إسماعيل – also published for the first time in three
beautiful volumes by Ismaeel Books (UK) from Beirut, is the famous commentary of
one of the most authoritative fuqahā̕ (jurists) of the ḥanafi legal school on the Al-
Jāmi῾ al-Ṣaghῑr (الجامع الصغير) of Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybāni, the
student of the greatest imām – Abu Ḥanῑfah al-Nu῾mān. Al-Jāmi῾ al-Ṣaghῑr is one of
the five pivotal and foundational texts of the ḥanafi legal school – all authored by
Imām Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan.
Imām Qāḍῑkhān (or Qāḍi Khān) – d. 592 AH (1196 CE) – of Fergana, modern day
Uzbekistan, also requires no introduction to scholars and students of the ḥanafi
school.
رحمهم الله تعالى جميعاً ورضي عنهم
This coincides with the first ever publication of another commentary on Imām
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybāni’s Al-Jāmi῾ al-Ṣaghῑr by another towering figure
amongst the ḥanafi fuqahā῾ of the early centuries – Shams al-A̕immah Imām
Sarakhsi – b. 400 AH (1009 CE). That commentary has been researched by Dr.
Ertugrul Boynukalin and jointly published by Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayinlari (Turkey)
& Dār al-Rayāḥῑn (Beirut/Amman), the former – a part of a governmental
department/ministry for religious affairs – has dedicated commendable resources for
these projects in recent years.
This edition has been produced from just a single manuscript that has been
preserved in Istanbul, and which is of an overall poor quality. The researcher-editor
describes how the weakness of the copyist’s Arabic is evident from the manuscript
and how he had to fill in gaps using Imām Sarakhsi’s most famous work, the 30-
volume Al-Mabsūt, and other ḥanafi works.
It is amazing that we are seeing these monumental works of the guardians and
defenders of the Dῑn and Sharῑ῾ah being published today, during our lifetime – in
some cases (e.g., the text of Imām Karkhi incorporated in the commentary of Imām
Qudūri) more than 1100 years after they were authored. There have been many
such publications in recent years, and there are more expected in the coming years.
May Allāh Most Gracious reward the great authors and those contemporary research
scholars who are working so tirelessly on these projects.

Abu Asim Badrul Islam
Northampton, ENGLAND
12 Dhu ‘l-Qa῾dah 1443/12 June 2022