Category: Book Reviews

Book Review: Hanafi Principles of Testing Hadith

Bilal Ali11 Comments

Review by: Waqar Akbar Cheema

Title: Hanafi Principles of Testing Hadith 
Author: Atabek Shukurov An-Nasafi / Sulaiman Ahmed (translator)  
Publisher: Avicenna Academy, UK  
Release Date: May 1, 2015  
Format: Hardback  
Pages: ix + 311  

The book is allegedly an attempt at revival of hanafi methdology in hadith. However, in reality far from representing the hanafi school’s actual approach it is an attempt at putting a ‘scholarly’ garb on compromising hadith as a source of Islamic law and etiquette in view of the pressing polemics and criticism coming from a different world-view.

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New Release: What the Living Can Do for the Dead by White Thread Press

Faraz Abdul MoidLeave a comment

al-Salam ‘alaykum,What-the-Living

White Thread Press recently released a new publication which covers concepts of eschatology, procedures for funeral, burial, last rites, and practices related to the deceased (such as īsāl al-thawāb, atonements, debts) and graveyards:

What the Living Can Do for the Dead
According to the Qur’an and Sunna and the Opinions of the Classical Scholars of Islam
By Dr. Shahrul Hussain

Pages: 175
Format: Softcover
Dimensions: 5.5″ x 8.5″
Pub. Date: June 2016
ISBN: 978-1-93-376414-6Read More »

The Life of Muhammad: A Critique of Guillaume’s English Translation

Bilal Ali2 Comments

By Dr. ‘Abdul Latif Tibawi

Professor Guillaume is not merely offering a translation of the received text of the biography of Muhammad, as recorded by Ibn Hisham from al-Bakka’i, from Ibn Ishaq. His work is a translation of his own reconstruction of Ibn Ishaq ….

… one gathers from the concluding words on page v that the translator hopes that his translation will ‘help to further cooperation and friendliness between my country and the Islamic world.’ This is an aim which is, of course, more expedient than academic, but it is nevertheless a commendable one, formulated as it is by a student of Islam who is at the same time an Anglican clergyman. It is difficult, however, to see how a profane transformation of the received text of the life of Muhammad such as is attempted by Professor Guillaume is likely to commend itself to the Islamic world.Read More »

Book Review: Janāb Gurū Nānak Jī awr Islām

Bilal Ali5 Comments

﷽

Fārūq, Muḥammad, Janāb Gurū Nānak Jī ؒ awr Islām, Maktaba Maḥmūdiyya, UP (1431/2010), 80 pages, paperback.

Review by Shahin-ur Rahman

Concise and easy to read, this succinct treatise on comparative religion offers a profound insight into the life of Gurū Nānak, who is believed to be the founder of the Sikh religion. Targeting the objective Sikh observer, the author presents a well-referenced Urdu biography of Gurū Nānak, proving him to be not only a Muslim, but a knowledgeable Muslim leader.

It should be known that the objective of the book was not to celebrate Gurū Nānak and boast that he adhered to the same religion as the author does.[1] Rather, quite the opposite is true: the author’s intent behind this work was to bring forth anecdotes of Gurū Nānak’s biography, which can assist the objective researcher in identifying the true teachings of Gurū Nānak as he himself taught. This would, in turn, be a means of guiding the Sikh brethren to reconsider their perception of Sikhism, and, thereby, adopt the religion that Gurū Nānak had truly preached. This is evident from the ‘food for thought’ at the end of the booklet, where the author requests the Sikh brethren to read this book side by side with the original sources and compare the two to reach an unbiased conclusion.[2]Read More »

The Study Quran Review: Gibril Fouad Haddad

Bilal Ali7 Comments
[The Muslim World Book Review, 36:3, 2016, pp. 20–25]
 
Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al., ed. The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. New York: Harper Collins, 2015. Hardback. lix + 1988pp. Maps. ISBN: 978–0–06–112586–7.
 
This book is the magnum opus of Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University Seyyed Hossein Nasr (b. 1933), an expert on Islamic philosophy and the history of science and the heir apparent of the syncretist Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) as head of the Maryamiyya Order, a universalist movement based on the so–called Traditionalist School. (“Traditionalism” is a Western adaptation of Hinduism that negates claims of Truth  by any religion through relativizing all of them; I will refer to its ideology in this review by the term Perennialism.) It is a well–crafted, mostly North American project that lumps several works in a single hefty volume printed on extra–thin India paper: an original English rendering of the Qur’n; a first–ever, rich anthology in English from 41 works of Quranic commentary with an embedded 42nd, original commentary on the part of Nasr, who terms it “not simply a collage of selections but a new work” (p. xliii); and the mismatched last part, 15 essays on the Qur’n by a mixed group of academics—three of whom are also the book’s general editors— “included… at the suggestion of the publisher… the essays are in a sense a separate book… an independent work” (p. xlv).
Read the rest of the review….
[Featured image source: CNN]

Saviours of Islamic Spirit – Revised Translation Released by White Thread Press

Faraz Abdul Moid7 Comments

The much anticipated revised English translation of Saviours of Islamic Spirit (Tarikh-i Da’wat wa Azimat) by Shaykh Abu ‘l-Hasan Ali al-Nadwi (ra) has been released by White Thread Press.

The work was originally rendered into English by the late Mohiuddin Ahmad (may Allah have mercy upon his soul), who has also translated other works of Shaykh Nadwi (ra). The initial publication of that translation was released by the Academy of Islamic Research & Publications (Lucknow, India). A later publication of the same translation – without editing – was done by Darul Ishaat (Karachi, Pakistan). May Allah (SWT) reward them as they were the only conduits through which this highly regarded work was available to the English-speaking audience.

Notwithstanding, some of the language in the translation had become archaic. Also, the original publication’s quality was in much need of revamping in regards to the typesetting, print, paper quality, binding, cover, etc. White Thread Press embarked upon this project some time back, and we had been eagerly awaiting news of its progress. 

All praise belongs to Allah (SWT) who brought the project to fruition. Mufti Abdur-Rahman Ibn Yusuf Mangera (may Allah bless and accept him) revised and edited the work, and it has now been released by White Thread Press.

Currently, only the 1st volume is published and available. We pray and hope that WTP continues to pursue the editing and publishing of the remainder volumes to complete the entire series (containing the biographies of Ibn Taymiyya, Nizāmuddin Awliya, Mujaddid Alf-Thāni, Shah Walīullah, Syed Ahmad Shahīd, and more).

Table of Contents

Pages: 282

Format: Softcover

Dimensions: 6″ x 9″

ISBN: 978-1-93-376413-9

Sample Excerpt