By the grace of Allah Most Magnificent, the world has witnessed in recent times an unprecedented Islamic awakening. Just as Muslims are rediscovering their iman, non- Muslims have been intrigued by the Deen of Allah and ever growing numbers have been embracing Islam. With all this, the proliferation and dissemination of knowledge of the sacred sciences of Islam has too been unprecedented. Consequently, works of the great ‘ulama of Islam are being discovered, researched and brought out into the light of day through advanced modern publishing like never before. The list of such works would be very exhaustive indeed, as almost every other week brings news of yet another great publication. Below is a list of some recent publications that I had made for a friend who had gone book shopping after his Hajj in Madinah Munawwarah and had asked for recommendations. These are by no means all the books that have been published in such high quality in recent years; they are ones that I have purchased or am familiar with.

Abu Asim Badrul Islam 20 October 2014

تفسير روح المعاني

ت: مجموعة من المختصين والباحثين ط. مؤسسة الرسالة

03 مجلدات

The best and most authentic edition of this encyclopaedic exegesis of the Holy Qur’an. Expanding over 30 separate volumes, work on this edition was originally commenced by a group of researchers at Al-Imam al-A’zam College (Baghdad University?) and later adopted by Mu’assassat al-Risalah’s own team of researchers who reviewed and improved it to meet its high standards before publication. Truly a most beautiful edition of a magnificent exegesis of the Qur’an. I already had a previous edition of this great tafsir in 16 large volumes. One of the distinct qualities of this 30-volume edition is that the researchers have gone to great lengths in adding modern Arabic punctuation, diacritical marks, paragraphing etc. This makes a world of difference in the reading experience of what is to students and scholars alike one of the toughest works of tafsir to engage with. They have relied mainly on one manuscript, but have had recourse to others too. This is the manuscript kept at the library of Ahmad (Ahmet) the third. This is a manuscript which, they claim, was compared with the handwritten original of the author, Imam Sayyid Mahmud al-Alusi al-Baghdadi (rah.). Due to the strength in authenticity of this manuscript, the researchers dismiss the historical allegation of Ahmad Khayri in his footnote to ‘Allamah Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari’s Maqalat that the ‘salafi’ son of the author may have tampered with his father’s work after his demise.

Although the typeset is very good, I personally thought the paper could have been slightly better than the light economy quality cream coloured paper that has been used by the publisher and the calligraphy on the cover could have been better. They could have spent a bit more money and used the services of the two or three calligraphers that Dar al-Qalam and Dar al-Basha’ir often use for the cover texts of their publications.