Growing a Beard (IIPH)

Psychology, with all its by-products and off shoots, has assumed in the West the status of religion, and for many people has replaced it. As in other areas of social sciences, some Muslim thinkers and scholars have developed an amazing skill for the unthinking repetition and blind copying of Western, non-Islamic ideas and practices. “In the Lizard’s Hole” is a Prophetic epitaph that describes this activity very well. Some Muslim psychologists insist dogmatically on prying even into lizard’s holes that have been partly or totally abandoned by their Western counterparts. But do Muslims really need modern psychology at all? Is modern psychology wholly Western? Is there a way in which it could be reconciled with Islam? These burning questions lie lurking behind the dilemma of Muslim psychologists.

The Qur’an is a book of guidance for all of humanity, and Allah has promised that He will preserve it in its original pristine form until the Day of Judgment. The inimitable style of the Qur’aan and the superior wisdom in it are definitive evidences that it is the Word of God. Besides, the Qur’an has many miraculous verses proving that it is undoubtedly a revelation from God and not the work of a human.

Although the Qur’an is not just a book of science, it clearly states a number of scientific truths that were uncovered only with the help of modern technology in the 20th century. How can we explain the numerous scientific facts mentioned in its verses over 1400 years ago?

Time after time, respected scientists and renowned experts from all over the world, upon studying the verses of the Qur’an (Quraan) have had no other choice but to acknowledge that there were no means of knowing these scientific facts 1400 years ago. The only way they could have reached us is through revelation: proving that the Qur’an is the word of God.

Just as scientists and researchers are fascinated by the wealth of knowledge and depth of meaning carried in the verses of the Qur’an (Koran/Coran), modern readers too will find a great deal of benefit in the amazing information and insight offered by this book.

This book presents a thematic treatment of Islamic civilisation. Each of the fourteen chapters comprising this book treats at least one of the major themes that are characteristic of this youngest religiously-based civilisation of the world.