Islam A Total Beginners Guide – Part Three (P/B)

Often, the first thing someone is asked when they discover the truth and embrace Islam is the question: Why Islam? Here, an American revert-to-Islam answers that question. The author, K. Sherman, writes: The beauty of Islam is probably the best-kept secret in modern times; it is about time it was revealed. This is the sentiment of a majority of people who are discovering the truth about Islam every day. My first exposure to the religion was through a perusal of a fifty-page booklet titled Towards Understanding Islam (written in 1932). It explained to me everything that twenty years of life and fifteen years of education could not. After the initial sense of relief, I suddenly felt cheated. I was consumed with rage. Why? I could not fathom how people could know about this phenomenal way of life and not speak out and inform others. This book is my personal take on the beauty of Islam, backed up by relevant and authentic references. I am convinced that humanity direly needs it and it is my duty to speak out.

New Directions in Islamic Education explores the relationship between pedagogy and the formation of religious identities within Islamic education settings that are based in minority and majority Muslim contexts. Based on empirical research, the book engages critically with the philosophical, theological and cultural dynamics that inform Muslim educational thought and practice. The book offers an integrated model of Islamic education that identifies the heart of the Islamic educational imagination as tarbiyah, a transformative process of becoming. Overall, this book seeks to ground the theory and practice of Islamic education within the experience of the educator and the learner, and it synthesises the spiritual foundations of Islam with the tradition of critical reflection within the classical Muslim educational heritage. This ground breaking and wide-ranging work should be of interest not only to Muslim educators and education specialists, but also to social scientists, theologians and policy makers.

Some thinkers has said, ‘A smattering of knowledge turns people away from God. Grater knowledge brings  them back to Him’. The author concludes in this book by examining various theories that the choice humanity have is not between the universe with God and the universe with God and the  universe without God. The real option is between the universe with God and no universe at all. Therefore humanity is compelled to opt for the proposition the universe with God. Hence it is logical to say I exist, therefore, God exists.

Written originally by Ibn Qayyim Al-Jauziyyah is one of the important resources of knowledge for those who seek to know the Seerah of their Prophet (P.B.U.H) as well as the Fiqh learned from it. This is a book that is unique in that it explains the Sunnah through the Seerah and the Seerah through the Sunnah. It is a profound classic work containing thousands of pages written by Imam ibn al-Qayyam while on the Hajj journey, Pilgrimage, from Damascus to Makkah. Despite its being written from memory, the several thousand incidents, Hadiths, Ayat (verses of the Quran), Fiqh benefits, as well as names of the companions associated with them, were remarkably close to the truth with marginal errors.

However, those who know the status, level of knowledge ad Ta’hqiq that Imam ibn al-Qayyim had will not be surprised to know this fact. Still, it is amazing how Ibn Al-Qayyim was able to write this vast volume while traveling to Hajj (Pilgrimage), especially since he was away from the resources of knowledge and was enduring the hardships of travel. It is a blessing from Allah (S.A.T) that it was possible for him to do so. Note: As with Many English Translations this work appears to be slightly abridged but it seems to cover most of the subjects Note : With the Lack of English works covering Hanbali Fiqh , This Books would be the nearest alternative. Although not a Specifically Fiqh Book, Ibn Qayyim’s views which are based on Hanbali Fiqh are quoted throughout.

A lengthy process, rich in remarkable and thought-provoking events, including compelling encounters with Islamic philosophy, led the author to embrace Islam. His experiences since that time – such as his pilgrimages to Makkah – further deepened his understanding of, and identification with, this “fastest growing religion in Europe.” This “Diary” is, however, much more than a recorded soliloquy. It is a lively introduction to Islam as such – developed in the spiritual confrontation of a Muslim intellectual of European background with the ideology and value system of post-industrial western society.