Reviving The Balance

Written by a number of Islamic religious authorities and Muslim scholars, this work presents the views and teachings of mainstream Sunni and Shi’i Islam on the subject of jihad. It authoritatively presents jihad as it is understood by the majority of the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims in the world today, and supports this understanding with extensive detail and scholarship. No word in English evokes more fear and misunderstanding than “jihad.” To date the books that have appeared on the subject in English by Western scholars have been either openly partisan and polemical or subtly traumatized by so many acts and images of terrorism in the name of jihad and by the historical memory of nearly 1,400 years of confrontation between Islam and Christianity. Though jihad is the central concern of War and Peace in Islam: The Uses and Abuses of Jihad, the range of the essays is not confined exclusively to the study of jihad. The work is divided into three parts: War and Its Practice, Peace and Its Practice, and Beyond Peace: The Practice of Forbearance, Mercy, Compassion and Love. The book aims to reveal the real meaning of jihad and to rectify many of the misunderstandings that surround both it and Islam’s relation with the “Other.”

Reviews:

“A dynamic myth-busting clarification of the real position of mainstream orthodox Islam on the whole question of violence and jihad.” —T. J. Winter, University of Cambridge

“This is the best book on the subject in English. It will be of inestimable value.” —Shaykh Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti Emeritus of Bosnia

Formal prayer (salat) is the second pillar of Islam, and the most important of a Muslim’s acts of worship. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “The first of one’s actions for which a slave of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment will be one’s prayers. If they are correct and accounted for, then he (or she) will have succeeded (gained paradise); and if they are lacking, then he (or she) will have failed (lost paradise). If there is something defective in his (or her) obligatory prayers, the Lord will say: ‘See if my slave has any supererogatory prayers with which that which was defective in his (or her) obligatory prayers may be completed. Then the rest of his (or her) deeds will be judged in like manner.” (At-Tirmidhi and others) Shaykh Mashhur Hasan Salman has compiled a list of the most common errors that we make when we pray, discussing and explaining each one. This book is a valuable aid to Muslims hoping to perfect their prayers, so that their prayers may be free of defects and acceptable to Allah. This new and revised edition of the English translation of his work presents the text in a fluent, highly readable style.

In this book, the author has widely described the main principle of Taqleed. He says that Allah and Prophet Mohammed (SAW) has not ordered us to follow any opinions and interpretations. So there’s a possibility of being correct or incorrect in the opinions because there are many issues on which the Imams had different views and they explain them according to their own reasons and speculations, but the real and true Islam is based on the book (Quran) and Prophet’s Sunnah.

Allah says: “But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith until they make you judge in all disputed matters between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decision, and accept them with full submission.” And the prophet said: “I leave you with two things as long as you hold them tightly, you never go astray: they are the book of Allah and my Sunnah.” In this sense, the author has described the difference between different Madhahib (madhabs/mazhabs), and their views and urged to follow only the Quran and Sunnah.

This book offers a detailed presentation of the theory of Muslim law (usul al-figh). Often regarded as the most sophisticated of the traditional Islamic disciplines, Muslim jurisprudence is concerned with the way in which the rituals and laws of religion are derived from the Qur’an and the Sunna – the precedent of the Prophet. Revelation, which is given to man to restore unity and help him achieve a just and devout order in society as well as in the soul, must be interpreted so as to render it practicable in every culture, while not betraying its spirit and immutable provisions. To achieve this, additional sources of legal authority are recognized, including consensus (ijma), analogical deduction (qiyas), public interest (maslaha) and local customary precedent (urf). In employing these, the jurist guards the five principles which it is the purpose of Islamic law to uphold, namely, the right to life, sound mind, property, lineage and religion.