[AH] Sunan Abu Dawood (Ar Risalah Naashirun) / سنن ابي داود

Being a teenager is not an easy business.You’re told you are “too young” to do half the things you want to do; your mother is always asking you to tidy your room: your father is always reminding you to pray; your younger sister is annoying you when all you want is some PEACE AND QUIET … You are not sure if it’s everyone else that is going mad or you.

Luckily, Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood in on hand. Having a wealth of experience as a teacher and an ‘agony aunt’, she understands the minefields that are the teenage years. This book is a light-hearted, humorous, but above all, sympathetic pointer to coping with teenage life as a Muslim.

From the translator, Nasiruddin al-Khattab: In a world plagued with wars, racism, political turmoil, economic downturns and social anguish, many people are looking for an alternative in which justice, freedom, decency and common sense will prevail. Such societies have existed in the past, in the golden eras of Islamic civilization, and we have the hope that, if Allah wills, such a society may appear again. In The Ideal Muslim Society, Dr. Muhammad ‘Ali al-Hashimi gives us a detailed picture of what this society would look like. Drawing on his extensive research of Islamic history and contrasting the ideal with the sorry state of affairs in human societies today, he explores the religious, political, economic, social and other facets of this ideal society, illustrating everything from the responsibilities of those in authority to the interactions between individuals on the humblest levels. For those who are longing to see a better world, this book offers practical ideas and hope.

Shaykh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid’s little book is perhaps one of the most widely-circulated among Muslims today. This is because the topic touches worshippers where it hurts—we know that we often lapse into an automatic sort of prayer when we lose concentration. The Shaykh points out that this loss of concentration really stems from a lack of humility and devotion—in Arabic, khushoo‘. His aim in writing this book is to help us to get back that khushoo‘. His step-by-step approach makes it simple. He gives practical advice and uses the excellent example of the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) to guide us, so that as worshippers, we can truly return to a state of humility and devotion before the Lord.