The Eighth Scroll

This book is an account of the author’s adventurous journey in the Arab world, and about his ‘home-coming’ to Islam. This book is more than an autobiography, which the Times Literary Supplement calls a “narrative of great power and beauty”.

Darussalam is proud to present the abridged English translation of the classic work: Al-Bidayah wan Nihayah, which covers the Caliphate of Bani Umayyah. It starts from the rule of Mu’awiyah bin Abi Sufyan in the 41st year of Hijrah upto the rule of Caliph Marwan Al-Himar in year 132 of the Hijrah.

The Umayyad Caliphate ?(c. 661-750 CE/41-132 AH) was the second of the four major Islamic caliphates established after the death of Rasulallah. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the city of Makkah, their capital was Damascus. At its greatest extent, it covered more than five million square miles (13,000,000 km2), making it one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, and the seventh largest contiguous empire ever to exist.

A short study dealing with the special status the woman holds in Islam as opposed to her mistreatment in Jahiliya.

A brief survey of the status of women in previous civilizations and religions,

In the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliya).

It then provides a fair evaluation of what Islam contributed towards the restoration of woman’s dignity and rights which is just as relevant in today’s modern Jahiliya as it was in the past.

1.Women in Other Civilizations.

2. Women in Pre-Islamic Jahiliya.

3.Women in Modern Jahiliya.

4. Subservience & Blind Following.

5.Integration and Comprehensiveness of Islam.

6.Women’s Position in Islam on the Idea of Creation.

7.Women’s Spiritual Status in Islam.

8.Respect for the Chastity of Women.

9.Women’s Rights in Islam Regarding Education.

The book starts by describing the beginning of creation- from the throne and the Kursi, the universe and all that is in it , such as the angels, the jinn and humans . The book also recounts stories from the lives of the prophets and their nations up to the times of the children of Israeel and the Days of Igorance,which ended with the advent of the final Prophet Muhammad ( PBUH ).