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abu afak
09-22-2003, 12:47 PM
Reading Up on Islam
17 recent books on Muslims and the Middle East
By Paul Marshall
September 3, 2003


http://mail12.bigmailbox.com/users/etoastcom/ext_link_frameset.cgi?bframe=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecl aremont%2Eorg%2Fwritings%2Fcrb%2Ffall2003%2Fmarsha ll%2Ehtml
(with summaries after list at link)


This review appeared in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books. Click here to send a comment.
Books Under Review

What Everybody Needs to Know About Islam , by John L. Esposito.
Oxford University Press, 204 pages, $17.95

After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy, by Noah Feldman.
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 260 pages, $24

The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror, by Stephen Schwartz.
Doubleday, 336 pages, $25

An Activist's Guide to Arab and Muslim Campus and Community Organizations in North America, by Stephen Schwartz (Suleyman Ahmad al-Kosovi).
Center for the Study of Popular Culture, 44 pages, $6


Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude, by Robert Baer.
Crown, 256 pages, $24.95


Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism, by Dore Gold.
Regnery, 309 pages, $27.95


The Koran: A Very Short Introduction, by Michael Cook.
Oxford University Press, 176 pages, $9.95

Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World's Fastest Growing Faith, by Robert Spencer.
Encounter, 202 pages, $24.95


Children Of Abraham: An Introduction to Islam for Jews, by Khalid Duran.
American Jewish Committee, 326 pages, $22.95


Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self Expression (2nd ed.), by Mordechai Nisan.
McFarland and Company, 341 pages, $45


Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics, by Ann Elizabeth Mayer.
Westview, 304 pages, $26

Reasoning with God: Rationality and Thought in Islam, by Khaled Abou El Fadl.
One World, 256 pages, $70


A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, by David Fromkin.
Avon Books, 635 pages, $20


Anti-American Terrorism in the Middle East: A Documentary Reader, edited by Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin.
Oxford University Press, 392 pages, $30

Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle East Studies in America, by Martin Kramer.
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 137 pages, $19.95

What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, by Bernard Lewis.
Oxford University Press, 192 pages, $23

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, by Bernard Lewis.
Modern Library, 184 pages, $19.95


Of the writing of books on Islam there is no end. Several hundred have appeared in the U.S. in the last two years. Most of them can and should be ignored except as a way to learn of the dismal state of American thinking on the subject. However, there are a few gems....""

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Leon Uris
09-22-2003, 01:08 PM
The best one I've found so far.

The Sword of the Prophet by Serge Trifkovic.




"So Long Folks" -- andak01 8/01/03

"Well, in the end, what does it really matter what a Muslim thinks
about his own beliefs?"

-- andak 9/22/03
:D :D :D Good one, Abu Afak.

andak01
09-22-2003, 01:40 PM
Thanks for the list.

I have read some Esposito, THE most knowledgeable non-Muslim I have ever read on that subject.

Cooks Introduction to Quran is around for a number of years and I have it. Very, very short and mostly pictures.

Let me add.

Award winning biography of Muhammad (SAW).

AR-RaheeQ Al-Makhtum (THE SEALED NECTAR)- Memoirs of the Noble Prophet
Author: Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri - Jamia Salafia - India-
Translated by : Issam Diab
http://www.wponline.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/
http://www.onlineislamicstore.com/b3758.html

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For anyone who wants a quick understanding of Sharia. This is a clearly written history in only 162 pages.

http://bilalphilips.com/books/index.html
The Evolution of Fiqh
Author: Bilal Philips
http://bilalphilips.com/books/evoln01a.htm

Usool At Tafsir
I haven't read this, but it looks very interesting.

The book essentially refers to the branches of knowledge nessessary for providing an accurate interpretation of the Quranic texts, such as Arabic grammar and syntax, Arabic literature and Quranic sciences.
http://bilalphilips.com/books/usool01a.htm
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Poems about working.

One Handed Basket Weaving
Author: Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi
http://www.world-literature.com/Rumi_OneHanded_Basket_Weaving_Poems_on_the_Theme_o f_Work_0961891637.html

You've read about them. Read what they have to say.

Explaination of Creed central to Wahhabi thought.

Kitab At Tauhid
Author: Sheikh-ul-Islam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab
http://www.islamicgoodsdirect.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21_43&products_id=244

Letter to a Muslim Student
Author: Hasan Al-Banna
http://www.islamicgoodsdirect.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?products_id=246