(Part 2) Top products from r/islam

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We found 134 product mentions on r/islam. We ranked the 598 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Top comments that mention products on r/islam:

u/LIGHTNlNG · 1 pointr/islam

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_____INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM__

u/ohamid345 · 17 pointsr/islam

>I cannot trust that someone is the one true prophet of God solely because they said they were. I cannot just trust every book that says that it was divinely inspired by God. I perceive things critically, I cannot accept something just because someone told me to.

The Prophet ﷺ said he was the last prophet of God. He also backed up what he claimed. See: The Prophetic Truth: Proving Muhammad ﷺ's Prophethood.

What do you mean by "critically"? Naturalism?

>I also have no reason to believe in an afterlife. I care about my effect on this world and the people within it, not about some abstract afterlife. I wish to be good not to be rewarded with eternal bliss, but to help people live a better life, and to help them find God in their life.

What do you mean by "reason" exactly? Scientific evidence? Do you believe scientific evidence is needed in order to believe in a proposal? Without God, we are purposeless meaningless matter. It seems that you do believe in God, which is great, but why do you care about your effect on others and how do you know what good entails in the first place without Divine Revelation? One cannot simply rely upon society because that would be an appeal to popularity.

>Can I still convert?

No, you don't believe in what the Shahada entails and so it will be a hollow statement.

>I find the religion beautiful, I have absolute faith in God and I wish to embody the values that Islam encompasses.

Thats great.

> I won't believe in things that I cannot prove, though.

See above.

Consider listening to:

MGP#23: Thinking of Converting to Islam?

and reading:

The Divine Reality : God, Islam and the Mirage of Atheism

Islam and the Destiny of Man

u/thecrookedmuslim · 6 pointsr/islam

>Would you mind if you suggested a list of books I may read to get a different perceptive on Islam?

I can certainly try. I was a voracious reader as a teenager, but much of what I read went over my head. For example, Huck Finn is an entirely different read at 25 than at 14. Still, you are most certainly smarter than I was as a teenager :). Here's a few things that ought to help. Of course, take it all with a grain of salt and, as always, you are not obligated to agree with everything. Nuance is a subtle, lost art these days.

I'd first start with Huston Smith's Islam: A Concise Introduction. It's basically the chapter on Islam from his seminal classic, The World's Religion. Also, he felt compelled to publish it separately after 9/11. Smith is easily one of the foremost scholars of religion for the last 100 or so years. While deceptively small, this book provides a generous overview of Islam devoid of partisanship and doctrinal quibbles. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the book. I certainly was.

Another small book that allowed me to begin exploring the vital role women played and continue to play in Islam is Amina Wadud's Quran and Woman. Do I agree with all that Wadud says? No, but that is not the point when we explore. The aim is discover, not to find corroboration to previously held ideas - that is the vital imperative to learning and to growth.

Another quite controversial and sometimes acerbic site that has many important things to say about Islam and what so many of us have sometimes falsely construed to be Islam is the following site: https://asharisassemble.com/ Certainly posting it here all but insures downvotes followed by some flaming. I think you will find reasonable answers to many of your questions that will also reaffirm your faith in Islam. Again though, none of us have to agree with all that is being said, it's about pursuing knowledge and exploring.

>“Go in quest of knowledge even unto China.” - Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

>“One learned man is harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant worshippers.” - Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Again, start small. You have your whole life ahead of you to explore and grow. There are headier books available and in time you may find those more palatable and to your liking as you grow. Salaams :).


u/Exxec71 · 2 pointsr/islam

>I've said the prayer accepting Mohammed (peace be upon him) as my prophet, and Allah as the one true god.

Saying and believing in this makes you a Muslim whether you left or converted/reverted.

>On charity. I help a LOT of homeless dogs, I give to animal charities, and I very often find homeless puppies and take them in, get them to the vet, and find them homes.

This is indeed a charity now how big or small is a better question for a scholar or someone much more knowledgeable.


>My wife is not Muslim but she is a person of the book. She was not a virgin when we married. How is my marriage to her affected?

Depending on which scholar you follow some will say it's okay as long as she's a person of the book others will say no. Ultimately it's better for her to become Muslim but Allah guides who he will. Inshallah you are both guided and things become easier for both of you.

>Is swearing Ok? I swear a lot, it's a hard habit to break. Also is vaping, and listening to metal Ok?

We are created imperfect so as long as you repent and try to break your habit inshallah it'll be okay. Personally I'm a huge fan of music and even more of certain groups like halestorm, 5 finger death punch and in this moment among others but the same concept applies. I try to take breaks from music but i end up going back. Not saying you should go hogwild but understand your limits and try to set goals to improve.

>Can anyone give me some kind of guidelines on how to be a good Muslim and follower of the prophet (peace be upon him)? I honestly feel somewhat lost. I'm reading the trilogy books but I digest books badly, so I'd like some kind of bullet points.

Start with the basics learn how to pray now and start reading the Quran. Personally I recommend The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an in Today's English . Next I recommend trying to fast even if a few hours a day until you can do a whole day. Attend Friday prayers and get to know those around you usually you'll find someone to befriend because of the large diversity. I'll try to answer more when I get home inshallah.

u/Didyekenit · 3 pointsr/islam

"The Study Qur'an" cites multiple tafsir, which I quite like.



The problem is that many of the more readily available tafsir are more conservative, or have a wahabi bend to them, which can give you a false impression that all Muslims agree with certain statements. The Hilali-Khan translation/tafsir is just a summarized version of Ibn Kathir, which is a Salafist interpretation. (Again, I urge that anyone study tafsir from multiple schools of thought, and I am not bashing any one sect, it's just that there are many, many, many interpretations of the text and a knowledge of more than one is beneficial.)



Yusuf Ali's commentary is good, and in fact his Qur'an was the gold standard for the last 100 years in English. It's probably a bit old fashioned for most, though.



Muhammad Assad's is very good. Extremely good, and the one 90% of people would reccomend, and one you should just get anyway. Though some of his commentary is not inline with Islamic thought (his views on Jesus, for example, are controversial in general), but you should read any tafsir with a grain of salt.


Ma'ariful Qur'an is an excellent modern tafsir. Usmani was a Hanbali or Hanafi, I believe, but manages to be neutral and quite moderate in his commentary. The cost of the full 8 volume set is a bit much, but you can get a cheap version from India for a low price if you don't mind imperfect binding (I found all 8 volumes in a local shop for around 60$ CAD, which is awesome.).



If you want to read an AMAZING Shi'a commentary (you likely are not Shi'a, but still.....people should understand multiple views on any topic whether or not you agree), then Tafsir al-Mizan is incredible. It's not 100% translated into English yet, but it is available for free online. Whether Shi'a or Sunni, I think it can be agreed that Muhammad Husayn at-Tabataba'i was a great scholar.


The only work in English which includes multiple tafsir from multiple schools and multiple writers is the Study Qur'an, and it is insanely exhaustive, listing all of the sources and even telling the reader where to go and read most of the tafsir cited on the internet. It's amazing. Spend the money and also buy some "Bible highlighters" (the kind that work on thin pages). (I have been using a regular Staples brand "Hype!" highlighter and it doesn't bleed through, though, so the pages are quite tough despite being thin. Pen doesn't go through either, as I have been underlining quite a lot and have had no problems, but I would still recommend a .005 fine line marker just in case.]


If you are a cheapskate, go to altafsir.org, which is what "The Study Qur'an" advises also. You can either search for individual verses and pull up different classical tafsir for that verse, or just download/read a PDF of an entire tafsir if you prefer. Tafsir al-Jalalayn is, as I understand, the most universally used in teaching Qur'an because it is short, and only provides the context of revelation for verses. You may want more in-depth tafsir, but al-Jalalayn has been the jumping off point for Muslims for 500 years. And is available on altafsir.


tl;dr - "The Study Qur'an"

u/Aiman_D · 3 pointsr/islam

Hadith book collections such as Al-Buhkari are basically a collection of hadiths organized topically. It doesn't provide much in the department of context and what rulings can be derived from each hadith. some hadiths were valid for a set period of time for specific circumstances and then the rule changed later. Scholars call this "Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh" and it is found in the hadith as well as the Quran.

My point is that books like Al-Buhkari are meant as raw data for scholars who study the context and the reasons and the conclusions of rulings in the hadith. Not for the layman to causally read through.

If you want to read hadiths that are organized for the layman here are a few suggestions from the sidebar:


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____LIFE OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD____

u/costofanarchy · -1 pointsr/islam

They're the two most common branches of Islam (with each having sub-branches). It's hard to know the exact demographic breakdown, but Sunni Muslims probably make up something like 85% of Muslims and Shi'a Muslims something like 15% (a much smaller minority belong to other groups).

If you want an accessible (not written by academics/experts/scholars) book from a non-Muslim perspective that explains the historical events that lead up to the Shi'a-Sunni divide, I would recommend After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton. Neither Shi'a nor Sunni Muslims will 100% agree with her version of the story, but it's nicely told, and for the most part gives the right idea. It's written in a narrative format that doesn't make things dry.

If you want a really concise description of the fundamentals of Islamic beliefs and practices, from a Shi'a perspective, then I would recommend Discovering Islam by Sayyid Moustafa Al-Qazwini.

Unfortunately, resources on Shi'a Islam in English are usually translations of (often either classical or somewhat outdated contemporary) works that were originally written in Arabic or Persian. There's isn't much that's originally written in English.

This volume from the classical Hadith collection Al-Kafi (on intellect and foolishness) might be a good place for looking into Shi'a hadith.

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/islam



I have a bunch of these I got from a conference.


Praying Rug,Hitopin Travel Prayer Mat with Compass Pocket Sized Carry Bag and Attached Compass Praying Rug Portable Nylon Waterproof Easy Praying Mat 60100cm https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J377EL8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7jZxCb6HFMFHR


I love 'em, I keep them in my bag and they easily fit my pocket. Once I'm done I told it up. Makes praying at work really easy.

u/waste2muchtime · 7 pointsr/islam

You may not like my answer, but in the end it's up to you how you feel about this issue. First let me say that wikiislam is a propaganda islamophobic website. If I were to want information on Christianity, I would ask a Priest or a scholar of Christianity. So please don't read what you find on propaganda websites, some things are outright fabrications, others are taken out of context, others are misattributed etc. etc. So please don't read from those websites, but read from Muslim sources. If you are really sincere in what you say, you can do various things.

Read ''In the Footsteps of the Prophet'' by Dr. Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. He's a Muslim. He's well versed. He writes amazingly.

Read ''Muhammad: Man and Prophet'' by Adil Salahi. Book is somewhat expensive, but just read the top review by 'Mary' and I think that will tell you everything you need to know, haha. A biography on the life of the Prophet SAW! What more would you want!

You can always read the Qur'an - but that can be taken out of context. Muhammad Asad has a great translation of the Qur'an containing many footnotes describing the context of many verses. After all, in a book that was revealed over 23 years every verse has a context of its own.

The issue with all the above is that they cost money.

So in that case here is Dr. Yasir Qadhi's ongoing series about the life of the Prophet Muhammad SAW discussing many many things going on around his life from beginning to end. There are 98 videos and each has 1 hour.. And it's still going, so this can be really time consuming.

In the end I want to say: If you don't have the time to watch the series, or the money to buy and read the books (which are all sourced from Muslim scholars and even then the muslim scholars cite muslim scholars, the companions of the Prophet, and even the Prophet SAW himself) - then please hold your judgement on Muslims and do not let yourself be distracted by anti Islamic sources. To learn about vaccines, we learn from Doctors, not from anti-Vaccination supporters!

u/omgitsjustturtles · 3 pointsr/islam

Not exactly "mini", but I bought this travel one because I could, well, travel with it. Folds up into a pouch, fits into a pocket. Comes with a direction finder. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J377EL8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

Total size when unfolded is 24x38 inches. It's not soft, it's very thin and more like a small tarp, but I didn't expect much for something to carry with me. Free shipping with Prime. I'm not sure about without, but I'm happy to buy and ship to you as a gift if it is much more than you're willing to spend. I have Prime, so no issue here :) Hope this helps.

u/autumnflower · 16 pointsr/islam

>How can I, somebody who doesn't see it as authoritative, realize that it is actually true?

By reading it? I'm serious. I assume being Jewish you've read the Talmud/Torah or at least part of it? Read the Qur'an along with an accompanying tafseer/explanation and make up your mind.

People here can post long explanations and reasons, but you'll have take our word for it, that what we are saying about the Qur'an is true. By reading it yourself, you can see and know for yourself.

It's not too long, about the length of a fantasy novel these days. The Qur'an is best able to speak for itself and the religion I feel. I've heard very good things about this translation and commentary and coincidentally, I believe the translator was Jewish before converting to Islam.

u/Tariq_7 · 1 pointr/islam

Welcome Castro

"Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Styles" by M. A. Abdel Haleem from Oxford is a useful book:
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Quran-Muhammad-Abdel-Haleem/dp/1845117891

Prof. Abdel Haleem also produced a translation of the Qur'an which I have not yet read, but understand to be one of the best so far:

http://www.amazon.com/Quran-English-translation-Parallel-Arabic/dp/019957071X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411451704&sr=1-2

Happy reading :)

u/JoeBradford · 1 pointr/islam

Not a problem at all. I'd recommend a small book I translated called Qaddumi's Elementary Primer followed by Musa Furber's translation of Ibn Balban's text. John Starling has a text coming out soon as well which will be a great addition to the genre. Using these three books, I recommend you get as strong as possible in the Arabic and in the language of the Jurists, then transition to studying directly from Arabic works like Umdat al-Fiqh and Dalil al-Talib.

u/uwootm8 · 2 pointsr/islam

Oh in that case you want one of these:

  1. Muhammad Asad
  2. Yusuf Ali

    It's a translation plus a commentary. I really recommend Muhammad Asad (it's my favorite translation). If only he wrote it more beautifully, oh well. Link:

    http://www.amazon.com/Message-Quran-Muhammad-Asad-ebook/dp/B0037KMWG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408758487&sr=8-1&keywords=muhammad+asad

    Read the reviews,
u/supes23 · 12 pointsr/islam

:)

Thoroughly recommend Professor Abdel Haleem's translation of the Quran:

The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199535957/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_DL6QwbQXJ0J9V

My recommendations mostly more recent stuff, I think written well for a western audience

Understanding Islam and the Muslims: The Muslim Family, Islam and World Peace https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1887752471/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_QM6QwbPQHCTB9

The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141028556/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_1O6Qwb8M0D5KQ

Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Style https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845117891/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_QK6QwbGS8EN0D

Being Muslim: A Practical Guide by Asad Tarsin et al. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01833W1KM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_udp_awd_1L6QwbC9BNTXA

The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141028556/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_1O6Qwb8M0D5KQ

Worth YouTubing:

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
Professor Tariq Ramadan
Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad

u/jewiscool · 1 pointr/islam

I recommend these books:

u/truthhurtsman1 · 1 pointr/islam

https://www.amazon.com/Muhammad-Man-Prophet-Adil-Salahi/dp/0860373223

There are a lot of decent books recommended below, but this one I feel is very under the radar to a lot of people. If you want a book that reads more easily, and less like a encyclopedia, this is the one. Warning, it is a long one, and may take you a couple of weeks, but it reads like a novel and provides context to all parts of his life.

u/mybahaiusername · 5 pointsr/islam

I had a professor of Islam who used to always say: "There are as many versions of Islam as there are Muslims." It all boils down to what you believe about Islam. There are those who believe that Islam is almost monolithic in its beliefs, that there is only one way to be Muslim. This belief is most commonly perpetuated by fundamentalists that export their brand of Islam out of Saudi Arabia. (For a good book about this, read here.)

The truth is that over the centuries Islamic understanding and practice has been very diverse. I can't say that a man interacting with you breaks the rules of Islam because I have no idea what he believes is the Islamic stance on the issue. For all I know he could subscribe to a version of Islam that is perfectly OK with it, so I would never pass judgement on him.

u/TheMuslimShrink · 1 pointr/islam

Dewrdman,

I'd recommend this. The translation is not the best but the commentary that comes with it puts it heads and shoulders over most other translations. Here's the official website. Make sure you don't get a copy with just the translation. The commentary is what you're really getting it for.

Best,

TheMuslimShrink

u/wretched_sinner · 3 pointsr/islam

>No, because in Islam, you're Muslim only if you believe La ilaha ila Allah wa Muhammad rasool Allah (There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger).

In the same way, to be a Christian is to affirm the Nicene Creed.

>I just think it's strange that you're saying certain people are not Christian because they don't believe in the trinity, when there are large numbers of Christians that don't.

There are some fringe groups but the overwhelming majority of Christians are Trinitarian. There are roughly 2 Billion Christians including Non-Trinitarian believers, the Non-Trinitarians are roughly 41 million. Meaning that of all the Christians 98% are Trinitarian.

So numerically, and historically the Non-Trinitarians don't jive with mainstream Christianity.


>I'd be extremely interested in seeing your response to a book written by a Christian who became Muslim. It's entitled MisGod'ed and in it there is quite a bit of discussion of the trinity. He really takes a neutral view and looks at it historically and logically.

I'll try to remember to check it out

u/foodmoney · 1 pointr/islam

This is my favorite -- Al-Qur'an: A Contemporary Translation
by Ahmed Ali. I've read several different translations, and most of them use archaic English and are difficult to understand. This translation by Ahmed Ali is very easy to read and is actually quite enjoyable. I've recommended it to others and they have also said the same thing. You can buy it from amazon -- a used copy is less than $1 plus $3.99 shipping.


Link: http://www.amazon.com/Al-Quran-Contemporary-Translation-Ahmed-Ali/dp/0691074992/

u/ginbooth · 3 pointsr/islam

> I suppose what I'm trying to get to the bottom of is: How to best address what I feel is the completely baseless claim that Islam is inherently violent (I often point to a wider context of colonialism and oppression as an explanation), and also how Islam and Buddhism can benefit each other.

A great place to start is Huston Smith's seemingly innocuous little book entitled Islam: A Concise Introduction. It quickly dispels the notions of Islam as 'inherently violent' without being mired in some doctrinal labyrinth. It's taken from his chapter on Islam in his monumental work 'The World's Religions.' He published it as a separate book following 9/11. His credentials speak for themselves. As a side, I had the honor of meeting him not long ago at LMU when he received the university's Bridge Builder award.

Misinformation and ignorance fan the flames of Islamophobia more than anything else. Put another way, imagine what the world's perspective of Buddhism would be during WWII if there was as much access to (mis)information as there is today. Similar rhetoric used by the likes of ISIS was present in Japan. Take this quote from a Zen monk exhorting the virtues of Japanese imperialism during WWII:

"If ordered to] march: tramp, tramp, or shoot: bang, bang. This is the manifestation of the highest Wisdom [of Enlightenment]. The unity of Zen and war of which I speak extends to the farthest reaches of the holy war [now under way]." - From Zen At War

I hope that helps a little :).

u/imannnnnn · 1 pointr/islam

No, because in Islam, you're Muslim only if you believe La ilaha ila Allah wa Muhammad rasool Allah (There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger). I just think it's strange that you're saying certain people are not Christian because they don't believe in the trinity, when there are large numbers of Christians that don't.

I'd be extremely interested in seeing your response to a book written by a Christian who became Muslim. It's entitled MisGod'ed and in it there is quite a bit of discussion of the trinity. He really takes a neutral view and looks at it historically and logically.

u/AnotherParaclete · 1 pointr/islam

What you're looking for is Abdullah Yusuf Ali's The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an. This translation underwent extensive scrutiny from different scholars and checked and double checked for accuracy in its commentary. It's the best translation + commentary in English, no other copy comes close.

If you want just the best translation, I'd recommend Zaki Hammad's The Gracious Qur'an. It's light on the commentary but the translation is the best out of all the ones in English.

The one you want to avoid is The Study Qur'an. It's making a ruckus because the editor is a big name in academia and they're trying to position the book as similar to the Study Bible but it falls short in so many ways. You'll be left more confused than you started and in the meantime, you'll have read more commentary than Qur'an.

u/Elliot_Loudermilk · 3 pointsr/islam

Biographies of the Prophet (peace be upon him)

Martin Ling's "Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources"
| Amazon
| PDF
| Audiobook

Sheikh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarkpuri "The Sealed Nectar"
| Amazon
| PDF (Older edition)


Autobiographies

Muhammad Asad "The Road to Mecca"
| Amazon
| PDF

Jeffrey Lang "Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America"
| Amazon

| PDF

Alex Haley and Malcolm X "The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley"
Amazon
| PDF

Other recommendations

Firas Alkhateeb "Lost Islamic History"

Hamza Tzortzis "The Divine Reality: God, Islam & The Mirage Of Atheism"

Given your background, some speakers you may find beneficial:

Sheikh Hussain Yee - From Buddhism to Islam

Abdur-Raheem Green - How I Came to Islam

Joshua Evans - How the Bible Led Me to Islam: The Story of a Former Christian Youth Minister

u/chistoso_ · 1 pointr/islam

Thanks for the link brother I will check it out. Out of curiosity, have you heard of Jeffrey Lang (he has 3 books and many videos on youtube) and Charles Le Gai Eaton (also known as Hassan Eaton, he wrote a fantastic book on Islam)?

u/tvremotor · 1 pointr/islam

The Meaning of the Holy Quran in Today's English is a great translation and tafsir that has a lot of explanation behind important verses and explains a lot of misconceptions in footnotes.

u/directaction · 2 pointsr/islam

I'm afraid I can't directly relate to your situation or do more than try to empathize. I'm not Muslim, and the members of my family are either Christian (Roman Catholic and Episcopalian, and none but a select few are all that devout), agnostic, or atheist (again, none very militant or proselytistic). I do speak, write, and read Arabic and I'm very well-versed in Islamic political and economic theory. With the obligatory introductory nonsense out of the way...

I would just tell you that I very much admire your courage: it can't have been easy to tell your family about your finding new religious guidance, nor do I imagine it's easy continuing to defend your decision to a host of family members who are hostile to your religion and appear to be personally turning on you and threatening you due to that decision. I would guess that, however this episode plays out, you will find yourself even stronger in your personal faith and self-confidence, so try to keep in mind that you'll likely further your self-improvement by sticking it out through this tough ordeal.

I'm not at all trying to insult your family, but it's obvious that they have an extremely poor understanding of Islam and of what it means to be Muslim. While it was saddening to read your story, part of me shook my head and another part of me near laughed aloud when you relayed the bit about being called a "terrorist". It's plainly obvious that those family members who are accusing you of being a terrorist have little to no understanding of what constitutes terrorism or what connection, if any, terrorism and Islam have (i.e. none inherently). The idea of a family member who has known you for the entirety of your life, and who ostensibly didn't think of you as a terrorist right up until the moment you told him/her that you'd accepted Islam, suddenly "realizing" in horror that you've in fact been a "terrorist" for as long as you've been Muslim (and they were still speaking to you! and sharing meals with you! a terrorist! The horror!!!) is so ridiculous as to be hilarious. Unfortunately, it also seems that they're not very interested in learning about Islam or what it means to be Muslim, or what these things mean to you. There's a very good chance that that will change over time as the shock wears off -- most likely, different family members will thaw towards you at different times. You know your family better than any of us do so you'd know what the likelihood of this is, which family members are most likely to come around to accepting your decision first and which of them may never accept it, and what, if anything, you can do to accelerate this process if you wish to do so.

It seems like your father, at least, is willing to talk to you about it to some degree, even if in his mind it's only to try to use an argument to make you reconsider your acceptance of Islam and eventually abandon it. Depending on how open-minded he is capable of being, you may be able to use his willingness to at least broach the subject to your advantage, and eventually change his views on the religion, its source material, and its adherents. This is just speculation, but, based on the topics he's asked you about, I'm guessing that he found a couple of websites incorporating material produced by members of what Nathan Lean called the Islamophobia Industry. The people involved in this cottage industry of bigotry, intolerance, and ignorance are truly warped and you probably want to nip his reliance on their garbage in the bud before he gets too invested in the anti-Islam crusade and too reliant on their unscholarly and patently incorrect "information" on Islam for you to even get through to him. My advice on this front would be to address the question and refute the premise implied in the question, then ask him where he got the questions and/or information from, and if it's from a source like Pamela Geller, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, etc., inform him about their complete lack of credentials, their politically-motivated biases, and how the community of historical and theological scholars (both Muslim and non-Muslim) regard these charlatans. On the first point, about addressing the question and refuting the premise: one thing that almost all these "Truth About Islam!!!" websites do, especially when they're quoting from the Qur'an and ahadith, is completely ignore the historical context in which the scenarios and quotes in question were produced, and treat them as if they just spontaneously appeared in a vacuum. As with all philosophies, religions, and other wide-ranging paradigms, the historical context of their development is extremely important. This is no different for Islam: the Messenger Muhammad existed in a time and space in which there was no central political authority for the various communities to be subsumed to (as for example the Roman Empire served to be, for people living in the provinces of Palestine & Iudea during Jesus' life), and thus the Arabian peninsula was made up of hundreds of small, self-ruled communities, small kingdoms, and quasi city-states, most of which were in mutable states of war with one another. There were a multitude of competing religions and ethical systems, as well as complicated economic and social relations which varied to some degree from group to group. In a word, the Arabian peninsula at the time of Muhammad's revelation was a chaotic system of competing communities, and his task of uniting these communities under a single banner and a single new revolutionary political, economic, and social system was unlike anything faced by Jesus, Moses, or Joshua (the Israelite leader after Moses' death, and conqueror of Canaan), or any other leader or founder of a major religious group. As such, the challenges he faced were entirely different than those faced by the Jews or by early disciples of Christ, and thus he had to develop different solutions to these different problems. As for things like taqiyah, again, the historical context is very important here. In truth, as you probably know (but I doubt your father does), taqiyah has little to no bearing on Islam in contemporary life. The takfiri groups like al-Qa'eda are really the only people besides the Islamophobes who even use the term (many Muslims of today have never even heard the term taqiyah), and even they use it sparingly or not at all. Taqiyah was really only a concept among some of the Shi'a and only during the medieval period, when the Sunni leadership of some Islamic states actively persecuted the Shi'a, and this doctrine of dissimulation was created so as to increase the chances of survival for those Shi'a who were living in politically dangerous regions, while allowing them to still practice their faith. Again, it has essentially no meaning in Islam today, and the only people who think about taqiyah are Islamophobes and extremist takfiriyoun.

My post is now far, far longer than I'd intended it to be so I'm going to cut it off here. I hope I've helped in some small way, even if it was just by letting you know that there are people standing in support with you and that your story and resolve are inspiring. Take care!

u/h4qq · 11 pointsr/islam

It's not really a paper, so to speak, he organized it really well in a book. Simple read, very straight forward, authentic sources and well cited.

You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Win-Strategic-Suicide-Terrorism/dp/0812973380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373188706&sr=8-1&keywords=logic+of+suicide

u/merlin318 · 3 pointsr/islam

Pretty sure the pic is from the Lost Islamic History book.

u/recipriversexcluson · 1 pointr/islam

Today's Ayat for Saturday, 2016-12-24 / 26 Rabi` al-awwal 1438

You will never come to piety unless you spend of things you love; and whatever you spend is known to God.

-- al-Imran 3:92 as rendered by Ahmed Ali

لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ

http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/3/92/

(please share)

IslamAwakened is now available as an Android App

u/kerat · 1 pointr/islam

Try reading Understanding the Quran: Themes and Style. It's a great primer to go deeper into the subject

u/rasheemo · 1 pointr/islam

>As an example I bet that the majority in the U.S. would accept serious restrictions on Muslims, something I oppose.

How merciful of you, but I don't think the majority of the US would do such a thing.

>I also think you are well aware that the Brotherhood did so well because of organization not simply popularity.

Regardless of what actually happened, your tidbit is irrelevant because I'm talking about democracy, which is determined by popularity (ideally).

>Do you want a history of wars based on religion? On the horrors in Europe and the Islamic world because of fights over religion? There is a saying that has lots of truth: good people can do good things and bad people can do bad things, but it takes religion to make good people do bad things.

Always a go to argument among atheists while completely disregarding ulterior motives for many of the past wars and also ignoring the thousands of wars that had nothing to do with religion at all. The fact is mankind loves to go to war whether there are religious reasons or not, having an excuse just makes it that much easier. There are a lot of books on these things.

Also, I am of the opinion that if you don't agree with the ideals set by your country, you are more than welcome to leave. No one will be completely ok with everything every country does. Don't like Islam's view on public adultery? Don't live in an Islamic state. Simple.

>Why should I care what a semi-mythic first state was like?

Because that is what this religion is (or rather should be) basing it's ideals on, whether you think it's mythic or not.

>Do you think the Islamic parties in Egypt are going to try for something like that first state or more like Saudi?

Probably like the first Islamic state. The majority of the Muslim world sees the ridiculousness of Saudia Arabia's government.

u/austex_mike · 12 pointsr/islam

My former Islam professor, Khaled Abou Fadl, used to warn us about what the long term affects of Wahhabi legal thought would have in the Muslim world back in the mid 90's when I was a student of his. There have been clerics calling for the destruction of al-Masjid al-Nabawi for years from even prominent clerics. This isn't just about ISIS, it is about the clerics and "scholars" who inspire them as well.

u/jasper_friendly_bear · 1 pointr/islam

It's still very much in print. It's available on Amazon in hardcover and as an ebook, as a PDF online (IDK if this is legit - I would buy the proper ebook). And if you live in the US of A, you can get a nice physical copy for about $10 from CAIR (edit: I think this is only if you're not Muslim).

https://www.amazon.com/Message-Quran-Muhammad-Asad-ebook/dp/B0037KMWG0

u/dassitt · 2 pointsr/islam

Martin Lings is great! Also, if you're looking for a book that doesn't delve too much into the history of Islam's theological development but discusses Islamic history throughout the ages and Islam's impact on the world, Lost Islamic History by Firas Alkhateeb is gold!

u/turkeyfox · 4 pointsr/islam

Depends on who you ask. Shias will acknowledge that there was bad blood, Sunnis will say that everything was hunky dory and everyone loved each other and the sky rained gummy bears.

For the least biased account try looking at what non-Muslims have written, since anything written by a Muslim will naturally be biased towards which side they're on. https://www.amazon.com/After-Prophet-Story-Shia-Sunni-Split/dp/0385523947 is a good example and something I think that's right up your alley.

u/azeenab1 · 1 pointr/islam

OP, buy Joe Bradford's and Musa Furber's books.

Read through them and note down your questions.

Check to see if Sheikh Joe has already answered them on joebradford.net.

If not, send him an email with your question.

Check locally to see if any imams can teach you the madhab.

This is better than learning from only a book.

u/maghfira · 1 pointr/islam

There's a book translated by Shaykh Joe Bradford (he recently did an AMA here). It is a primer in Hanbali fiqh titled "Al-Qaddumi's Elementary Hanbali Primer:100 Issues of Instruction according to the Hanbali school". I highly recommend purchasing it if you are follower of that school.

http://www.amazon.com/Qaddumis-Elementary-Hanbali-Primer-Instruction/dp/149236049X

u/47140 · 3 pointsr/islam

The idea is to get the hair removed, the method is not important.

Here's a handy tool. Instructions are self-evident.

Edit: Judging from OP's response, seems he's a troll. Oh well, maybe the above will help someone too shy to ask.

u/toilet_paper_holder · 5 pointsr/islam

Something like this

Fits into my pocket so I can carry it around wherever. Now I have no excuse if I'm out and it's time to pray salah, but I can't make it home in time.

u/ishq7 · 2 pointsr/islam

> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J377EL8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Oh you're so kind, bless your heart and thank you so much but that's not necessary :) Thanks for the advice and Ramadan mubarak!

u/tinkthank · 49 pointsr/islam

Can we stop spreading this misinformation please?

I keep hearing this and its flat out not true and I hate that it keeps getting brought up.

The vast majority of Arabs did not fight against the Ottomans, they fought for the Ottomans. Did you all really think the Ottoman Army consisted of only Turkish soldiers? 1/3 of the Ottoman military consisted of Arab officers and soldiers. Many of them fought against the British at Galipoli and in Iraq, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula. Unless you're talking about members of the Jordanian or Saudi Royal Family, or are affiliated with them, most Arabs did not fight against the Ottomans. Hell, even the Saudis didn't directly fight against the Ottomans until well towards the end of the war, since most of the anti-Ottoman fighting was done by the Hashemite family.

The majority of Arabs fought for the Ottomans, despite the fact that Enver Pasha (the guy responsible for the Armenian Genocide), arrested, tortured, and executed many innocent Arabs because of his own paranoia that they were somehow plotting to have him killed. In fact, we didn't learn until much later that there was no major movement to overthrow the Ottomans in favor of an Arab nationalist government. In fact, even after the Ottoman Empire was defeated, there were many Arabs who were working hard to expel the British and return back to the Ottoman Empire, but when the Mustafa Kemal declared a Turkish Republic in 1923, and all hopes of returning were lost, and that is when we started to see Arab Nationalism really start to take off as an anti-Imperialist movement.

I'm an Indian and let's not forget, that many Indian soldiers, Muslims included did fight against the Ottoman Empire. The explanation that was given to them by their British commanders were that they weren't fighting to overthrow the Caliphate, but to free it from those who have "taken the Sultan hostage" (i.e., the Three Pashas and The Young Turks).

If you want me to recommend one, let's start with this one.

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

The Arabs of the Ottoman Empire, 1516-1918 by Bruce Masters

More information:

The forgotten Arabs of Gallipoli | Al Jazeera

If you want to learn more about the history of the Ottoman Empire, its life, culture and the people that made up the Empire, then I suggest you subscribe to:

The Ottoman History Podcast

where they actually interview historians and experts in the field.

u/AndyPandy81 · 1 pointr/islam

For those that may want to read further on the topic, Lesley Hazleton has written a book called After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia Sunni Split in Islam.

A copy in MOBI format can be found here

u/EstacionEsperanza · 16 pointsr/islam

A Peace to End all Peace by historian David Fromkin covers this in great detail. It's a great read if you want to be sad and angry and confused.

u/thedustsettled · 1 pointr/islam

Why bother w/ the size - just set a schedule, weekly or every fortnight and have at it.

FYI: Buy this

u/self · 5 pointsr/islam

> 1) No citations

Read the book for citations.

> 2) Obvious bias

Yours is, yes.

u/supersirj · 10 pointsr/islam

Philips Bodygroom is made for just this. The trick with any trimmer, though, is to stretch out the skin as much as possible to minimize any pinching by your trimmer.

u/tenekeadam · 1 pointr/islam

If he wants to learn about Islam:
What Everyone needs to Know about Islam - John Esposito

If he wants to learn more about Muslims:
Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think

u/Space_Dandy_57 · 1 pointr/islam

It isn't about Islam. Before 2003 the Tamil Tigers were responsible for the most suicide bombings. Good book on suicide terrorism

u/Logical1ty · 4 pointsr/islam

> Yes, a theocratic government in today's world is a brilliant idea....especially when it's attempting to be founded by extremists.

Well you see, the Muslim world was all ready to hop on the secularism bandwagon. The Ottoman Empire dissolved the Caliphate, the Islamic equivalent of the Papacy, in a process of self-secularization to become modern Turkey. Europe never did that. You can see pictures of Iran, Pakistan, and Arab countries from the early 20th century. They're routinely posted on reddit and upvoted to the front page. They were very "modernized". Communism/Socialism was very popular too.

The key sticking point was Israel.

From old posts of mine on the subject:

> After World War 1, the elected Arab representatives of the former Ottoman Empire got together and told a fact-finding commission sent by the US president that they wanted a representative democracy with complete independence, or barring that, under an American mandate (because America was seen as a non-imperial power with democratic ideals), with Palestine included (and there were Jewish representatives agreeing with this). That what they did not want was being handed over to the French and British (which is what happened). This report was suppressed in the US until after Congress voted to support the creation of Israel, and then the New York Times published it and accused the government of misleading Americans about the Arabs and Turks. This is just one example of a huge blunder born out of immoral action and there are too many to count.
>
> The Muslim world was ready to drink the secularism kool-aid and follow in Turkey's lead. Western countries displayed a flagrant disregard for their concerns. Apparently hell hath no fury like a Muslim world scorned in this case.

Also,

> After WW1, the Syrians wanted an independent democracy or to be under an American mandate because they loved America. Instead they were given to France (because the report was suppressed in the US until a pro-Israel declaration could be passed by the US Congress because the Syrians also expressed opposition to the idea of creating a Jewish state in Palestine). By the 1960s/1970s the Muslim world began thinking secularism/democracy was a bald-faced lie never put into practice since whenever it came to Muslim nations, the West supported dictators, religious fanatics, and overt or covert imperialism, and worst of all, a pre-emptive war by a Jewish state (created by lying to the Arabs) with non-secular laws ("preserving the Jewish character" for instance) to annex Jerusalem... all of which violated what they were saying publicly. That's when anti-secularism and anti-Western sentiment took hold in the world's Muslim population and more and more people began to think this was just the same old Crusades in new disguise. Islamist terrorism really took off after that (in the '70s).
>
> No one can argue the Muslim world didn't give secularism a serious try. What Turkey did is equivalent to Italy destroying the Vatican and the Papacy because it's a "foreign institution" which threatens Italy's secular values. Then there was the rising tide of Western-approved nationalism (on the back of Western-approved left-wing socialism) throughout the Muslim world. None of these worked either.

And,

> Initially, America was received very well by the rest of the world. They were seen as anti-European rebels. I think the first (or second) country to recognize the US was a Muslim one (one of the North African ones I think). After World War 1, Syria wanted to either be granted independence as a democracy or be governed by an American mandate (since they saw that as the same thing, perhaps even better that they could learn from a real democracy... everyone was ready to drink the American kool-aid or already drunk on it). They might've accepted British but they expressed their dislike of them. They hated the French. They were absolutely against the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Predictably, the Allies gave Syria to the French and the Americans suppressed the release of this report until after Congress passed a bill to support the creation of Israel. Basically post-WW1 amid all the broken promises, this "pro-America" sentiment quickly was displaced by "just more Europeans under a different name" sentiment. Then after WW2 and the creation of Israel a lot more animosity was created between the cultures and modern communication technology was like an accelerant put on a flame. And now everyone sees America as having been passed the torch from the European colonial empires who were passed the torch from the Crusaders. So now anytime America does anything, it's a punctuation on more than one thousand years of conflict rather than seen as an isolated incident.

So, TL;DR - The West breaking its promises to the Arabs and repeatedly unconditionally supporting a Jewish state of Israel made most of the Muslim world realize secularism was a red herring. A ruse. A lie made up by the West for whatever reason. When it came down to it, the West acted as a monolithic bloc (like it did during the Crusades) when dealing with the rest of the world and suspended all that nice stuff about secularism when it came time to create a Jewish country on Arab land.

When the West supported Israel's pre-emptive war to annex Jerusalem in the late '60s. That was the final straw. That broke any connection the Muslim world (its masses) had to Western ideals and philosophy.

That's when Islamism (previously thrust to the fringes since the time of Sayid Qutb, the 19th/20th century grand-daddy of modern Islamism) started to pick up support (and Afghanistan against the USSR in the '80s was ground zero for these movements to pick up some real training... the first wave of terrorists in the '70s and '80s that were hijacking planes and all that stuff died out and after the USSR was defeated in Afghanistan, those groups then took over the terrorism racket).

Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805088091

You can find the original New York Times article from the early 20th century on the Syria report on their website! It's pretty cool. Google for it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%E2%80%93Crane_Commission

Also, the West kind of evolved into secularism over time (one step along the way was the Protestant reformation and other developments within "Christendom", and the events surrounding the creation of the United States). The rest of the world got secularism/democracy, not on their own over time, but from the West. If they don't trust the West, they won't trust its ideas. Particularly when they fail to work.

EDIT: Also the strong Marxist/Leftist/Socialist/Communist presence in the Muslim world made it easier for them to sour very easily on Western political philosophy. They got ammunition from them too.

u/AndTheEgyptianSmiled · 19 pointsr/islam

On a related note, something I got off another redditor:

> Robert Pape Uni. of Chicago, studied every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 - 315 attacks in all:

>"The data show that there is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, or any one of the world's religions. . . . Rather, what nearly all suicide terrorist attacks have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland" - Source

u/AnotherAlire · 1 pointr/islam

If you're accusing someone of committing adultery, yes. You have to have complete confidence that your testimony is absolutely correct. You are, afterall, accusing someone of committing one of the worst sins and crimes they can commit, which even if the accused are innocent of, can ruin their life, reputation and business; which in turn could harm their family and friends’ reputation as well. There can be no place for doubt and you need to know exactly in what order every act was committed. If you cannot recall it, you have no obligation to testify.

You're not accusing someone of theft or rape. Adultery is different. Especially if they're doing it in public. It's not as simple as 2 people getting aroused, making out and then getting caught and stopping. And then 4 people or more see them re-dressing themselves and walking/running away. We would logically conclude they were having sex and got caught but in this case in Islam, we need to make excuses for them unless we know that they did the crime 100% and with the intention to cause civil unrest. Them being caught and re-dressing themselves without the act being carried out would not satisfy the requirements of the Hudud punishment. The act of adultery has to be committed and everyone has to see it.

To clarify, 4 independent witnesses have to see their genitalia and the act of penetration, in addition to describing other intimate events that took place. In what world do 4 independent witnesses see people having sex and keep watching, including staring at their privates? If it’s done in private and you see 2 people having sex (eg. through a window), you would conclude they were married and look away. Not report it to the police and accuse them of committing adultery.

This law is in place so people know the seriousness of the crime and that it is not a petty issue. Sin should not be allowed to become commonplace like it has become today. This law exists in Islam by giving Muslims perspective on how serious the sin/crime is and how serious the punishment in the afterlife is if they do not repent. And regardless of whether it is done in public or private, the person is not immediately condemned to hell. They have the chance to repent. But for the Muslims in society today, they need to know how serious of a matter the sin is. That is the basis of Hadd punishments. Deterrence.

Non-Muslims committing adultery in private would not be ruled under this law as that would be a private act and they would be ruled under the law of their choosing (depending on what their faith is). If they had no faith, there would be no punishment. I say this again to emphasise that it is referring to public sex. Non-Muslims talk about this law out of ignorance and describe it as if the intent is to police what everyone is doing in their beds and in an Islamic country, people are being killed on every corner. This is not true at all.

The purpose of the law is not to go around flogging and killing everyone. It's to first let the Muslims know how serious the sin is and second to let them know how serious it is to make an accusation like that against someone if the accused is innocent. Otherwise, people would go around making accusations against their enemies, which cannot be tolerated. And thus, for those who would be interested in exploiting the law like this, there needs to be a deterrent against them. If corrupt people knew their slanders could get them punished, they would not make such an accusation against the innocent. Just look at how excited everyone is today to accuse potentially innocent celebrities of committing immoral sex acts (even though liberals say there is nothing wrong with it, they still make a fuss about it). Such slanders can ruin lives and even lead people to commit suicide.

By the way, based upon one interpretation, the death by stoning punishment applies to those who are married and commit adultery in public. Those who are not married, and have not been married, get flogged according to Qur’an 24:2 (flogging cannot cause bleeding or scarring – it’s not the kind of ISIS flogging that you think where someone is on the brink of death and covered in blood). The death penalty ruling is not derived from the Qur’an, but from hadith. There are other interpretations that that ruling regarding the death penalty is based upon Mosaic/Jewish law, not Islamic law, as Jews came to the Prophet SAW and said 2 people were accused of committing adultery. So, he referred to Jewish law out of respect for their faith to decide their punishment (non-Muslims have this right), which turned out to be death by stoning. The Qur’an does not say this and the only punishment that is outlined is flogging. Thus, they say death by stoning is not a part of Islamic law, but Jewish law.

Paraphrased: ‘Those that argue the punishment is flogging would argue that the Prophet SAW after 24:2 was revealed, avoided death by stoning for adultery as that ruling was derived from Mosaic law, which is considered corrupted by Muslims and abrogated by the Qur’an’. The previous sentence is from the book (reinterpreted in my own words based upon a very long paraphraph): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meaning-Holy-Quran-Todays-English-ebook/dp/B003XREATO/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?keywords=The+Meaning+of+the+Holy+Qur%27an+in+Today%27s+English+extended&qid=1554955673&s=digital-text&sr=1-2-fkmr0 The book is not arguing in favour of this interpretation or ruling, so there is no bias. Rather, the author is presenting that there is a different opinion and was a different opinion during the time of the Sahabah.

If it is not obvious, this ‘4 independent witnesses’ requirement only applies in the case of adultery. Which by the standards for prosecution has to be done in public. I mean in a really public place where everyone can see everything you’re doing clearly and will not forget the order in which you’re doing it. Which nobody would do anyways. Regardless of how strict and impossible the requirements for prosecution are, Muslims would turn away from and run away from this sin if they knew how severe the punishment was. Thus, the purpose of Hadd punishments.