Intellectual Islamic History

A PhD thesis that analyzes the tafseer of Imam Maturidi, Ta'weelat al-Qur'an, and discusses his approach, principles, and philosophy in tafseer. Part of a series of books called Al-Madrasah al-Maturidiyyah.

This is an edited and updated version of author's Phd thesis which earned him a doctorate from the University of Karachi. The author teaches at the Darul Uloom Karachi. A very comprehensive treatment of the subject of Waqf in Islamic Jurisprudence.

What was the education system in India during the Muslim rule? What books and subjects they studied and how exactly was the instruction conducted? Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani combines his wealth of knowledge on this subject with his usual lucid style. He shows how the system the British imposed destroyed a superior system. Recommended reading for anyone interested in Education.

We hear the term Ahl Sunnah wal Jama'ah often. What does it exactly mean? How did it evolve historically? Why is it so important? What factions were formed among the sahaba and their followers? Why Kufa and Basrah became the centers of conflict? A refreshing discussion by the great Allama Syed Sulaiman Nadwi.

A detailed exposition of the Khawarij: their history from the time of their founders to the end of the Umayyad dynasty, their beliefs, peculiar traits, and the various sects that represented their beliefs. Also discusses the links between them and Abdullah ibn Saba.

"14th-century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun founded a special science to deal with the problem of history and culture based on the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle and their Muslim followers. This work examines the philosophic foundation and principles of Ibn Khaldun's new science of culture, to show that an adequate understanding of his contribution to the study of the various aspects of human society requires an understanding of his all-comprehensive approach to sociology."

This book is not just a reminder to Muslims that they have a glorious past and that for many centuries they had the upper hand over their enemies; it also analyzes the reasons for it and shows that they became masters of the world when they adhered to Islam and when they became preoccupied with worldly gain and the pursuit of luxury then decline set in.

Here is an entirely different outlook on history, where center stage is held not by rulers and generals but by the spiritual rulers and mujaddids.

English translation of the seminal work "Tarikhi Dawat-o-Azimat." Here is an entirely different outlook on history, where center stage is held not by rulers and generals but by the spiritual rulers and mujaddids.

Critique of Maulana Maududi's Khilafat-o-Malookiat. Includes response to the original critique by Maulana Maududi's assistant the late Malik Ghulam Ali and a response to that response. Also includes a biography of Amir Muawiyya Radi-Allahu unhu.

Maulana Nadwi, the hisorian, the scholar, and the thinker, is at his best in this great work, which was originally published in 1375/1958. This latest edition includes footnotes and references added by Dr. Mustafa Saeed al-Khun, in addition to the foreword of Dr. Mustafa al-Sibaii. Beautiful two color printing and wonderful production quality add to the value of this treaure, which remains a wonderful gift for any home and library.

What do coffee beans, torpedoes, surgical scalpels, arches, and observatories all have in common? Were Leonardo Da Vinci’s flight ideas original? Who devised the casing for pill capsules and where did Fibonacci learn to flex his mathematical fingers?

All these answers can be found here in ‘1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World,’ written in an accessible style for those with limited knowledge of either Islam or history. A golden age of civilization, from 600 to 1600 CE, will unfold, because medieval Muslims were trailblazers in fields as diverse as medicine and mechanics, cartography and chemistry, education and engineering, architecture and astronomy. No area was too obscure to miss the scrutiny of enquiry backed up by rigid scientific experimentation.

So get comfortable with this guidebook and prepare to begin on a voyage of discovery through a thousand years of science and technology into the lives of medieval pioneers whose ingenious inventions have helped create our world today.

The Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir by Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad ibn Sa'd is one of the most important and earliest surviving collections of biographical details of the early Muslims, spanning just over the first two centuries of Islam. It is a rich storehouse of information compiled from all the sources available to Ibn Sa'd, as a result of which, the reader is given a vivid insight into the lives of the early Muslims and how extraordinary they were.