Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur

Publisher's Description: This small book, part of our new Occasional Paper Series, brings into sharp relief established attitudes of Western academia toward the Qur’an, especially as evidenced in the only extant multi-volume reference work on the Qur’an in English—Brill’s Encyclopaedia of the Quran. The author exposes layers of centuries-old polemical literature against the Qur’an entrenched in putatively “rigorous and academic scholarship”, and underscores the need for Muslims to produce an alternate reference work on the Qur’an.

For more than 800 years, Imam Nawawi's Matan al-Arba'in has lighted the path of believers "whose hope is in Allah and the last day." Each of the Hadith included in this collection sets forth one of the fundamental points of Islam and is a genuine hadith taken mostly from the Sahihs of Al-Bukhari and Muslim. Also includes Arabic text.

From the publisher: "Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall and Abdullah Philby were Englishmen of courage and adventure who travelled widely in the Muslim world and came to love and admire what they found. By accompanying them on their life journeys, it is possible to view some of the great dramas of the time through their eyes. This short biographical essay, under our Occasional Paper Series, interleaves two lives spanning a period from the 1890s to the 1940s."

This exegesis of Surah al-Kahf explains, in the light of the Qur'an, the challenging issues of the modern times and what guidance we can get from this surah to find a solution.

This is a topic-by-topic study about the science of Hadith written to fulfil the needs of students whose medium of instruction is mainly in English. The book has been divided into two parts. Part one deals with the subject of hadith methodology. Part two discusses the literature, introducing the six principal hadith books as well as six other books which had great significance and represent a stage in the compilation of hadith books.

translated by Margaret Smith This short treatise gives a summary of Imam al-Ghazali's religious philosophy. In it, he discusses knowledge and its various types, the human soul and its relation to the human body. Drawing evidences from the Qur'an, he shows that the humans spirit is one with the Divine and is able to contemplate the Invisible, receive the Divine Radiance and attain perfection and supernatural qualities even in this world. Translated by Margaret Smith.

"Hajj is one of the pillars and foundations of Islam, the act of worship of a lifetime, the seal of all that is commanded, the perfection of Islam and the completion of religion. Such a worship deserves that much attention to be devoted to explaining itand to detailing its essential elements, its properties, its merits, and its mysteries. This little book is translated from Kitab Asrar al-Hajj, the seventh chapter of the celebrated 12th-century work, Ihya Ulum al-Din. Al-Ghazali invites readers to dwell on the subject of the hajj beyond its mechanics and rituals, and to pay attention to its true substance, purpose and philosophy." Translated by Ibrahim Umar.

In the written Qur’an, known as “mushaf,” the chapters are not arranged in the chronological order of their revelation, so the first and last verses in the mushaf are not the first and last revealed verses, respectively. There are a number of had?ths and historical reports about which verses and chapters were revealed first and last. This book examines the credibility of each report, evaluates the views of scholars, and presents its own conclusions. Focused on the subject of the first and last revelations of the Qur’an, this book is by far the most comprehensive and complete study of this area of the Sciences of the Qur’an.

"In Quest of Knowledge is the story of Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i’s search for knowledge. The story revolves round a son whose sole mission in life is to acquire knowledge, a teacher who lovingly accepts him, and a widow who not only bears with the separation of her only son but also shares his passion for knowledge. Their innate nobility, their ability to suffer for a common cause, their intense love for the Prophet (s) and their infinite trust in Allah give them the dimensions of epic heroes. The invaluable lesson which Imam al-Shafi‘i’s story teaches, although it may not have been his main objective, is that Allah befriends and watches over anyone who endeavours to acquire religious knowledge with the intention of disseminating it."

Two greart works in one volume. Deliverance from Error is the spiritual autobiography of Imam Ghazali. The Beginning of Guidance, his other work included in this volume, complements his spiritual autobiography and sets out his ideal of how the religious man should order his life from hour to hour and day to day. Translated by W. Montgomery Watt.

Of all the writings of Mawlana Azad, his exegesis of Surah al-Fatihah (The Opening Chapter) in his Tarjuman al-Qur'an is a masterly introduction to the study of the Qur'an. Students of the Qur'an will find therein a store of Quranic knowledge such as is not found in current commentaries. This work is an analytical summary of it, reproduced in the very manner of Azad's exposition.

This work focuses on one of the sciences of the Qur'an, the study of the names of its chapters (surahs). It explains the origins of these names and tries to identify the pattern of naming each surahs.