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"Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 H/855 AD), renowned for his profound knowledge of hadiths—the reports of the Prophet’s sayings and deeds—is a major figure in the history of Islam. He was famous for living according to his own strict interpretation of the Prophetic model and for denying himself the most basic comforts, even though his family was prominent and his city, Baghdad, was then one of the wealthiest in the world. Ibn Hanbal’s piety and austerity made him a folk hero, especially after he resisted the attempts of two caliphs to force him to accept rationalist doctrine. His subsequent imprisonment and flogging is one of the most dramatic episodes of medieval Islamic history, and his p...
Illuminating the Darkness critically addresses the issue of racial discrimination and colour prejudice in religious history. Tackling common misconceptions, the author seeks to elevate the status of blacks and North Africans in Islam. The book is divided into two sections: Part l of the book explores the concept of race, 'blackness', slavery, interracial marriage and racism in Islam in the light of the Qur'an, Hadith and early historical sources. Part ll of the book consists of a compilation of short biographies of noble black and North African Muslim men and women in Islamic history including Prophets, Companions of the Prophet and more recent historical figures. Following in the tradition of revered scholars of Islam such as al-Jahiz, Ibn al-Jawzi and al-Suyuti who wrote about this topic, Illuminating the Darkness is structured according to a similar monographic arrangement.
This small book contains a collection of letters demonstrating a side of the personality of Shaykul-Islaam ibn Taymeeyah which is not commonly recognized. Usually, it is his tough and uncompromising stances and his truthful, sometimes harsh retorts that are remembered. However, as this work demonstrates he was also a concerned son, a devoted teacher and a passionate defender of the religion. These letters were selected and introduced by Shaykul Muhammad Sulaiman al-Abdah. Born in Syria in 1941, and now residing in London, he has taught in the religious institutes and the Islaamic University of Madeenah. He now devotes his time to work in Islamic Da'wah.
This book explores the position of Islamic theology and jurisprudence towards people with disabilities. It investigates how early and modern Muslim scholars tried to reconcile their existence with the concept of a merciful God, and also looks at how people with disabilities might live a dignified and productive life within an Islamic context. In his analysis of Islamic Theology, Ghaly pays attention to how theologians, philosophers and Sufis reflected on the purposes behind the existence of this phenomenon, and how to reconcile the existence of disability with specific divine attributes and an All-Merciful God. Simultaneously exploring the perspective of Muslim jurists, the book focuses on h...
In early eleventh century Zaragoza, the eminent Jewish scholar Abū l-Walīd Marwān ibn Janāḥ wrote a glossary containing almost 1100 entries, entitled Kitāb al-Talkhīṣ. This important text, considered lost until recently, contains Arabic and foreign-language names of simple drugs, weights, measures, and other medical terms. In the present volume, the Kitāb al-Talkhīṣ is edited and translated for the first time by Gerrit Bos and Fabian Käs. In detailed commentaries, the editors identify the substances mentioned in the Talkhīṣ. They also elaborate on the role of the text in the history of Arabic glossaries concerned with medical nomenclature. Special attention is paid to Ibn Janāḥ’s Ibero-Romance phytonyms, analysed in depth by Mailyn Lübke and Guido Mensching.
This book, Al-Fawa'id: A Collection Of Wise Sayings is one the well-known compilations of Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, who is well known by the name Ibn Al-Qayim (may Allah have mercy upon him). This blessed book is not like others that simply contain sections, chapters and themes, but it consists of the elevated thoughts that Allah, Exalted be He, bestows upon some of His servants as he wills. So whenever any of these scattered pearls of wisdom occurred to the Imam, he would immediately record them. Whenever something came to his mind, he would record it, and whenever he learned a lesson or anything crucial in his life, he would illuminate the lines of his page with the ink of his pen. This book consists of landmarks of guidance and light, and the firebrands of piety that Ibn Al-Qayyim pondered in the fields of piety, asceticism and vivid exhortation towards the truth. He focuses on the role and duty of the hearts, and makes them clear to us to the extent that we are moved and motivated to learn and practice them. He explains to us the diseases of the heart so we may know how to avoid and overcome them.
Pre-modern Arabic biography has served as a major source for the history of Islamic civilization. In this 2000 study exploring the origins and development of classical Arabic biography, Michael Cooperson demonstrates how Muslim scholars used the notions of heirship and transmission to document the activities of political, scholarly and religious communities. The author also explains how medieval Arab scholars used biography to tell the life-stories of important historical figures by examining the careers of the Abbasid Caliph al- Ma'mun, the Shiite Imam Ali al-Rida, the Sunni scholar Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and the ascetic Bishr al-Hafi, each of whom represented a tradition of political and spiritual heirship to the Prophet. Drawing on anthropology and comparative religion, as well as history and literary criticism, the book considers how each figure responded to the presence of the others and how these responses were preserved by posterity.
"Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on Knowledge: from Key to the Blissful Abode (Miftah Dar al-Sa'ada) is an abridgement of the first volume of Key to the Blissful Abode, a popular title by the renowned theologian and jurist Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. In it, Ibn Qayyim focuses on the importance of knowledge and willpower, as means through which a person may attain Paradise. Willpower is the door and knowledge in particular knowledge which pertains to God and His Attributes, the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet—is the key. Ibn Qayyim discusses the virtues and benefits of knowledge over wealth and worldly matters; the path to knowledge; the importance of pursuing knowledge and applying it in order to achieve guidance from God and protect oneself from doubts; the superiority of the scholar over the worshipper; the necessity of using knowledge and willpower as the bases for all actions if one is to achieve spiritual bliss. Ibn Qayyim then concludes Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on Knowledge: from Key to the Blissful Abode, by discussing the importance of contemplation and reflection in order to attain further knowledge and guidance"--front flap.
The thirteenth-century cookbook Fiḍālat al-khiwān fī ṭayyibāt al-ṭaʿām wa-l-alwān by the Andalusi scholar Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī showcases the sophisticated cuisine that developed in the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule through its 475 exquisite recipes. Now available for the first time in English, this edition contains al-Tujībī’s complete text, based on a newly discovered manuscript now available for the first time in any language. To introduce readers to the wonders of cooking and foodways in al-Andalus and the Maghreb, the translated text is supplemented with an extensive introduction and glossary, illustrated throughout with 218 color miniatures and artifacts, with 24 modernized recipes to give readers a taste of the cuisine. This is a key resource on medieval material culture and the Arab culinary heritage in Iberia, and a delight to all lovers of food and cookbooks.
In this work translations of four texts are provided from Ghadāmis and from Mali. The first is a biography of the Ghadāmisī scholar ʿAbdallāh b. Abī Bakr al-Ghadāmisī (1626–1719 AD), written by the eighteenth-century author Ibn Muhalhil al-Ghadāmisī. A second text is “The History of al-Sūq”, concerning al-Sūq, the historic town of Tādmakka and the original home of the Kel-Essouk Tuareg. The third text is “The Precious Jewel in the Saharan histories of the ‘People of the Veil’” by Muḥammad Tawjaw al-Sūqī al-Thānī, a contemporary Tuareg author. It pertains to the Kel-Essouk and their historical ties with the Maghreb and West Africa. The final text is a description of the Tuareg from the book “Ghadāmis, its features, its images and its sights” by Bashīr Qāsim Yūshaʿ, published in Arabic in 2001 AD.