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The Qur'an and Sayings of Prophet Muhammad: Selections Annotated & Explained
For over 1,400 years the sacred book of Islam, known as the Qur'an, has served as an ocean of wisdom and nourishment for the human soul. The Qur'an gave birth to one of the world's most powerful civilizations that spanned from the depths of Asia and Africa to the borders of Europe. Some historians have even credited the Qur'an for bringing Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance with its interwoven ideas of faith and reason, which allowed religion and science to flourish side-by-side during much of Islamic history. For many in the West, teachings of the Qur'an are enshrouded in mystery and fear. Their only exposure to Islam comes via dramatic world events or the media, both of which represent distorted images of the world's second largest religion. This book presents the foundational wisdom of Islam, found in the teachings of the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad, in an easy-to-understand and easy-to-access format. It examines various passages and sayings on essential themes, such as the nature of God and the purpose of human life, in an updated translation and offers insightful facing-page commentaries that reflect classical or normative Muslim thought within its historical and cultural context.
- GenresNonfictionIslam
Nook
First published February 28, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 3, 2020
Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim. Fear Allah or get the ream.
November 4, 2011
I am a religious idiot. My knowledge of religion is almost zilch. My understanding of religion is zilch. And my belief in religion is zilch. However, I recognize that religion has played THE most important role throughout the ages of human history. Therefore, I am curious about what I know so little of.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
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November 4, 2011I am a religious idiot. My knowledge of religion is almost zilch. My understanding of religion is zilch. And my belief in religion is zilch. However, I recognize that religion has played THE most important role throughout the ages of human history. Therefore, I am curious about what I know so little of.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
October 3, 2016
Decent book. It's mainly selections from the Qur'an and very few from the hadith. The hadith and Qur'an verses are not seperated. The book is arranged by topic so hadith and Qur'anic verses were chosen to represent the chapter's theme. I didn't like the commentary as much as I liked the selections. Most of the commentary felt unessecary.
The worst chapters were the ones on women and marriage because of his commentary and sometimes his selections. On 24:31 he says women are enjoined by the Qur'an to wear the veil to show all women deserve respect like upper-class women as head coverings in Arabia and various societies were a mark of class distinction. First of all, the concept that historically Islam enjoined every woman, including slave women, to wear veils is factually untrue. Most medieval jurists did not believe slave women were obligated to cover themselves head to toe like free women. Many even went to the extent of saying slave women only were obligated to cover navel to knee. The dress of slave women varied by society, but there is evidence to suggest that in some contexts they were not even allowed to cover like free women. This is historical revisionism basically.
Second, it's just insulting to say that respect for women should be awarded based on how the woman is dressed. Another point is that veiling throughout history in different contexts has adopted different meanings. Sometimes veiling has even been associated with rural, lower-class women while the wealthier, urban women went unveiled.
In the chapter on marriage, he includes the hadith, "If a woman dies while her husband is pleased with her she enters paradise." Why would he possibly think this is a good hadith to include? This is when I threw the book down in anger. Out of all the great hadith, he chooses the one suggesting a woman's subservience to her husband can send her to heaven. You don't go to heaven because a fallible and fickle human is pleased with you- only if God is pleased with you. This is such a problematic hadith.
He also at one-time comments wudu must be done before every prayer, but wudu does not need to be done every prayer so long as it has not been nullified from before.
It's an eh book.
The worst chapters were the ones on women and marriage because of his commentary and sometimes his selections. On 24:31 he says women are enjoined by the Qur'an to wear the veil to show all women deserve respect like upper-class women as head coverings in Arabia and various societies were a mark of class distinction. First of all, the concept that historically Islam enjoined every woman, including slave women, to wear veils is factually untrue. Most medieval jurists did not believe slave women were obligated to cover themselves head to toe like free women. Many even went to the extent of saying slave women only were obligated to cover navel to knee. The dress of slave women varied by society, but there is evidence to suggest that in some contexts they were not even allowed to cover like free women. This is historical revisionism basically.
Second, it's just insulting to say that respect for women should be awarded based on how the woman is dressed. Another point is that veiling throughout history in different contexts has adopted different meanings. Sometimes veiling has even been associated with rural, lower-class women while the wealthier, urban women went unveiled.
In the chapter on marriage, he includes the hadith, "If a woman dies while her husband is pleased with her she enters paradise." Why would he possibly think this is a good hadith to include? This is when I threw the book down in anger. Out of all the great hadith, he chooses the one suggesting a woman's subservience to her husband can send her to heaven. You don't go to heaven because a fallible and fickle human is pleased with you- only if God is pleased with you. This is such a problematic hadith.
He also at one-time comments wudu must be done before every prayer, but wudu does not need to be done every prayer so long as it has not been nullified from before.
It's an eh book.
May 15, 2007
I've actually finished this book and enjoyed the simple way in which it explained things. It's a book that you will constantly refer to in some way or another.
October 8, 2008
Exceptionally well-done, though not comprehensive (it appears to me).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews