Lessons from History: Reflections on the Past, Present & Future of Two Muslim communities

by Israr Ahmed

The substance of this book is based on the ideas published by Dr. Israr Ahmad in 1993 in the columns of the Urdu daily Nawa-e-Waqt of Lahore. The series of write-ups continued for a few months and were widely read with interest. The entire material, after slight editing, was published in a book form in October 1993 under the title Sabiqa aur Maujuda Musalman Ummatun ka Mazi, Haal, aur Mustaqbil, and has since gone through many re-prints. Dr. Ahmed Afzaal rendered these ideas into English and part of it was serialized in 1995-96 in the monthly Hikmat-e-Qur’an published by the Markazi Anjuman Khuddam-ul-Qur’an Lahore. For putting it into a compact book, he further revised the entire material, added his own sub-titles, and made it more authentic by giving quotations from the Old and New Testaments. Indeed, he took great pains to make the citations of quite a few historical events and landmarks, particularly of early Jewish history, more authentic by giving dates and references from reliable sources. Moreover, he suggested a much more telling title for the book — Lessons from History — and the sub-title — Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Two Muslim Communities — puts in a capsule form the whole spectrum of ideas covered in the book.

Genres: Islam

122 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2018

About the author

Dr. Israr Ahmed, (1932-2010) was a Pakistan-based Muslim religious figure who has been described as well-known among Muslims in Pakistan, India, the Middle East, and North America. Born in East Punjab, (now part of Haryana) in India, the second son of a government servant, he is the founder of the Tanzeem-e-islami, an off-shoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
He has spent the "last forty years" actively engaged in "reviving the Qur'an-centered Islamic perennial philosophy and world-view" with "the ultimate objective of establishing a true Islamic State, or the System of Khilafah." Ahmed is skeptical of the efficacy of "parliamentary politics of give-and-take" in establishing an "Islamic politico-socio-economic system" as implementing this system is a "revolutionary process".

Courtesy : http://www.drisrarahmed.com

Reviews

[farah · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book by Dr. Israr Ahmad, May Allaah have Mercy upon him. what an experience.
It was realities upon realities. I learned so much, from historical insights to present day reflections. The narrative was very powerful, i felt like i was reading a movie.

P.S. I would definitely recommend reading it with your sisters, the discussions it sparks are totally worth it! 😛

[Mahnoor Asif · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The more you know about the past the better prepared you are for the future.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Dr. Israr is one of my favorite religious scholars. He does the perfect analysis and has a very deep proficiency in topics of history.

Lessons from history gave a perfect analysis of Jewish and Muslim history. The rise and fall of both. The causes and consequences behind the rise and fall. He describes the parallelism of Jewish and Muslim history.

Also, it explains the history of Christianity. And their part in Muslim and Jewish history.

Dr. Israr Ahmed also mentioned the prophecies regarding Muslim's and Jews' futures. He gave a detailed account of the fact that why we are Muslim besides having everything dependent on the West.

[HASSAN BASHIR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Israr Ahmed is my fav islamic scholar and go to person (his vids), a wonderful personality who lived his life exactly the way he preached; with simplicity.

Most of the content in this book is what already knew from his own lectures but still it's a short book and must read for all the muslim youth in order to truly understand why muslims are suffering currently and how Islam isn't responsible instead the only way for salvation.

[Hassaan Bukhari · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
- George Santayana

Dr. Israr despite telling a detailed and brief history of 4000 years has also done a very good analysis on it. Comparison of the parallelism of the history of two communities was done perfectly by the scholar and well put. A must recommended short read if you are looking for a brief Abraham religious history. I literally finished the book within few hours.

[Khalid Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great effort from an historical point of view. The analysis seems compelling. An interesting read for the Muslims of sub continent.

[Abdul Aziz Muhammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

وہ زمانے میں معزز تھے مسلماں ہو کر
اور تم خوار ہوئے تارک قرآں ہو کر

قوم مذہب سے ہے مذہب جو نہیں تم بھی نہیں
جذب باہم جو نہیں محفل انجم بھی نہیں

قوت عشق سے ہر پست کو بالا کر دے
دہر میں اسم محمد سے اجالا کر دے

کی محمد سے وفا تو نے تو ہم تیرے ہیں
یہ جہاں چیز ہے کیا لوح و قلم تیرے ہیں