What do you think?
Rate this book
The Book Of Manners
Product description Description from the publisher: Among the many good deeds that the Prophet (S) guided us to and the evil that he (S) warned us about, are a set of manners that are comprehensive of worldly matters and religious matters, of worship and dealings - dealings with one's family, children, acquaintances, and strangers. On this subject the writings of great scholars like Ibn Al-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah, Ibn Muflaih and As-Safaareenee have been summarized in this book. Publisher's Note All the praises and thanks are due to Allah, the Rubb of the worlds, and may Allah exalt the mention of the Prophet Muhammad, the chosen, the trustworthy, and the mention of his Household and all of his Companions. Islam is the greatest favor of Allah with which He has distinguished the mankind and Jinn. It is only a Deen which Allah made the last of all religions. Hence, it is the duty of every Muslim to value this divine favor by adhering to it. This could not be accomplished without understanding all the aspects of the religion which should be based on the Qur'an and the Sunnah. We try to present our publications based on authentic research material in accordance with the Qur'an and Sunnah, along with simplicity and freedom from every type of vague conception, weak authority, and false ideas. You will find the same spirit and tradition of good research, professional editing and excellent printing standard in this work. The Book of Manners is by Shaikh Fu'aad Ibn Abdul-Azeez AshShulhoob. Shaikh is a well-known Islamic scholar and has compiled this book on Islamic Manners and Etiquette after his thorough study of the works of great scholars such as Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim, Ibn Muflaih, As-Safaareenee and others. This collection relates to the important aspects of daily life so that the readers may benefit from it for their success in this life as well as in hereafter. (Muhammed Onlin Islamic Book Store +91 99457 44117)
- GenresIslamReligionNonfiction
501 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2003
24 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 27, 2017
This book was okay .
I had to read this book for class and while some chapters seemed fine, other sections of the book were actually kind of problematic. For instance, the way the author talks about women consistently is not in line with the Quranic view of spiritual equals, in my opinion.
He uses a hadith from the Prophet Muhammad on the women of Banu Israel quite literally throughout the entire book. He believes women are quite literally a fitnah because this hadith is vague. He can discredit Sahih hadiths on a man's awrah being from navel to knees while simultaneously encouraging hadiths against women that are weak in content and chain of narration.
Going in order of page number on parts of the book I took severe issue with:
pg. 64 - On women being able to give salaams to a non-mahram male, he says there are three opinions: permissible, forbidden, and allowed in a nuanced context (with old women). He quotes why some consider it haram and why some consider it allowed only for old women. There was no mention of why scholars would consider it permissible which is important for students to understand each opinion.
pg. 66 - On the permissibility of initiating greetings of peace to Jews and Christians, he says some say it is okay (Again doesn't go into that since he doesn't agree) He quotes a hadith, which I noticed was not sourced at all, only to say it is forbidden and that we should squish non-Muslims into the narrow parts of the road. Instead of defending such a controversial position, he merely says, "There is no room for interpretation." which naturally shuts down all conversation on this topic. This is not a black-white topic no matter how bad the author wants it to be, however.
pg. 306 - On the permissibility of women traveling alone, the author says, "If a woman travels without her mahram, she becomes a source of fitnah (trial and tribulation) for the men she comes across in her travels. The hadiths that establish this ruling are at once authentic and....leave no room for their interpretation." It was at this point that I started to notice the author would claim it was sufficient enough in the shariah for topics he didn't want to be questioned about apparently.
He brings up an "arguement made today", which was a man asking why he couldn't drop off his wife at the airport, have her chill on the airplane alone, and be picked up at her destination by her brother. (So a mahram would be picking her up on either side of this event.)
The author responds by quoting a hadith,
"Verily, the world is sweet, fresh, and green. And indeed, Allah mas you succeed previous generations and sees how you act. So beware of this world and beware of women, for the first Fitnah (trial and tribulation) of Banu Israel was women." (Related by several major works of hadith)
I wanted to know the story surrounding this hadith as there were always reasons why narrations occurred. No such luck in this book. The author continues again,
"Therefore, if a woman is left alone to travel without a mahram, made to work alongside men, taking positions of leadership among men, then we have a clear warning sign that we will be afflicted with the same fitnah as Banu Israel."
That's a far stretch, but okay. Half of that stuff he just added in there for good measure without it even making sense. Like positions of leadership among men? Working with men? Not mentioned in that hadith AT ALL, but the Prophet Muhammad's own wives and daughters worked as scholars among the people. But he conveniently left that part out, I noticed. He continues,
"Second, we must fact two very real facts: women are weak and they need men to protect them and take care of their affairs since they are easily drawn to men. The other fact is that men have weak iman (faith) and have almost no religious deterrent in their hearts to hold them back from doing evil...a man who claims her brother can pick her up from the airport upon arrival does not know for sure whether, due to mechanical problems, the plane will land elsewhere and if the passengers have to stay there for a number of hours, a day, or longer...Finding herself alone in such circumstances, a woman is easy prey to temptation."
I'm sorry but I don't think men are so stupid they can't be held responsible for anything. I don't believe women are so inherently weak they can't function for a few hours or days alone without falling apart. On the plane, you just sit there. The temptation if she has to stay elsewhere is what? She'll go to sleep early? I mean, come on. The Quran does not talk about men nor women in such a disgusting way, as if neither gender is capable of having enough brains to survive.
pg. 350 - On whether a man's thigh is his awrah, the Permanent Council of Saudi Arabia suddenly cares deeply on the level of hasan (fair) or sahih (authentic) a hadith is for the clothing of men. Quote: "Not a single hadith is free of criticism concerning its chain", which is a valid concern Islamically but they didn't care about this previously when it was surrounding the hadiths of women or non-Muslims noticeably.
pg. 351 - On if women can wear clothing that reveals their beauty if they're around other women since a woman's awrah (between women) is that between the navel and knee, they say it is haram (forbidden). The author says, "In these days especially we must keep in mind that women are put to trial and tempted by other women". So basically he's scared we'll engage in lesbianism if we wear dresses that are too cute around each other even though our woman-to-woman auras are covered? Come on.
pg. 406 - Section is entitled, "Men are more deserving of the middle of the pathway than women".
The author says, "In small and great matters, the Shariah consists of rules and laws that prevent the occurence of fitnah (Trial and tribulation). In keeping with that methodology, the Prophet (SAW) legislated that men and women should travel down roads separately.
Magically, we have yet again another hadith with zero sourcing or gradation of hadith status. This hadith could be (Da'eef) or (Sahih), but who knows? We the readers are just supposed to believe whatever we read, I guess. I also don't believe shariah is there to prevent fitnah. You can't avoid all fitnah ever - it's impossible. Shariah is there to provide us a middle path in our daily lives to be able to cope with fitnah better. Since his theology is inherently flawed, it should come as no surprise to me that he believes it okay to push anybody who isn't a Muslim male on the sides of the road.
Overall, this book is over 500 pages so most of it is pretty chill actually. It's a book on manners, you know? But we as Muslims should not let these little things slip by because these fatwas actually affect a huge amount of society. I wish there were another book on the market that addresses all of the great parts of this book and leaves the ugliness. This book helps people believe this prejudice towards women especially is religiously-motivated if they don't understand shariah very well. I just had higher hopes for this book.
I had to read this book for class and while some chapters seemed fine, other sections of the book were actually kind of problematic. For instance, the way the author talks about women consistently is not in line with the Quranic view of spiritual equals, in my opinion.
He uses a hadith from the Prophet Muhammad on the women of Banu Israel quite literally throughout the entire book. He believes women are quite literally a fitnah because this hadith is vague. He can discredit Sahih hadiths on a man's awrah being from navel to knees while simultaneously encouraging hadiths against women that are weak in content and chain of narration.
Going in order of page number on parts of the book I took severe issue with:
pg. 64 - On women being able to give salaams to a non-mahram male, he says there are three opinions: permissible, forbidden, and allowed in a nuanced context (with old women). He quotes why some consider it haram and why some consider it allowed only for old women. There was no mention of why scholars would consider it permissible which is important for students to understand each opinion.
pg. 66 - On the permissibility of initiating greetings of peace to Jews and Christians, he says some say it is okay (Again doesn't go into that since he doesn't agree) He quotes a hadith, which I noticed was not sourced at all, only to say it is forbidden and that we should squish non-Muslims into the narrow parts of the road. Instead of defending such a controversial position, he merely says, "There is no room for interpretation." which naturally shuts down all conversation on this topic. This is not a black-white topic no matter how bad the author wants it to be, however.
pg. 306 - On the permissibility of women traveling alone, the author says, "If a woman travels without her mahram, she becomes a source of fitnah (trial and tribulation) for the men she comes across in her travels. The hadiths that establish this ruling are at once authentic and....leave no room for their interpretation." It was at this point that I started to notice the author would claim it was sufficient enough in the shariah for topics he didn't want to be questioned about apparently.
He brings up an "arguement made today", which was a man asking why he couldn't drop off his wife at the airport, have her chill on the airplane alone, and be picked up at her destination by her brother. (So a mahram would be picking her up on either side of this event.)
The author responds by quoting a hadith,
"Verily, the world is sweet, fresh, and green. And indeed, Allah mas you succeed previous generations and sees how you act. So beware of this world and beware of women, for the first Fitnah (trial and tribulation) of Banu Israel was women." (Related by several major works of hadith)
I wanted to know the story surrounding this hadith as there were always reasons why narrations occurred. No such luck in this book. The author continues again,
"Therefore, if a woman is left alone to travel without a mahram, made to work alongside men, taking positions of leadership among men, then we have a clear warning sign that we will be afflicted with the same fitnah as Banu Israel."
That's a far stretch, but okay. Half of that stuff he just added in there for good measure without it even making sense. Like positions of leadership among men? Working with men? Not mentioned in that hadith AT ALL, but the Prophet Muhammad's own wives and daughters worked as scholars among the people. But he conveniently left that part out, I noticed. He continues,
"Second, we must fact two very real facts: women are weak and they need men to protect them and take care of their affairs since they are easily drawn to men. The other fact is that men have weak iman (faith) and have almost no religious deterrent in their hearts to hold them back from doing evil...a man who claims her brother can pick her up from the airport upon arrival does not know for sure whether, due to mechanical problems, the plane will land elsewhere and if the passengers have to stay there for a number of hours, a day, or longer...Finding herself alone in such circumstances, a woman is easy prey to temptation."
I'm sorry but I don't think men are so stupid they can't be held responsible for anything. I don't believe women are so inherently weak they can't function for a few hours or days alone without falling apart. On the plane, you just sit there. The temptation if she has to stay elsewhere is what? She'll go to sleep early? I mean, come on. The Quran does not talk about men nor women in such a disgusting way, as if neither gender is capable of having enough brains to survive.
pg. 350 - On whether a man's thigh is his awrah, the Permanent Council of Saudi Arabia suddenly cares deeply on the level of hasan (fair) or sahih (authentic) a hadith is for the clothing of men. Quote: "Not a single hadith is free of criticism concerning its chain", which is a valid concern Islamically but they didn't care about this previously when it was surrounding the hadiths of women or non-Muslims noticeably.
pg. 351 - On if women can wear clothing that reveals their beauty if they're around other women since a woman's awrah (between women) is that between the navel and knee, they say it is haram (forbidden). The author says, "In these days especially we must keep in mind that women are put to trial and tempted by other women". So basically he's scared we'll engage in lesbianism if we wear dresses that are too cute around each other even though our woman-to-woman auras are covered? Come on.
pg. 406 - Section is entitled, "Men are more deserving of the middle of the pathway than women".
The author says, "In small and great matters, the Shariah consists of rules and laws that prevent the occurence of fitnah (Trial and tribulation). In keeping with that methodology, the Prophet (SAW) legislated that men and women should travel down roads separately.
Magically, we have yet again another hadith with zero sourcing or gradation of hadith status. This hadith could be (Da'eef) or (Sahih), but who knows? We the readers are just supposed to believe whatever we read, I guess. I also don't believe shariah is there to prevent fitnah. You can't avoid all fitnah ever - it's impossible. Shariah is there to provide us a middle path in our daily lives to be able to cope with fitnah better. Since his theology is inherently flawed, it should come as no surprise to me that he believes it okay to push anybody who isn't a Muslim male on the sides of the road.
Overall, this book is over 500 pages so most of it is pretty chill actually. It's a book on manners, you know? But we as Muslims should not let these little things slip by because these fatwas actually affect a huge amount of society. I wish there were another book on the market that addresses all of the great parts of this book and leaves the ugliness. This book helps people believe this prejudice towards women especially is religiously-motivated if they don't understand shariah very well. I just had higher hopes for this book.
October 4, 2025
This is definitely one of the most comprehensive books on Islamic etiquette. It is easy to read, full of wisdom, and it enlightens its readers not only about Islamic manners but also about fiqh-related questions along the way.
November 12, 2024
Good for the Sunnah
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews