1984, 451 and brave new world

The Purple Book of Generalities

Here's a link to a something we wrote in 2004-5. We were just making observations about our environment etc. We hope you enjoy it and there might be more on the way...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/91681319/Purple-Book-of-Generalities-PDF

Discovering the Ottomans By llber Ortayli

This was a book that I picked up whilst browsing in a book store a few months ago. History is one of my favourite subjects and I like to delve into the past every now and then. Sometimes looking back is difficult because of the things that have occurred and sometimes it is interesting because the past can indicate to the future, as well as explaining the present.

The book is aimed at the average Turk who is ambivalent to the great Ottoman past. The author makes a real effort in trying to engage the reader into looking into this past and bringing out its many jewels.

The Europeans had been telling the Ottoman Empire that it was outdated for many years. When the empire ‘fell’ at the hands of the Mustafa Kamel, he re-enforced this idea. What then spread was a rabid type of secularism much like what we see today in Turkey. Islam was pushed into the background as other government systems and policies were sought.

Ilber paints a picture of an Istanbul that you would love to be in. He speaks about the family unit, how they used to be together and united. He speaks with great nostalgia about the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. This really encourages the reader to look back at the Ottoman heritage and ponder is there something that they have missed?

Turkish people must wonder why they have so many visitors to Istanbul. Why are they coming? What are they going to see?

He ends with something that had a profound effect on me, “As writers, educated people and ordinary citizens, the Turkish people are expects at misunderstanding and misinterpreting the Ottoman Empire, and believing that things were the exact opposite of the way they actually were. Let us hope that we will make up for this in the future.”

Turkish people should be rightly proud of the Ottoman Empire as the greatest manifestation of the Islamic caliphate system. It is not without truth that the Ottoman Empire was the single longest lasting caliphate, some six hundred years.

Misunderstanding the past is not just a Turkish problem we as Muslims need to accept the blame as well. Just about every country that was occupied by European or Western forces, sing this same refrain, that Islam is backwards etc. If that was true then the West is backwards as well because the basis for the Western system of almost everything lies with Islam! So they are actually calling themselves backward as well!

So read your history start with life story of the Beloved (may Allah bestow upon him peace and blessings) then read selected works that have been recommended to you by someone who has read them.

This book is a good place to begin to understand the legacy of Islam and the most successful manifestation of this was the Ottoman Empire.

(The picture is the grave of Muhammad Al-Fatih or Mehmet; the famous Ottoman Sultan (may Allah show him mercy)).

Sira reviews

Part Two of Sira Reviews

Nur al-Yaqin fi sirah sayyid al-Mursaleen/The light of certainty in the story of the master of Messengers

This is an excellent starter text with some good information and its recommended for learners of the Arabic language. So it is really worth going through for intermediate students of the Arabic Language. My only complaint is that the text is a bit brief and I wish it was longer.


Muhammad: Man and Prophet By Adil Salahi


The problem with this text is that it does not have the answers to the questions that I wanted answered. It was written for the sceptic Westerner but it fails to give definite answers to the questions that the text itself raises. So for me this text is better avoided for these reasons. However, I do feel that anyone writing 800+ pages on the subject of Sira should be praised but this skipped over many details that a text of this size should not have. Borrow don't buy. He seems to prefer strange opinions which I have never read before and sometimes he prefers to logic over historical reference.


Sixth Century and Beyond by M.Abdulla Pasha

This was a disappointing text that I was expecting a lot from but it did not deliver. It re-enforced a lot of Western stereotypes and this was something that was not wanted. The text does not deliver anything new in terms of the author's insight which was something that I was expecting but did not get.


As-Shifa by Qadi Iyad

This is the definite book of praise upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This is an amazing book to read and is worth reading again and again. If you can read it in Arabic then go ahead and if you cannot then the English will do. They say that the sick are healed if this book is recited to them.


Muhammad: A Prophet for all humanity by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

This is an amazing book which is not a biography but examines the different aspects of his life (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This book is ideal for non-Muslims as it a book aimed at outreach so give to people who want to study Islam or anyone who wants to study. You can get it quite cheaply and it's really worth purchasing.


Proofs of Prophethood by Sheikh Abdel haleem Mahmood

This is an interesting text that deserves to be re-read a few times. It is also a recommended text that could be read after M. Fethullah Gulen's text. There are lots of references and interesting points. Sometimes it reads like a text on his miracles. Worth buying.


Prophet Mohammad and His Miracles: From the Risale i Nur Collection By Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

This is not a Sira text but is a text on miracles using a logical approach. He also goes through some miracles and explains them to us. It is another text worth purchasing.


Sira Reviews part one
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/01/sira-reviews.html

Sira reviews

Recently, Sira or the life story of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has become a subject of interest for me; all praise belongs to Allah the Exalted. So this is a quick review of the few books that I have read on this subject.

Messenger of God : Muhammad by M.Fathullah Gulen

This is an excellent book; it is aimed at the sceptical Western mind. The author goes into such chapters: as proofs of prophet, importance of Prophethood and various points in Sira. I found the book made several interesting points and it something that should be placed with Martin Lings Sira text; Yes, I recommend that highly!

You may find some difficulty attaining a copy, it took my three months to get mine but it was worth the effort. The book is also published under the title "The Infinite light" in two parts.



The Path of Muhammad: A Book on Islamic Morals and Ethics By Imam Birgivi

Rather than a book on Sira, this is book about morals and characteristics. It gives an explanation of a certain characteristics or moral. Even though it is not a book on Sira, it is worth reading, for the depth of the understanding of the Imam. This is a book that I had seen frequently and never had the chance to read it. When I finally read it I wish I had read it a lot sooner.


And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety By Annemarie Schimmel

This is a wonderful book which describes this different ways of the different nations and races of the Muslims venerate the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The German Muslim is fluent in several languages and this adds so much to the vast material that she presents in her book. It's a real joy to read and I would recommend this to be read with the all of the above books.


Fiqh us-sira by Muhammad al-Ghazali

This is an interesting text by the recently deceased Egyptian scholar. At first the scholar praises a scholar who I would not; this did cause me a problem, as it went on for several pages.

Although, patience paid off because he makes some important points but at the same time it is in a "modernist" tone. So people opposed to this should be aware of this. The book is only for seasoned readers of Sira, as he often refutes a position and then goes onto to explain the event that he is refuting; so this can be confusing!


The Battles of the Prophet of Allah by Gulzar Ahmed

This is a text written by a retired Pakistani brigadier who is not a scholar but is a military expert. So he does make some points that are not correct, so be aware of that. He makes some amazing points about warfare and what other leaders did in the battlefield. One point that goes almost unnoticed by some writers about the life story of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that after the migration of the Muslims to Medina; the pagan Quresh declared war against the Muslims.

"You have given protection to our man. We swear by God that if do not kill him or expel him from Medina we will attack you and take your women as captives." (p.94)

They wrote in a letter to him. Muslims attacked the trade caravans of Abu Sufyan who had sold the empty houses of the Muslims in Mecca. No one knew when the pagans were going to attack them, so they had to be ready. This is far removed from the fanatical fantasies of the Orientalists who must read only parts of the story and not the whole picture. This needs to be explained in the correct manner which I do not feel that it is. There are two parts to this book and the first part is better than the second. It was a little disappointing to be honest because the first book made some interesting points. The second part had too many errors for it to be as good as the first.

This is book is for the seasoned reader of Sira and not for the beginner but it is a valuable book for the collection.

Lost history - book review

This is a review of the book called "Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists" By Michael Hamilton Morgan.


When I saw the title of this book, I was intrigued and I wanted to see what information the book contains. The book reads like a historical narrative, which was something that I did not expect. It trys to explain the current situation or state Muslims find themselves into and then goes back in time to a different age. This did get annoying, after he had done this several times.

Some of the information is new to me, most information is! It's a well written book with one major draw back, there is very little is the way of original sourcing. So it is difficult to quote from a text which cannot back itself up by an original source. Of course, this book does focus on some parts of history and not others. There is a section of the text describing the defeat of the Abdurrahman al-Ghafiqi in France against Charles Martel. He also looks at the loss of Muslim Spain and the final losses of the Ottoman Empire.

There are many personalities mentioned, for example Ibn Firnas, Ahmed Celabi (both poineers in flying), Ibn Sina (his text Al-Qanun used as a medical text for over 900 years), Al-Nafis (builds on Ibn Sinas work and finds how blood cirulates), Zakaria Al-Razi (writes a text on smallpox) and many others.

Here is an interesting quote (which is also unsourced) from David King:

"Virtually all innovations in [astronomical] instrumentation in Europe up to ca. 1550 were either directly or indirectly Islamic in origin or had been conceived previously by some Muslim astronomer somewhere."

The book is worth reading for those interested in the subject and anyone new to the subject.

Book review of Muhammad - Prophet of our time by Karen Armstrong

Whenever I have read or heard Ms Armstrong talking about Islam I have found her opinion to be fair and balanced. Which is not something that you can say about many who write about Islam. When I saw this book I wondered what she had wrote in it.

She explains the sira quite well and brings to life stories more than they should be. Alarm bells started ringing when he reported a false story that the orientalists have cooked up and are passing onto each other.

One of the stories that has no origin in any history book is a false story of his proposed marriage to woman years before his first marriage. I have seen this story in more than one book and neither book quoted a source.

The most alarming about this book is the various attacks on the companions which include wife beating and striking themselves when he passed away. All these were not sourced, neither are there any records for these events in the books of history.

The fabricated story which is famously known as the "satanic verses" this is a fabricated story which was made up by heretics. More than ten scholars confirm this here she expands on this story in the most bizarre manner possible. This part can only be seen as a piece of creative writing because its simply not true.

Although she explains the marriage to Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) in a simple manner, "There was no impropriety in Muhammad's betrol to Aisha. Marriages conducted in absentia to seal alliance were often contracted at this time..." "This practice continued in Europe well into the early modern period. There was no question of consummating the marriage until Aisha reached puberty." Page 105.

Her attacks upon the companions are the most worrying thing about this book yet she does not attack the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with the same vigour. She is explains his actions in a good manner with the major exception of the "satanic verses." She also emphasises on his excellent characteristics but the attacks on the companions really takes me away from this book.

At this point I begun to incline to the sira book by Barnaby Rogerson because overall that book has the normal orientalist arguements which many can see through but parts of this book are much worse.

I was expecting this book to be much better than it turned out to be. To say it was disappointment is a major understatement but inshallah some people may benefit from this review. I would really like to find a book of sira so I can recommend it to non-Muslims to read, search continues. If you want to read it then borrow the book don't buy it.




Short survival guide to books by orientalists - if you find a story that does not seem correct then follow these steps.

1. Do they source?
2. Is it a sound narration or a weak one or even a fabricated story
3. What is the source? Is it Primary or secondary?
4. Check the source
5. Ask a scholar about it

Book review of The Prophet Muhammad - Biography by Barnaby Rogerson

I was drawn to this book by a friend of mine who commented on the ease of language over Martin lingss' text. Although I did not agree with him, at the same time I wanted to see how well written this text was. So the following is a short review of this book.

The introduction makes it clear that that the author is someone has travelled in the Muslim world and experienced some Muslim Culture. One sometimes hopes in vain, that the people who write about Islam are Muslims this is not the case; many non-Muslim writers have written and will write books about Islam some of which will be useful and others will not. I am trying to decide which one this book is.

The author goes on various tangents from story to story and he does allow the reader to immerse himself into the sira. He cuts other stories short whether he is doing it purpose or not remains to be proved.

He makes several accusations which have no basis nor narration in the books of history because history is not taken from the mind rather its taken from authentic sources.

Compare this to the Lings text which is referenced almost everywhere; this has very little in the way of references, apart from that which he quotes in the text or directly.

There is a chapter at the end of the book on sources but this is not in referenced back to any pages. So can anything be taken seriously in this book without the appropriate refencing? Well, no you have to provide your sources if you are not then all you are doing is narrating a story and you could add whatever you liked to the text.

Overall there are some good quotes that someone could take but advice to Muslims is to read what Muslims have written about their blessed Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rather than read what non-Muslims have wrote. That is not to say some authors have had some interesting stuff to say, they have, but what Muslims have written about him is much greater.

So I would recommend Martin lings text than this but this text is better than the slanderous text by robert spencer.