Don't Get Angry, Get Books from Amal Press

Please read the following article by Aftab Malik, the founder and director of Amal Press, which discusses the crucial post-9/11 need for supporting quality independent Muslim publishers:

Don’t Get Angry: The Power of the Written Word

As the article states, Amal Press seeks to "educate Muslims about their own heritage while at the same time, discuss some of the most critical questions of the age." The good news is that their publications are "reaching non-Muslims around the globe and being incorporated into undergraduate and postgraduate syllabi in the US, UK and Australia, our messages are being read, taught, debated and discussed" -- so progress is being made in countering the so-called "Islam of angry engineers" that is all too common these days.

In spite of the fact that, as the article mentions, "Gulf-backed publishing houses are viewed with increasing suspicion in the West", we still have our work cut out for us. One example of this is that, as Sohail Nakhooda touched upon in his previously mentioned interview, Dar-us-Salam Publications (a Saudi-based publisher of Salafi-Wahabi materials) has been allowed to "open up right in front of the prayer hall" in London's Regents' Park Mosque -- a mosque which is frequented by tourists and others seeking to learn more about Islam. As Sidi Sohail puts it, this shows "a complete lack of common sense" since the overwhelmingly majority of Dar-us-Salam's books are rather horrid, especially when it comes to presenting Islam to non-Muslims.

Personally, I like to call them "partial translations", since they often leave so much of the Islamic jargon in untranslated transliteration that, rather than helping to overcome non-Muslims' misunderstandings about Islam, they simply confirm them (i.e. that Islam is an Arab religion meant for semi-educated and narrow-minded literalists). In my not-so-humble opinion, the so-called Noble Qur'an printed by Dar-us-Salam (a.k.a. the Hilali-Khan translation), with its ceaseless parenthetic comments, continues to be a hallmark of embarrassment for English-speaking Muslims. If anyone doubts this, reading their translation of Qur'an 2:223 – along with its seemingly obligatory and awkwardly interjected parenthetic comments -- should be enough to convince one that the mentality behind this translation didn't give much consideration to what is appropriate for inclusion in a translated verse of scripture: "Your wives are a tilth for you, so go to your tilth (have sexual relations with your wives in any manner as long as it is in the vagina and not in the anus)..."

Even though I certainly don't dispute the legal validity of this well-known ruling, I know that I'm not alone in feeling that a translation of the Qur'an isn’t the most befitting place to include biologically explicit "How To" references on Muslim sexual relations. At a minimum, the translators could have included these graphic instructions in a footnote -- which is where the overwhelmingly majority of their parenthetic comments undoubtedly belong. To me, all of the parenthetic comments that are included within the translated verses of The Noble Qur'an smack of trying to include what Allah didn't include in an attempt to ensure that it won't be misunderstood. This might be a noble intention, and while including some parenthetic words in order to clarify a phrase which is difficult to translate word-for-word is sometimes appropriate, it becomes annoying and almost condescending if taken to excess – and the translators of The Noble Qur'an certainly managed both. It seems that they failed to realize that almost all of the verses that they sought to clarify with parenthetic statements in English are also prone to misinterpretation when read in the original Arabic by someone lacking in Islamic knowledge.

Traditionally, the way that ambiguities in the text were dealt with was by books of tafsir (exegesis) in which explanations were written above, below or all around the Qur'anic verses -- but not injected into the verses themselves. While it's certainly true that, strictly speaking, translated ayat are not actually Qur'anic verses per se, stuffing them full of parenthetic comments -- and very repetitive ones at that -- often leads to confusion and awkwardness. Indeed, the Hilali-Khan Noble Qur’an is without a doubt the most awkward translation of the Qur’an that I’ve ever come across -- and I was never able to force myself to like it even when I was a so-called “Salafi”.

Anyway, the point of this already too long ramble is simply to concur with the view that there are plenty of bad Islamic books out there, including -- if not especially -- some translations of the Qur'an, so we ought to all do our part in stemming the tide of embarrassing books with a flood of well thought out, fluidly translated and attractively designed alternatives. Since quite a few traditional Islamic book publishers have taken up this burden and started to fill this yawning void, all of us should support them in any way we can, insha’llah. This isn't the first time that I've critiqued some of the idiosyncrasies of books put out by adherents of the Wahabite rite, and, insha'llah, it won't be the last since "the Deen is knowledge", thus it's our duty as Muslims to ensure that this knowledge is conveyed in a comprehensible, befitting and appealing manner.

Anyway, don't forget to read the article by Sidi Aftab Malik and to check out the recently revamped Amal Press website.

Deen On...

Body and Soul Program -- New York City

A two-day seminar to inspire you to live a healthy, balanced, and fulfilling life featuring Hakim Archuletta, Dawood Ya Sin and others has been scheduled for the weekend of July 9-10, 2005. The event will take place at the Hammer Health Science Center HSC 301 at Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan, New York City.

Insha'llah, attendees will learn more about holistic and natural health, using food as medicine, as well as practical tips on how to safely and effectively combine the best of conventional medicine and natural healing. Topics include eating well, emotional health, spirituality, and the means to live a more meaningful life.

For more information about this event, including registration and program details, please visit the Body & Soul website.

A printable program flyer is available here [243 KB Acrobat .pdf file].

DeenPort Interview with Sohail Nakhooda

DeenPort has posted a fascinating interview with Sohail Nakhooda, editor of Islamica Magazine, in which he discusses his well-travelled and highly interesting life. Not only does it cover his ideological and spiritual development over the years, but he discusses his very rich and diverse academic experiences as well. How often do you hear about a Muslim graduate of the London School of Economics who has studied Christian theology at the Vatican and has an MA in Protestant theology to boot? Not only that, but he studied theological hermeneutics under Professors Anthony Thiselton and Hugh Goddard -- whose A History of Christian-Muslim Relations is well worth a read.

Sidi Sohail also served as Editorial Assistant of the Muslim World Book Review, a very worthwhile publication, and is now editor of the critically acclaimed Islamica -- a publication that I encourage everyone to support by subscribing to it. I just hope that DeenPort continues to make a habit of such interviews, since I found it not only fascinating, but motivating as well. One reason for this was his insights into life in Amman both working with and as a murid of Shakyh Nuh Ha Mim Keller -- may Allah bless both of them.

One of my favorite quotes from the interview was his point, in regards to some Muslim activists' view of Muslim Unity, that "what they seek is uniformity -- the two things are not the same." These are extremely wise and valid words that we should all take to heart, in spite of the fact that they'll probably be met with blank stares in some circles.

Rather coincidentally for me, since I attempted the same thing just the other day, Sidi Sohail offered his own definition of Traditional Islam: "It is a difficult to say with absolute accuracy what is 'Traditional Islam'. Perhaps other scholars can define it more specifically than I, but in general it is what most Muslims have done for most of the time. It is also what defines the Orthodox tradition in this faith of ours, and for us the Sunnis this includes the four madhhabs, two schools of aqida and so on. It's what the bulk of our Prophet, Companions, Followers, the ulema, sufis and saints have practiced and believed in...Traditional Islam needs to be lived and experienced and it is not simply a set of dos and don'ts...We obtain our knowledge from the Qur'an and hadith, and its implications have been passed down to us through our community of scholars and religious men who have mediated religious, legal and spiritual knowledge to people and connected us therefore to the Prophet Muhammad himself, peace be upon him. It is a tradition that is at once intellectually rigorous, vast, holistic but also full of rahma and penetrating wisdom...Our generation needs to rediscover traditional Islam once again, one buried by the upheavals of the modern and materialist age, and learn to live again as a Muslim should in letter and spirit according to the example of the beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Wahhabism Islam, Modern Islam, Progressive Islam, Political Islam - call it what you will - has reduced our veritable religion into very narrow perspectives robbing it of its spiritual rigour, moral direction, and humanness. Islam, however, has all that, and in abundance."

Yes, our beautiful religion has been robbed of its "spiritual rigour, moral direction, and humanness" by quite a few well-intentioned but misguided Muslim activist groups out there. It's the lack of moral direction amongst some Muslims that disturbs me -- and should disturb all of us -- the most. Indeed, things have gotten rather bad if adherents of an ethically pure Divinely revealed religion don't know basic right from wrong...but in some cases that's the state our Ummah is in.

In regards to the increasingly important topic of Muslim-Christian dialogue, Sidi Sohail offered the advice that we "have to be, by all means, suspicious of evangelical groups, just as Christians too need to be suspicious of overtly political Islamic groups, but within those two extremes lie a great sea of people from the two faiths who can learn to understand and live with each other in mutual respect...I think Muslims must gain knowledge of Christianity and move beyond Ahmed Deedat style of confrontational literature and engage in dialogue. Learn their history, theology and attitudes. Dialogue is not a forum for polemics; that's not the main aim of interfaith dialogue between Muslims and Christians. It's more a question of trying to understand each other, even through spirited debate and discussion, and break down some of the many stereotypes that pervade attitudes between adherents of the two religions. And this needs to be done when you consider the potential for violent conflict in all regions of the world where Muslims and Christians live side by side. So many deaths could have been avoided with a little tolerance and wisdom on both sides over the years."

Very wise words indeed, so I encourage everyone to read the entire interview...and Deen On.

My Definition of "Traditional Islam"

Not to mention any other blogs -- other than SAFspace -- but the other day a fellow Muslim blogger asked me to define "Traditional Islam"...and this is what I wrote (unedited here except for correcting a typo, removing a duplicate word and adding some additional formatting):

---

I would define Traditional Islam as the understanding of Islam, both in creed ('aqidah), jurisprudence (fiqh) and self-purification (tasawwuf), that has been adhered to by the overwhelming majority of not only Sunni Muslim scholars, but Sunni Muslims in general. Thus Traditional Islam consists of adhering to one of the four time-honored and faithfully-transmitted schools (madhahib) of fiqh and one of the two orthodox schools of creed. This entails recognizing that Islam is a living tradition that has been faithfully transmitted to each succeeding generation, thus it has not been unduly influenced by coming into contact with heresy, modernity or any other extra-Islamic influences. In this day and age, the distintion of Traditional Islam is both helpful and necessary due to the fact that there are many so-called Islamic movements that claim to be following "the way of the Salaf", in spite of the fact that these movements are actually relatively new and came about as reactions to colonialism, modernism and other influences. The issues that are sometimes put up for debate these days, such as whether one should follow one of the four madhhabs or adhere to orthodox Ash'ari or Maturidi theology would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. Back then, before the imperialists came in and ruined most of the traditional Islamic institutions in the Muslim World, all Sunni Muslims followed one of the four madhhabs of fiqh, adhered to orthodox 'aqidah and probably were in a Sufi tariqah as well -- since, simply put, that's what Sunni Islam is, was and shall remain, insha'llah.

The "Do-It-Yourself Deen" that many Muslims adhere to today not only breaks with the majority of the Muslim community and the rightly-guided scholars of the past, but reeks of arrogance, self-righteousness and is full of many errors. As Shaykh Nuh sometimes explains, it is tantamount to trading in a Mercedes Benz that has been fine-tuned and diligently crafted by generations of expertly qualified engineers for a go-cart that some unqualified person has built in their garage using a few how-to manuals and some used car parts.

In other areas of life, people rely on experts all of the time, but for some reason, in this day and age, people want to turn their eternal future over to ignoramuses. Gee, if they needed some surgery done, would they trust someone who only has read a few medical manuals to do it rather than going to a licensed surgeon? I think not and I hope not...but when it comes to religion, they're willing to do the equivalent of this.

Anyway...for more details, I recommend reading some of the articles by Shaykh Nuh Keller and Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad on Masud Khan's website. I'm in a bit of a hurry right now, so please let me know if you want any more details...wa Allahu 'alim.

More Links and Less Comments...

Due to the fact that I've been unable to keep up with the comments left on this blog in what I feel is an appropriate manner, I've decided to disable the ability for readers to leave comments until further notice. This is also partly due to the fact that starting next month I'm going to have more demands placed on my time, thus I expect to have even less time for blogging available. However, readers are certainly welcome to contact me via e-mail -- and my e-mail address is displayed below in the CONTACT ME sidebar, although I can't make any promises on how quickly I'll be able to respond.

A few days ago I added about eighteen new links to various websites to the bottom of my links page, so please take a look at them. I also added The Vision of Islam, by Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick, to the READ THE BEST BOOKS ON ISLAM section at the bottom of my main page. I finally got around to purchasing a copy of this book, which is recommended by Sidi Hamza Yusuf as one of the best introductions to Islam. Even though so far I've only browsed it rather heavily, although I do plan to eventually give it a thorough reading, my initial impression is that it certainly is an excellent introduction to the Islamic faith that is somewhat unique in that it presents Islam in the four dimensions of Islam, Iman, Ihsan and the Islamic view of history -- all based on the well-known Hadith of Gabriel. Not that presenting Islam is this way is unique amongst Muslims, but this is the first detailed text in English that I'm aware of that takes this approach seemingly with non-Muslims very much in mind. However, for all of its strengths, The Vision of Islam still has pretty much of a text book feel, thus I still find Islam and the Destiny of Main, by Gai Eaton, to be much more enjoyable since it reads almost like a novel, or at least a well-flowing narrative -- which it is. Anyway, I suggest keeping both of these works on your short list of books to recommended -- or give -- to non-Muslims who are interesting in learning about Islam.

To my brothers and sisters out there dealing with the post-suhba blues...Deen On.

Iqbal's Poetry in English

A couple of month's ago, I read "I Stayed up at Night with Muhammad Iqbal": Shaykh Ramadan al-Buti's Response to Iqbal's Poetry [140KB Acrobat file] after finding it linked to on Sidi Faraz Rabbani's blog. Reading the positive comments by such a respected traditional scholar made me want to read some of Mawlana Iqbal's poetry myself. After doing some research, it seems that Tulip in the Desert: A Selection of the Poetry of Muhammad Iqbal, translated by Mustansir Mir, is a good choice for an English rendering of some of Iqbal's key poetic works. It's no surprise to me that Mustansir Mir, well known for his scholarly works Coherence in the Qur'an and Verbal Idioms of the Quran, was well equipped to handle this task. All of the reviews that I can find on Tulip in the Desert are very positive, and since the book is reasonably priced, I plan to order a copy today, insha'llah.

By the way, Dr. Mustansir Mir is the author of quite a few articles related to Qur'anic studies which have been posted [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] on the Islamic-Awareness.org site -- all of which are worthwhile reading.

Deen On...

BOOK: Etiquette With the Quran

After the scandals last month regarding the mistreatment of the Qur'an, I thought that trying to help ensure that Muslims themselves that they're treating the Qur'an with proper adab would be in order. Due to that, I've selected Etiquette With the Quran, translated by Musa Furber and with a Foreward by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, to be this month's Book of the Month.

This fine work is a translation of Imam an-Nawawi's al-Tibyân Âdâb Hamalat al-Qur'ân, which is an enduring classic work on the etiquette that a Muslim should have with regard to handling and reciting the Qur'an. The topics this volume raises include: ritual cleanliness, opportune times for recitation, the etiquette that students have with their teachers and that teachers must have with their students, and variety of other issues that every Muslim should know, put into practice and inquire about.

Deen On...

Update: The book Etiquette With the Quran is also available from CaravanSaray.com and IslamicBookstore.com.

English in Jesus' Time? - A Glaring Anachronism

The years I spent amongst Baptists and other Protestant denominations in the so-called "Bible Belt" of the United States made it clear to me that there were quite a few rather reactionary, and painfully uneducated, Christians who believed that the King James Version of the Bible was the "innerrant Word of God". Even though I never heard it personally, it was rumored that there were fiery fundamentalist preachers who would exclaim that, "If the King James Version was good enough for Jesus then it's good enough for me!" -- the anachronistic nature of such a proclaimation seemingly being lost both on them and their audience. However, based on what I've seen and read (especially on the Web - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), I don't find these rumors too hard to believe -- but I was always on the lookout for authentic anecdotes which demonstrate how sloppy the thinking of some people is on the subject of the Bible.

Finally, a few years ago I came across something in print that documents this myopic mentality, albeit from the pen of a Roman Catholic rather than the mouth of a Protestant. Yes indeed, in the September 16, 2002 issue of National Review magazine (Notes & Asides, page 16), the conservative columnist William F. Buckley, Jr. received the following letter:

-------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Buckley: You say the
Oxford English Dictionary lists the
word "fisher" as an equivalent of "fish-
erman" dating back to 893.
I Think we can go back a little fur-
ther. Specifically, to A.D. 31 or 32,
when Christ saw two fisherman and
said to them:
"Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men."
-------------------------------------------

And Buckley replied:

-------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Brown: Right on.
-------------------------------------------

I admit, I'm still not quite sure what to make of this -- and you can read the entire column here. Could William F. Buckley, Jr. really let such a glaring anachronism pass under his gaze without catching it? I tried contacting him via e-mail, but never received a response. I admit that such a blatant oversight by a respected thinker initially made my guard go up. I wondered, "Am I missing something here?" -- but there's nothing in this short exchange, nor in the tone of Buckley's entire column, which indicates that either he or the inquirer are speaking in jest. If anyone believes otherwise, please let me know and explain why.

If I had read this several years ago, I probably would have been more astounded than I am today. However, now that I've experienced the antics of various conservative commentators since the September 11th attacks, including the steady stream of intellectually shallow and bigoted remarks that William F. Buckley, Jr., has produced -- especially in regards to religion in general and Islam in particular -- I'm not a bit surprised.

For those readers who may not understand the point that I'm trying to make, to put it quite simply: Jesus Christ did not speak English. In spite of the fact that many English-speaking Christians imagine Jesus speaking in King James English, the fact remains that Jesus' native language was Aramaic (although he might have known some Hebrew and Greek as well), not English -- a language which didn't even exist at the time. Therefore, to use the words of Jesus as a reference to how English words were employed in his time (or, as a lexicographer might put it, using them to document the word usage of the English language), is wholly anachronistic. At most, what the above mentioned use of the word "fisher" would prove is that the translators of the King James Version used this word as a translation of the Greek word halieus way back around 1611 -- but this doesn't mean, or even imply, that Jesus himself used the English word "fisher".

All of this is due to the fact that the King James Bible, or any English Bible for that matter (since I'm not even sure which Bible translation Buckley's questioner used in this case), is simply a translation from the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. In spite of the fact that many uninformed Christians imagine that they are reading the words of Jesus -- peace be upon him -- when they read the gospels, they are actually only reading an English translation of his (alleged) words. To be more exact, they are only reading an English translation of a Greek translation of the alleged words of Jesus -- peace be upon him. This is because, as we've already mentioned, Jesus spoke Aramaic but the gospels (i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were originally written in unvowelled Greek. Indeed, even if we set aside the problems with the derth of early gospel manuscripts, the differing manuscript transmissions and the fact that all of the gospel authors remain patently anonymous, at best the Bibles that most English-speaking Christians read today are only a translation of a translation of the words of Jesus - peace be upon him.

Anyway, there's no need to delve into the Bible and other such subjects in any great detail, since the whole point of this post was the fact that Willim F. Buckley, Jr. seemingly blessed a very glaring anachronism with a "Right on". Thoughts?

Modern Trends in Hadith Studies

Just a few minutes ago, a friend sent me a link to this interesting article:

The Modernist Approach to Hadith Studies
by Noor al-Deen Atabek

For those not familiar with the hadith sciences, Shaykh Gibril F. Haddad has quite a few articles in the hadith section of his Living Islam site, including one that deals with the oft-debated issue of using weak hadith. Likewise, the Islamic-Awareness.org site also has an excellent Issues Concerning Hadith section which has some unique articles dealing with various issues related to the hadith sciences. Those wanting a more detailed introduction to this vast science will probably find Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development & Special Features, by M. Z. Siddiqui, a good book to start with -- since it's considered one of the best introductions in English.

However, before seeking to learn more about this science, it's probably a good idea to put it all in perspective by first reading Shaykh Nuh Keller's cautionary article Would you advise individuals to study hadith from al-Bukhari and Muslim on their own?

Deen On...