The Islamic Awakening (H/B)

Remembrance, praise and supplication – dhikr and du‘â’ – are the core of worship of the Divine. The Noble Qur’an and the last Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) have stressed this point and taught us how to attain Allah’s pleasure through calling on Him and remembering Him in words of praise and thankfulness. This small book is a valuable collection of daily supplications from the Qur’an and the authentic hadiths. It contains the Arabic text, full transliteration and clear translation of the meaning of dozens of phrases of remembrance (dhikr) and supplication (du‘â’). This new and revised edition of Let Us Remember Allah and Praise Him is designed to be easy to use: its full-sized page format ensures that the print is large enough to read effortlessly, and yet its ultra-slim volume makes it no trouble to slip into a handbag or backpack. It is truly a practical handbook for every Muslim desiring to seek peace in this earthly life and salvation in the hereafter.

This book, authored by Luqman Nagy, is an introduction to the history and legacy of the great translation movement that began at the Bayt al-Hikmah in ninth century Abbasid Baghdad and culminated centuries later in Spain, with teams of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars translating works of Greek and Islamic science from Arabic into Latin. These translations became the first scientific textbooks to be used at many European universities. This wealth of knowledge that was made available in Latin helped initiate the Renaissance, or ‘rebirth’ of learning in the West.

According to a well-known hadith, cleanliness and purity are half of the faith. It is obligatory for a Muslim to be clean and in a state of purity in order to offer formal prayer and recite the Quran by way of ablution, a ritual shower, or dry ablution. Purity and cleanliness encompass both physical and spiritual aspects. Physical impurities can be removed by clean, pure water or dry, clean earth or stone, and this is a beginning step for spiritual cleanliness. In the Purity of the Muslim, Saeed al-Qahtani explains in a clear and comprehensive manner the types of various impurities and the ways to attain purity and cleanliness according to the teachings of the Quran and of the final prophet, Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

The subject of this treatise – the nature, essence and circumstances of the human soul – is fascinating to people of all ages, faiths and walks of life. It covers in particular the issue of death and what happens after it. Due to the nature of this exciting topic, one who researches this subject is faced with an enormous amount of conflicting information. Therefore in order to arrive at sound dependable conclusions regarding the soul, one must carefully read and analyse the available material and evaluate it according to stringent criteria. This is of utmost importance since it bears directly on one’s belief.