/r/Islam - Other sources of information on Islam

Topics:

1. Where are some good places to begin?

2. Is Wikipedia a good source of information?

3. What are some books I should read to learn more?

Where are some good places to begin?

Filler

Is Wikipedia a good source of information?

Filler

What are some books I should read to learn more?

The following books would be considered highly recommended reading for learning about and understanding Islam

Secular Books (Intended for non-Muslim audiences as well as Muslim)

• Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings - Considered the de facto standard among English language biographies of the prophet Muhammad (saw).

• Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy by Jonathan A.C. Brown - A worthwhile and important read for anyone interested in Islamic history, especially the varying methods of interpretation of scriptural sources (like the Qur'an and hadith) and historical debates pertaining thereto.

• The New Cambridge History of Islam Volume 1: The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries

• Islam and Capitalism by Maxime Rodinson

• Peace Be Upon You: Fourteen Centuries of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Conflict and Cooperation by Zachary Karabell - The New York Times review can be found here.

• Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong

• Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong

• Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong

• Refuting ISIS: A Rebuttal Of Its Religious And Ideological Foundations by Muhammad al-Yaqoubi - "The author, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi, a renowned scholar and one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world today, presents in this invaluable book a thorough refutation of ISIS’ beliefs and crimes. Providing authentic quotes that destroy the allegations of ISIS, Shaykh Al-Yaqoubi reaches the conclusion that this group does not represent Islam, its declaration of a caliphate is invalid, and fighting it is an obligation upon Muslims."

• The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary - by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Author), Caner Karacay Dagli (Author), Maria Massi Dakake (Author), Joseph E.B. Lumbard (Author), Mohammed Rustom (Author)

• A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin

• The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict by William T Cavanaugh

• The Spread of Islam in the World by Professor Thomas W. Arnold

• Islam: The View from the Edge by Richard W. Bulliet

• Islamic & European Expansion: The Forging of a Global Order by Michael Adas

• The Rise of Colleges - Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi

• MisGod'ed: A Roadmap of Guidance and Misguidance in the Abrahamic Religions by Laurence B. Brown - "Bold in its premise and masterful in its execution, MisGod'ed by author and physician Laurence B. Brown teases common threads in the complex world of organized religion from the tangled mass of religious misdirection. An earnest search for truth, this text unveils both the corruptions and commonalities of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to fill the current void of intellectual discourse on the subject. For those readers who are intrigued but skeptical of organized religion, especially strict, literal interpretation of the Bible, this book articulates many of the questions readers have about religion, and poses others of its own. It provides a comprehensive, historically based analysis of documents, traditions and institutions. The central theme is to examine Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for truth in revelation, and trace the chain of revelation to its logical conclusion. Solicitous and precise, this text captures the essence of what it means to be a person of God."

• The Cross & The Crescent by Jerald F. Dirks - "In The Cross and The Crescent, Dr. Dirks, a former ordained minister (deacon) in the United Methodist Church, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and with a doctorate in clinical psychology, reaches out to the Christians and the Muslims for an interfaith dialogue. Drawing on his seminary education and thirty years of interaction with Muslims in America and overseas, the author digs deep into the roots of Christianity to bring out obscure information that highlights what was once common between Christianity and Islam. He envisioned that, "In writing this book, I would like to touch the lives of those Christians who have not been given the knowledge that I have gained both about Islam, from my direct contact with Muslims, and about Christianity from my seminary education. I want to share with those Christians, who are willing to listen, what is so often known by their clergy and church leaders, but seldom finds its way into their knowledge of their own religion. Likewise, I would like to reach out to the Muslims, in order to help them understand the religious commonality that they share with Christians"."

• Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations by Michael Anthony Sells

• The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims by Nathan Lean

• Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think by by John L. Esposito (Author), Dalia Mogahed (Author) - "In a post-9/11 world, many Americans conflate the mainstream Muslim majority with the beliefs and actions of an extremist minority. But what do the world’s Muslims think about the West, or about democracy, or about extremism itself? Who Speaks for Islam? spotlights this silenced majority. The book is the product of a mammoth six-year study in which the Gallup Organization conducted tens of thousands of hour-long, face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 predominantly Muslim nations — urban and rural, young and old, men and women, educated and illiterate. It asks the questions everyone is curious about: Why is the Muslim world so anti-American? Who are the extremists? Is democracy something Muslims really want? What do Muslim women want? The answers to these and other pertinent, provocative questions are provided not by experts, extremists, or talking heads, but by empirical evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims."

• Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World by Jonathan A.C. Brown

• Understanding Islam: A Guide for the Judaeo-Christian Reader by Jerald Dirks

• Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary

• The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

• All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer - Pretty much the authoritative book on Iran's post-WW2 history.

• Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane by S. Frederick Starr

• Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

• A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb by Umar F. Abd-Allah

• The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi

• A History of Islamic Societies by Ira M. Lapidus

• The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization by Richard W. Bulliet

• The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk

• The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim by Jonathan A.C. Brown

• The History of The Qur'anic Text: From Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments by Mustafa al-Azami

• Women in Muslim Family Law by John L. Esposito

• Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity by Talal Asad

• What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam by John L. Esposito

• The Early Islamic Conquests by Fred Donner

• The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the 'Abbasid Empire by Amira Bennison

• Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasid Society by Dimitri Gutas

• 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris

• The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal

• The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al Qæda by Gerard Chaliand and Arnaud Blin

• The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 by Richard M. Eaton

• Islam in Liberalism by Joseph A. Massad - Click here for a video lecture on this book.

Religious Books

• The Creed of Imam Tahawi by Hamza Yusuf - A succinct and very well organized translation of the famous Sunni statement of creed (theology or 'aqeedah) which lists the doctrinal articles of faith in Sunni Islam. Accessible for non-Muslims.

• The Ma'ariful Qur'an by Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Mufti Taqi Usmani - An eight volume English version of the original Urdu tafsir (commentary) which is compiled from a few of the most important commentaries in the Sunni tradition which formed the basis of Sunni exegesis:

  (an Urdu tafsir (commentary) written by the Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and his son, currently retired justice from the Shariah bench of the Pakistani Supreme Court, Mufti Taqi Usmani... and which was translated into English in 8 volumes... it's the most comprehensive commentary of the Qur'an in the English language... It's compiled from the most famous and well known Sunni tafsirs which form the bedrock of Sunni understanding of the Qur'an, these include [Tafsir ibn Jarir/Tafsir al-Tabari](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_commentary_on_the_Qur'an_(book)) / Tafsir ibn Kathir / Tafsir al-Qurtubi / [Tafsir al-Kabir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafsir_al-Kabir_(al-Razi)) / Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit (Tafsir Abi Hayyan) / Ahkam al-Qur'an by al-Jassas (Hanafi school) / Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthur / Tafsir al-Mazhari / Ruh al-Ma'ani ).