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The Qur'an and Sayings of Prophet Muhammad: Selections Annotated & Explained
The timeless insight of Islam's sacred writings can enrich your own spiritual journey. For many in the West, the teachings of the Qur’an often are enshrouded in mystery and fear. Yet Islam’s holy book gave birth to one of the most powerful and enlightened civilizations the world has ever seen. By the sixteenth century, Muslim culture stretched from India to Africa to Europe, preserving with it the ancient learning that helped spawn the Renaissance. With its interwoven ideas of faith and reason, justice and mercy, the path of Islam―which literally means "surrendering to God’s will"―offers a uniquely focused and balanced approach to living life with a profound awareness of God. With gentleness and insight, Sohaib N. Sultan leads you through the central themes of both the Qur’an and the collected sayings of Prophet Muhammad, known as hadith . These teachings dispel common misconceptions about Muslim beliefs and offer practical guidance for your own spiritual journey, from understanding the merciful nature of God; to cultivating peace and justice in the self, family, and society; to answering questions about the afterlife and how to attain it. Now you can experience the wisdom of Qur’anic teachings even if you have no previous knowledge of Islam or Muslim writings. Insightful yet unobtrusive facing-page commentary explains the texts for you, allowing you to enter into the path of surrender to God.
- GenresNonfictionIslam
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 3, 2020
Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim. Fear Allah or get the ream.
November 4, 2011
I am a religious idiot. My knowledge of religion is almost zilch. My understanding of religion is zilch. And my belief in religion is zilch. However, I recognize that religion has played THE most important role throughout the ages of human history. Therefore, I am curious about what I know so little of.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
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November 4, 2011I am a religious idiot. My knowledge of religion is almost zilch. My understanding of religion is zilch. And my belief in religion is zilch. However, I recognize that religion has played THE most important role throughout the ages of human history. Therefore, I am curious about what I know so little of.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
This book is a wonderful introduction to the Islamic faith and the Qur’an that guides it. Written in 2007, in response to rampant misinformation about Muslims and their faith spawned by 9/11, the book attempts to explain some of the basic truths about Islamic history and messages from the divine word of God.
Translated Qur’anic passages and quotations of the Prophet Muhammad appear on the right-hand pages with footnote indicators that correspond to contextual explanations of the passages, which appear on the corresponding left-hand pages.
This book, like all books, is influenced by the core values and beliefs of its author in what passages were or were not selected to include. It is further dependent upon the rickety reality of translation of an ancient language, which is meant to be recited, not read. And we must remember that annotator, Sohaib N. Sultan, is human. His learned explanations carry with them his own interpretations and biases. But overall, the book explains to the western reader some of the religious laws that govern Islamic faith.
Several key passages that are often used as arguments against the faith are explained in their contextual reality. For example, in most places, the Qur’an instructs peaceful and gracious coexistence with Christians and Jews. In one place though, Muslims are instructed to kill Jews and Christians who prevent them from honoring God in their way. A reader needs to realize that this revelation from God to the Prophet Muhammad occurred during a historical period of severe persecution against Muslims. With historical context, the logic is clear: If you are attacked, you have the right and the duty to stand up for yourself and for God as you know God.
If you are curious about the world’s second largest religion, if you are curious about wildly conflicting information about Islam, this book is a good place to begin your study.
October 3, 2016
Decent book. It's mainly selections from the Qur'an and very few from the hadith. The hadith and Qur'an verses are not seperated. The book is arranged by topic so hadith and Qur'anic verses were chosen to represent the chapter's theme. I didn't like the commentary as much as I liked the selections. Most of the commentary felt unessecary.
The worst chapters were the ones on women and marriage because of his commentary and sometimes his selections. On 24:31 he says women are enjoined by the Qur'an to wear the veil to show all women deserve respect like upper-class women as head coverings in Arabia and various societies were a mark of class distinction. First of all, the concept that historically Islam enjoined every woman, including slave women, to wear veils is factually untrue. Most medieval jurists did not believe slave women were obligated to cover themselves head to toe like free women. Many even went to the extent of saying slave women only were obligated to cover navel to knee. The dress of slave women varied by society, but there is evidence to suggest that in some contexts they were not even allowed to cover like free women. This is historical revisionism basically.
Second, it's just insulting to say that respect for women should be awarded based on how the woman is dressed. Another point is that veiling throughout history in different contexts has adopted different meanings. Sometimes veiling has even been associated with rural, lower-class women while the wealthier, urban women went unveiled.
In the chapter on marriage, he includes the hadith, "If a woman dies while her husband is pleased with her she enters paradise." Why would he possibly think this is a good hadith to include? This is when I threw the book down in anger. Out of all the great hadith, he chooses the one suggesting a woman's subservience to her husband can send her to heaven. You don't go to heaven because a fallible and fickle human is pleased with you- only if God is pleased with you. This is such a problematic hadith.
He also at one-time comments wudu must be done before every prayer, but wudu does not need to be done every prayer so long as it has not been nullified from before.
It's an eh book.
The worst chapters were the ones on women and marriage because of his commentary and sometimes his selections. On 24:31 he says women are enjoined by the Qur'an to wear the veil to show all women deserve respect like upper-class women as head coverings in Arabia and various societies were a mark of class distinction. First of all, the concept that historically Islam enjoined every woman, including slave women, to wear veils is factually untrue. Most medieval jurists did not believe slave women were obligated to cover themselves head to toe like free women. Many even went to the extent of saying slave women only were obligated to cover navel to knee. The dress of slave women varied by society, but there is evidence to suggest that in some contexts they were not even allowed to cover like free women. This is historical revisionism basically.
Second, it's just insulting to say that respect for women should be awarded based on how the woman is dressed. Another point is that veiling throughout history in different contexts has adopted different meanings. Sometimes veiling has even been associated with rural, lower-class women while the wealthier, urban women went unveiled.
In the chapter on marriage, he includes the hadith, "If a woman dies while her husband is pleased with her she enters paradise." Why would he possibly think this is a good hadith to include? This is when I threw the book down in anger. Out of all the great hadith, he chooses the one suggesting a woman's subservience to her husband can send her to heaven. You don't go to heaven because a fallible and fickle human is pleased with you- only if God is pleased with you. This is such a problematic hadith.
He also at one-time comments wudu must be done before every prayer, but wudu does not need to be done every prayer so long as it has not been nullified from before.
It's an eh book.
May 15, 2007
I've actually finished this book and enjoyed the simple way in which it explained things. It's a book that you will constantly refer to in some way or another.
October 8, 2008
Exceptionally well-done, though not comprehensive (it appears to me).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews