Understanding Islam and the Muslims: The Muslim Family and Islam and World Peace

by Abdal Hakim Murad, John A. Williams, V. Gray Henry

Myths and misunderstandings continue to proliferate about Islam and its millions of followers worldwide. To refute these misconceptions, this newly-expanded, magnificently illustrated version offers succinct, and sometimes surprising, answers to the frequent questions about the Muslim faith in an accessible question and answer format.

Genres: Islam, Religion, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Timothy John "Tim" Winter (born 1960), also known as Abdal Hakim Murad, is a British Sufi Muslim researcher, writer and teacher. His profile and work have attracted media coverage both in the Muslim World and the West. Conversant in both traditional Islamic scholarship and Western thought and civilization, Winter has made contributions on many Islamic topics.

Born in 1960, Winter was educated at Westminster School, and graduated with a double-first in Arabic from Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge in 1983. He then studied and taught traditional Islamic sciences at the Al-Azhar University in Egypt for several years, and spent several more in Jeddah, where he administered a commercial translation office and maintained close contact with Shaykh Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad. In 1989, he returned to England and spent two years at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he concentrated on Turkish and Persian.

Winter is currently the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College, and a doctoral student at Oxford University, where he is studying the relationship between the government and Sufi brotherhoods in the Ottoman Empire.[citation needed] Winter is also the secretary of the Muslim Academic Trust (London), Director of The Anglo-Muslim Fellowship for Eastern Europe, President of the UK Friends of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Director of the Sunna Project, which has published scholarly Arabic editions of the major Sunni Hadith collections.

Reviews

[Maria Morfin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent summary for someone who knows nothing about Islam to begin understanding it.
Straightforward, concise, and easy to read.

[Nazta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini membantu mengenal Islam dan muslim melalui pertanyaan-pertanyaan. Misal, 'apakah Islam itu?', 'Siapa nabi Muhammad?', 'Mengapa sebagian wanita muslim menggunakan jilbab, sebagian tidak?', 'Bagaimana pandangan Islam mengenai perang?' dan lain sebagainya. Pertanyaan dijawab dengan paragraf singkat sehingga jawabannya langsung pada poin yang ditanyakan dan jelas. Ada kutipan ayat (Quran maupun hadist) sebagai referensi yang mana akan membantu pembaca memahami jawaban dari sumbernya.

Bagai buah manggis, membaca buku ini seperti mendapatkan manfaat dari kulit manggis yang telah kita kupas. Untuk merasakan manisnya buah manggis. Dan manfaat dari biji manggisnya sendiri, saya rasa perlu adanya bacaan pendamping untuk bab-bab yang ingin didalami. Karena Islam begitu luas, begitu detail, dan begitu indah.

[alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an outsider, this book did teach me about Islam. It came in a very easy-to-read format of questions and answers and had many beautiful pictures showcasing the diversity of Muslims worldwide and more. I enjoyed learning and furthering my understanding of Islam and Muslim people with this short but informative book.

[Seth Egelhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, articulate, unbiased and educating introduction and summary of Islam and the culture of Muslim societies. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a foot into the door of understanding the faith!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided a good insight to the Islamic faith; dispelling many long held myths.
The book is long enough to cover many topics and yet short enough to not overwhelm the novice reader.