Book Reviews/Recommendations

Activate please. I don't see any issues with it. Could be an accidental error!

Here is the original until it gets sorted, apologies Desi tadka.

As salaamu wa alay kum wa rahmatullahi wa barakth,

Of the few pages and paragraphs (about 30 pages) that I read of the book, Ibn Battuta by L. P. Harvey, I felt like being in the company of a --------- wife (sorry for the strong word), who is deeply pessimistic and doubts if you really had work in the office when you said you’d be coming home late. 

Asslamo Allaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakrtuh,

Please list the books which you have read which are life changing and give a brief decription and review, Insha'Allah.

My all time favourite! I don't know any other book in English language which puts you that close to the Sahaba Karaam (RA)!

If you havn't read it, where have you been all your life?

Read Hayatus-Sahaba online

Faza'il A'maal and Faza'il e Sadaqat.

The Two Shaikhs Millions are Bayt Upon.

If you haven't read it, truly, where have you been living all your life?!

Imam Abd Al-Wahhab bin Ahmad Al-Misri Al-Sharani Ash'shaf'e [1493-1565] is an Imam of Shaf'ae Madhab and a Master of Tassawuff and amongst his many compilations is البحر المورود في المواثيق والعهود

In this book the notable describes how he travelled across the world and met many Tassawuff Mashaykh and each of them made him promise something so the book is a series of pledges and promises (over 1,000).

Shaykh (Maulana) Ashraf Ali Thanwi (RA) made his nephew Shaykh (Maulana) Zafar Ahmed Thanwi (RA) an outstanding Faqih translate, annotate and reference this work into Urdu

In my view this is the MOST OUTSTANDING book on Tassawuff ever written.  There are no technical issues or terminologies or repeated Dhik’r but behaviour pattern and guidance on how to behave in different circumstances e.g.  How to behave when:

1. You are entrusted to be an Ameer and given responsibility
2. You get married to an extremely pretty woman
3. You happen to be in Darul-Harb
4. You happen to be accused of theft or irregularities
5. In your city another Shaykh of another Silsila arrives
6. How to sense arrogance and how knowledge produces it etc.

The additional notes and commentary by Shaykh (Maulana) Zafar Ahmed Thanwi (RA) is outstanding. This book was handpicked by Shaykh (Maulana) Ashraf Ali Thanwi (RA)  because in his view this is real Tassawuff and its essence.

The books talks about outstanding anecdotes e.g. when travelling through (some part of Islamic land) he pledges to a Shaykh that children shouldn’t be named Muhammad! Title makes you scratch your head but when you read further in that area people had started pronouncing “Muhammad” as “Mehmet” so this particular Shaykh of Tassawuff advised against the names of Sayyidina Rasul-ullah (Sallallaho Alaihe Wassallam) from being denigrated and advised his Mureeds to call their children “Ahmed” because it couldn’t be mispronounced.

Footnotes discuss the opinions and quotations of Shaykh (Maulana) Ashraf Ali Thanwi (RA)

Since I have been practising Islam until now I have found Riyadus-Saliheen of Imam Nawawi (RA) indispensable. There are following qualities in this book which isn’t find in any Hadeeth book (of Virtues [Fadhail]) :

1. Its a classic
2. Trusted and followed by Ulamah over the last 700 years!
3. It was written specifically for beginners/students
4. There are no fabricated/extremely weak Ahadeeth in it at all
5. Its very coherently laid out and organised.

No Muslim should be without indepth study of this book. Read it here

DO NOT BUY THE BUTCHERED SALAFI VERSION but stick to the original as compiled by the Master of Hadeeth Imam Nawawi (RA).