THINQon : A thinking person's guide to Islamic primary sources

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Emily Andrews

A thinking person's guide to Islamic primary sources

Latest Post: February 18, 2010 at 7:53 PM

29 followers

Fiz started an important discussion recently about the profiling of Muslims in America, and this post comes from thinking about his.

I don't know much at all about the primary texts of Islam. I'd be interested in reading some of the great works of Islamic religious thought: not just the Koran but major thinkers, mystics, laypeople over the course of the last millenium and a half.

Can anyone suggest something of a reading list? I'm mainly interested in primary sources. Here is a deep and interesting tradition that I know next to nothing about. What should an educated person have read? How should one read the Koran? What else should one read? Who are the mystics and religious who people identify with, love deeply, are inspired by? What texts best exemplify the creativity and humanity of the Islamic intellectual tradition?

I hope no one reads these as reductive questions -- choosing adjectives is always difficult.
Thanks for your suggestions.

Reply to:

Mohammed Suder

February 18, 2010 at 12:32 AM

1 follower

Hi Emily,

Thanks for the invite.

Your quest to learn more brings to mind another quote of the Prophet Muhammed ...
"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave".
That is something we all should strive for, I think.

Lets see ... The primary islamic text is essentially the Quran. It is the Law, the Guide.
This is followed by the traditions (or Hadith) of the prophet and his companions.

So to start your reading list ...
Traditions of the Prophet and companions
http://www.sahihalbukhari.com/sps/sbk/ Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (810-870)
http://www.fazaileamaal.com/ Zakariya Kandhlawi. (February 3 1898 – May 24 1982)

Excellent source for books (movies and articles too) - deals with comparative religion, science, nature mostly.
http://www.harunyahya.com/

Good comparative, articles
http://www.beautifulislam.net/

That should be more than enough for your reading list.

Mystics in Islam are called Sufis.

One well known mystic in the western world is Jalaludin Rumi(30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273) -
His famous work the 'Mathnavi' can be found here
http://www.rumionfire.com/mathnavi/index.htm

Other saints include ... Imam al Ghazali - who has many works -
http://www.ghazali.org/

There are so many others - I'll just let you pick
http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/Default.htm

Those people who are loved are the prophets then the companions (Sahaba) and then the saints.
[note prophets (plural) as we believe in all prophets including Adam,Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus (peace be upon them) etc.
Incidentally we muslims also believe in all revealed books as well. (Bible (Injeel) and Torah, psalms) ]

This is by no means an exhaustive list and I have barely scratched the surface.
However I hope my humble effort is helpful to you.