This Book Is A Collection Of Valuable Articles Written By Eminent Scholars Belonging To Various Religioous Denominatins, And Researchers And Teachers Of Islamic Studies. The Book Is Also Mean To Cater The Requirements Of The Students Of Comparative Religions And Islamology.

Al-Fatihah is the first and opening chapter in the Holy Quran, and in many ways it represents the essence of this holy book itself. In this opening sura of the Quranused in every mandatory and voluntary prayer in Islamthe one and only God, Allah, summarizes in these seven oft-repeated verses the purpose and mission for humankind. Al-FatihahThe Opening of the Quran explores the foundational and critical questions addressed in the first sura of the Quran, and it provides a way for both Muslims and non-Muslims who are neither native in Arabic nor competent in reading and understanding Arabic to access this absolutely purposeful set of Quranic verses. Because the Quran cannot properly be translated, the authors have for many years diligently researched scholarly interpretations from both classical and contemporary mainstream scholars so that the concepts of Al-Fatihah can be easily discovered. The concepts of Al-Fatihah are ultimately simple, uncomplicated, and straightforward, yet in these seven verses containing only twenty-nine Arabic words, anyone interested in opening their hearts and minds to this spiritual journey can find in these words the depth of Allahs mercy and love.

The pilgrimage to Mecca, or Hajj, has been a yearly phenomenon of great importance in Muslim lands for well over one thousand years. Each year, millions of pilgrims from throughout the Dar al-Islam, or Islamic world, stretching from Morocco east to Indonesia, make the trip to Mecca as one of the five pillars of their faith. By the end of the nineteenth century, and the beginning of the twentieth, fully half of all pilgrims making the journey in any given year could come from Southeast Asia. The Longest Journey, spanning eleven modern nation-states and seven centuries, is the first book to offer a history of the Hajj from one of Islam's largest and most important regions.

The Excellent Names and Attributes of Allah Almighty from the Qur'an and the Sunnah

Although the strategic and economic importance of the Persian Gulf in the world today is undisputed, its recent history, and that of British policy in the region, has been curiously neglected as a subject for serious study. The purpose of this book is to describe the foundation and growth of British political influence in the Gulf in the nineteenth century. -- from Preface.