free islamic ebooks | Learning Arabic

Picturing Islam: Art and Ethics in a Muslim Lifeworld

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:51:00 -0700

By Kenneth M. George
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Number Of Pages: 200
Date: 2010-01-26, ISBN-10 : 1405129573
PDF 9.08 Mb

Picturing Islam: Art and Ethics in a Muslim Lifeworld explores issues of religion, nationalism, ethnicity, and globalization through the life and work of the prominent contemporary Indonesian artist Abdul Djalil Pirous.

· Presents a unique addition to the anthropology of art and religion

· Demonstrates the impact of Islam, ethnicity, nationalism, and globalization on the work and life of an internationally recognized postcolonial artist

· Weaves together visual and narrative materials to tell an engrossing story of a cosmopolitan Muslim artist

· Looks at contemporary Islamic art and the way it has been produced in the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia

Buy Picturing Islam: Art and Ethics in a Muslim Lifeworld From Amazon

Download Link

PDF For The Anthropology of Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:38:00 -0700

By Gabriele Marranci
Publisher: Berg Publishers
Number Of Pages: 224
Date: 2008-04-15, ISBN-10 : 1845202848
PDF 1.1 Mb

An increasing number of people have questions about Islam and Muslims. But how can we approach and study Islam after September 11th? Which is the best methodology to understand an Islam that is changing in a globalized world?

The Anthropology of Islam argues that Islam today needs to be studied as a living religion through the observation of everyday Muslim life. Drawing on extensive original fieldwork, Marranci provides provocative analyses of Islam and its relation to issues such as identities, politics, culture, power and gender.

The Anthropology of Islam is unprecedented in its innovative and challenging discussion about fieldwork among Muslims, and its ethnographically based interpretations of contemporary aspects of Islam in a post-September 11th society. The book will appeal to those in anthropology and beyond who see and are interested in investigating the unsettled place of Islam in our multicultural society.

Buy The Anthropology of Islam From Amazon

Download Link

iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:32:00 -0700

By: Gary R. Bunt
publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
year: 2009, pages: 358
PDF 3.1 Mb

Exploring the increasing impact of the Internet on Muslims around the world, this book sheds new light on the nature of contemporary Islamic discourse, identity, and community.The Internet has profoundly shaped how both Muslims and non-Muslims perceive Islam and how Islamic societies and networks are evolving and shifting in the twenty-first century, says Gary Bunt.

While Islamic society has deep historical patterns of global exchange, the Internet has transformed how many Muslims practice the duties and rituals of Islam. A place of religious instruction may exist solely in the virtual world, for example, or a community may gather only online.

Drawing on more than a decade of online research, Bunt shows how social-networking sites, blogs, and other "cyber-Islamic environments" have exposed Muslims to new influences outside the traditional spheres of Islamic knowledge and authority.

Furthermore, the Internet has dramatically influenced forms of Islamic activism and radicalization, including jihad-oriented campaigns by networks such as al-Qaeda. By surveying the broad spectrum of approaches used to present dimensions of Islamic social, spiritual, and political life on the Internet, iMuslims encourages diverse understandings of online Islam and of Islam generally.

Buy iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks) From Amazon

Download Link

Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 2 Sep 2011 12:11:00 -0700

By: Nidhal Guessoum
publisher: I. B. Tauris
year: 2011, pages: 433, PDF 2.4 Mb

In secular Europe, the veracity of modern science is almost always taken for granted. Whether they think of the evolutionary proofs of Darwin or of spectacular investigation into the boundaries of physics conducted by CERN's Large Hadron Collider, most people assume that scientific enquiry goes to the heart of fundamental truths about the universe. Yet elsewhere, science is under siege.

In the USA, Christian fundamentalists contest whether evolution should be taught in schools at all. And in Muslim countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia, a mere 15% of those recently surveyed believed Darwin's theory to be "true" or "probably true." This thoughtful and passionately argued book contends absolutely to the contrary: not only that evolutionary theory does not contradict core Muslim beliefs, but that many scholars, from Islam's golden age to the present, adopted a worldview that accepted evolution as a given. Guessoum suggests that the Islamic world, just like the Christian, needs to to take scientific questions -- quantum questions -- with the utmost seriousness if it is to recover its true heritage and integrity. In its application of a specifically Muslim perspective to important topics like cosmology, divine action and evolution, the book makes a vital contribution to debate in the disputed field of "science and religion."

Buy Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science From Amazon

Download Link

صحيح البخاري

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:13:00 -0700

by: أبو عبد الله محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري
File : CHM 4.3 Mb

صحيح البخارى هو أصح كتب الحديث النبوي عند أهل السنة والجماعة. جمعه أبو عبد الله محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري وأسماه "الجامع المسند الصحيح المختصر من أُمور رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وسننه وأيامه". هو أول مصنف في الحديث الصحيح المجرد المنسوب إلى محمد بن عبد الله رسول الديانة الإسلامية، وجاء مبوباً على الموضوعات الفقهية. وجملة أحاديث كتابه: سبعة آلاف ومئتان وخمسة وسبعون حديثاً بالمكرر، ومن غير المكرر أربعة آلاف حديث منسوب لمحمد. وقد نقل النووي إجماع الأمة على صحة الكتاب هذا ووجوب العمل بأحاديثه حيث قال[1]

«أجمعت الأمة على صحة هذين الكتابين ووجوب العمل بأحاديثهما» – يحيى بن شرف النووي

أي صحيح البخاري وصحيح مسلم، قام البخاري بجمعه والتحقق من صحة الأحاديث حسب علم الحديث الذي أسسه. والبخاري نسبة إلى بخارى في آسيا الوسطى. كان عمره ست عشرة سنة يوم ابتدأ بكتابة الصحيح، وانتهى وعمره ثمان وثلاثين سنة. أي تقريباً في سنة 232 هـ وقد ولد البخاري عام 194 هـ، وتوفي سنة 256 هـ. ويعد أول كتب الحديث عند السنة، وله مكانة بارزة لديهم، فيطلق عليه، مع صحيح مسلم، الصحيحان. قال ابن حجر في "مقدمة فتح الباري": "إن عدد ما في البخاري من المتون الموصولة بلا تكرار 2602 عنوان"

Download Link

تفسير ابن كثير

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:05:00 -0700

by: الحافظ بن كثير
CHM 9.7

تفسير ابن كثير للإمام الحافظ بن كثير (المتوفى سنة 774 هجرية) من أهم وأشهر ما دون في التفسير المأثور، وهو في هذه الناحية يعتبر الكتاب الثاني بعد كتاب ابن جرير الطبري. مع صغر حجمه ووجازة لفظه وشمول معانيه، ويحظى بقبول واسع بين الناس خاصة وعامة.

اختار الإمام ابن كثير أحسن الطرق في تفسير القرآن مثل الرواية عن مفسري السلف وتفسير القرآن بالقرآن وتفسير القرآن بالسنة والأحاديث والآثار المسندة إلى أصحابها وتفسير القرآن بأقوال الصحابة والتابعين.

كما اهتم باللغة وعلومها واهتم بالأسانيد ونقدها واهتم بذكر القراءات وأسباب النزول.

Download Link

The Handbook of Language Teaching

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:44:00 -0700

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition
Date August 4, 2009
Language: English , ISBN-10: 1405154896
PDF | 824 pages | 27 mb

-Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary team of contributors, this Handbook is a wide-ranging and invaluable reference guide to language teaching.
-A comprehensive reference work on language teaching, which combines the latest research findings, coverage of core topics, and examples of teaching experience from a variety of languages and settings
-Provides a unique breadth of coverage, including: the psycholinguistic underpinnings of language learning; social, political, and educational contexts; program design; materials writing and course design; teaching and testing; teacher education; and assessment and evaluation

-Offers a balanced evaluation of the major positions and approaches, including examining the increasingly important social and political context of language teaching
-Written by an international and interdisciplinary group of authors from a dozen different countries; English is only one of the many languages used as examples throughout the volume

Buy The Handbook of Language Teaching From Amazon

Download Link

Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia (Religion and Global Politics)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:43:00 -0700

By Joseph Chinyong Liow
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Pages: 288, Date: 2009-04-07
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0195377087

Description:
Malaysia, home to some twenty million Muslims, is often held up as a model of a pro-Western Islamic nation. The government of Malaysia, in search of Western investment, does its best to perpetuate this view. But this isn't the whole story. Over the last several decades, Joseph Liow shows, Malaysian politics has taken a strong turn toward Islamism.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the growing role of Islam in the last quarter century of Malaysian politics. Conventional wisdom suggest that the ruling UMNO party has moved toward Islamism to fend off challenges from the more heavily Islamist opposition party, PAS. Liow argues, however, that UMNO has often taken the lead in moving toward Islamism, and that in fact PAS has often been forced to react.

The result, Liow argues, is a game of "piety-trumping" that will be very difficult to reverse, and that has dire consequences not only for the ethnic and religious minorities of Malaysia, but for their democratic system as a whole.

Buy From Amazon
Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia (Religion and Global Politics)

Download Link

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:34:00 -0700

By Robert D. Crews, Amin Tarzi
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages: 448, Date: 2008-02-28
ISBN-10 : 067402690X

Description:
The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces in modern history. A ragtag collection of clerics and madrasa students, this obscure movement emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War to shock the world with their draconian Islamic order. The Taliban refused to surrender their vision even when confronted by the United States after September 11, 2001.

Reinventing themselves as part of a broad insurgency that destabilized Afghanistan, they pledged to drive out the Americans, NATO, and their allies and restore their "Islamic Emirate."

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan explores the paradox at the center of this challenging phenomenon: how has a seemingly anachronistic band of religious zealots managed to retain a tenacious foothold in the struggle for Afghanistan's future? Grounding their analysis in a deep understanding of the country's past, leading scholars of Afghan history, politics, society, and culture show how the Taliban was less an attempt to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, complex, and adaptive force rooted in the history of Afghanistan and shaped by modern international politics. Shunning journalistic accounts of its conspiratorial origins, the essays investigate broader questions relating to the character of the Taliban, its evolution over time, and its capacity to affect the future of the region.

Offering an invaluable guide to "what went wrong" with the American reconstruction project in Afghanistan, this book accounts for the persistence of a powerful and enigmatic movement while simultaneously mapping Afghanistan's enduring political crisis.

Buy From Amazon
The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

Download Link

Muslims on the Americanization Path?

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:29:00 -0700

By Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, John L. Esposito
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Pages: 384, Date: 2000-05-11
ISBN-10 : 0195135261, PDF 2.2 Mb

Description:
There are now more Muslims in America than in Kuwait, Qatar, and Libya combined. It is the second largest religion in France and the third in Britain, Germany, and North America. Leaving aside immigration and conversion, birth rate alone ensures that in the first part of the twenty-first century Islam will replace Judaism as the second largest religion in the United States.

Like all religious and ethnic minorities in America, Muslims must confront a host of difficult questions. Can they become part of a pluralistic American society without sacrificing their identity? Can Muslims be Muslims in a state that is not governed by Islamic law? Will the American legal system protect Muslim religious and cultural differences? Is there a contradiction between demanding equal rights and insisting on maintaining a distinctively separate identity? In this wide-ranging volume, fourteen distinguished scholars take an in-depth look at these issues and examine the varied responses and opinions of the Muslim community.

Buy From Amazon
Muslims on the Americanization Path?

Download Link

Doctrines of Shi`i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 23 May 2011 07:57:00 -0700

By Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani
Publisher: I. B. Tauris
Number Of Pages: 264
Publication Date: 2001-12-07
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1860647804

Description:
This wide-ranging, comprehensive overview of the main theological and jurisprudential tenets of Shi'i Islam deals with such issues as the nature of being and the problem of evil. The range of themes covered, its precise style, and the means by which traditional Shi'i beliefs and practices are substantiated render this book both informative and original.

It offers a valuable insight into mainstream ideological thinking within the official religious establishment in Iran today.

buy this books
Doctrines of Shi`i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices

Download Link

The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 23 May 2011 05:47:00 -0700

By Christopher S. Bond, Lewis M. Simons
Publisher: Wiley
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2009-09-15
ISBN-10 : 0470503904

Description:
A U.S. senator and Pulitzer Prizewinner, both experts on Southeast Asia, offer a bold new approach to address radical Islam and fight global terror

The next front in the war on terror is in Southeast Asia, warn Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Lewis Simons, both leading experts on the region.

The U.S. has bankrupted its policies in dealing with the Islamic world. As Fundamentalist Islam gains traction in Southeast Asia, backed by Saudi money, the U.S. must act swiftly to re-establish its credibility there and help defuse global terrorism.

Bond and Simons present a bold plan to accomplish this key goal by substituting smart power (civilians in sneakers and sandals) for force (soldiers in combat boots) in Indonesia and the other nations of Southeast Asia, home to the world's greatest concentration of Muslims.

Introduces a critical new "smart power" approach to combat global terror
Written by two experts on Southeast Asia with extensive contacts in Washington and overseas
Tackles a crucial challenge to U.S. foreign policy and President Obama's administration
Examines a wide range of views and people, from Osama bin Laden-trained armed terrorists to radical clerics to western-trained officials who plead for Americans to come to their countries to teach, start small businesses, and improve health care
The Next Front offers exactly the kind of fresh, out-of-the-box thinking the United States needs to rebuild its credibility and transcend its foreign policy failures.

buy this books
The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam

Download Link

Islamic Legitimacy in a Plural Asia (Routledge Contemporary Asia)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:27:00 -0700

By Anthony Reid:
Publisher: Routledge
Number Of Pages: 197
Publication Date: 2008-01-14
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0415451736

Description:
A global debate has emerged within Islam about how to coexist with democracy. Even in Asia, where such ideas have always been marginal, radical groups are taking the view that scriptural authority requires either Islamic rule (Dar-ul-Islam) or a state of war with the essentially illegitimate authority of non-Muslims or secularists. This book places the debate in a specifically Asian context.

It draws attention to Asia (east of Afghanistan), as not only the home of the majority of the worldâ€™s Muslims but also Islamâ€™s historic laboratory in dealing with religious pluralism. In Asia, pluralism is not simply a contemporary development of secular democracies, but a long-tested pattern based on both principle and pragmatism. For many centuries, Muslims in Asia have argued about the legitimacy of non-Islamic government over Muslims, and the legitimacy of non-Muslim peoples, polities and rights under Islamic governance.

This book analyses such debates and the ways they have been reconciled, in South and Southeast Asia, up to the present. The evidence presented here suggests that Muslims have adapted flexibly and creatively to the pluralism with which they have lived, and are likely to continue to do so.

Buy this books
Islamic Legitimacy in a Plural Asia (Routledge Contemporary Asia)

Download Link

Islamic Beliefs and Practices (The Islamic World)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:20:00 -0700

By Matt Stefon
Publisher: Rosen Education Service
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: 2009-12-20
ISBN-10 : 1615300171

What are the percepts of Shari'ah law? What role did Genghis Khan play in Islamic history? How do the teachings of the Qur'an mesh with those of other religious texts? Islamic Beliefs and Practices is part of a 3 book series. In this powerful, probing, and thought-provoking series, the world of Islam is explored and explained. With coverage from around the world and across the centuries, each book provides a thorough look into the religion with nearly two billion adherents worldwide.

Readers will develop a comprehensive understanding of this incredibly rich faith and its contributions to world culture and history. They will gain access to authentic ideas and concepts, which unfortunately have been somewhat distorted by recent events that were carried out in the name of Islam.

Buy this books
Islamic Beliefs and Practices (The Islamic World)

Download link

Islamic History (The Islamic World)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:17:00 -0700

By Laura S. Etheredge
Publisher: Rosen Education Service
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: 2009-12-20
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 161530021X, PDF 5 Mb

What are the percepts of Shari'ah law? What role did Genghis Khan play in Islamic history? How do the teachings of the Qur'an mesh with those of other religious texts? Islamic History is part of a 3 book series. In this powerful, probing, and thought-provoking series, the world of Islam is explored and explained. With coverage from around the world and across the centuries, each book provides a thorough look into the religion with nearly two billion adherents worldwide.

Al-Farabi, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works, and Influence (Great Islamic Thinkers)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:08:00 -0700

By Majid Fakhry
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Number Of Pages: 208, 2002
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 185168302X
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781851683024

Description:
This is the only available comprehensive introduction to the life and achievements of the ninth-century Islamic pjilosopher, Al-Farabi.

Summary
i think this book is acomprehensive study of philosophical thoughtwiely presented within a sphere of the two thought structures. the western foundation of thought and the eastern foundations for islamic thought. considering plato and socrates , aristotle were from the caucases mountatins i wouldnt even call them western but my point is is a good study book to understand philosophy on a academic level . good read on efor the book list

Buy this books
Al-Farabi, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works, and Influence (Great Islamic Thinkers)

Download Link

Studies in Islamic Legal Theory (Studies in Islamic Law and Society) (Studies in Islamic Law and Society)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:02:00 -0700

By Bernard G. Weiss
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
Number Of Pages: 437
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 9004120661
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9789004120662
Binding: Hardcover, PDF 24 Mb

Buy this books
Studies in Islamic Legal Theory

Download Link

Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Themes in Islamic Law)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:58:00 -0700

By Rudolph Peters
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Pages: 232, Date: 2006-03-27
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0521796709

Description:
In recent years some of the more fundamentalist regimes in the developing world (such as those of Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and the northern states of Nigeria) have reintroduced Islamic law in place of western criminal codes. Rudolph Peters presents a detailed account of the classical doctrine and traces the enforcement of criminal law from the Ottoman period to the present day.

Accounts of actual cases, ranging from theft and banditry to murder, fornication and apostasy, shed light on the complexities of the law, and the sensitivity and intelligence of the qadis who implemented it.

Buy this books
Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century

Download Link

Islamic Banking and Finance in the European Union: A Challenge For Studies

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:50:00 -0800

By M. Fahim Khan, Mario Porzio
Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub
Pages: 241, Date: 2010-04
ISBN-10 : 1849800170, PDF 2.2 MB's Full

Description:
`As an introduction to the complex issue of harmonization of legal and regulatory structure of the European financial system and Islamic finance, this is a useful and welcome volume. The ideas, insights and practical issues addressed in the informed papers that compose the book should be valuable for academics and students of finance, and to those who provide legal and financial services.

The book will be helpful also to European regulators who have yet to appreciate the importance of Islamic finance and its potential contribution to financial globalization as well as to European economic growth.'
- Abbas Mirakhor, Former Executive Director, IMF, US

This timely book examines the authorization of Shari'ah-compliant intermediaries as either credit institutions or as investment companies in the European Union.

The contributing authors explore the key topics of this area through differing yet parallel perspectives - for example, comparing economic and legal standpoints, looking at both European and national levels and considering both academic and technical approaches. The book discusses the common origin of Islamic and Western traditions in commercial and banking transactions, reviewing a period in which the Italian merchants and their organizations drove the rebirth of post-medieval society in trade and law.

The editors investigate whether the Islamic banking and financial model complies with the European framework, spelling out the different experiences in single Member States (Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom). Notwithstanding the obstacles to being authorized as domestic credit institutions, they conclude that the access of Islamic intermediaries is suitable and may have positive effects on European integration, as well as increasing the competition among the stand-still operators and evoking the ethical dimension of banking and finance. The book also highlights how Islamic banking would make the industry more inclusive.

This multidisciplinary book will appeal greatly to economics and legal scholars with an interest in European and international banking and financial law, as well as postgraduate students in international law and banking law. Practitioners and regulators will also find this book an invaluable resource.

Buy this books
Islamic Banking and Finance in the European Union: A Challenge (Studies in Islamic Finance, Accounting and Governance)

Download Link

Islamic Society in Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:42:00 -0800

By Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Pages: 191, Date: 1994-10
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0813013054

Description:
Written in the wake of the Gulf War, this book introduces the West to everyday Arab-Islamic culture and society, humanizing the region and its people. It ventures behind the headlines to offer a positive, constructive view of Islam and Muslims, showing how Islam is lived and practiced in daily life in the Sudan, Egypt, and Tunisia.

Islamic Society in Practice is both scholarly and personal, intended for classroom use and for a general audience. It examines Islamic society on a grassroots level, using the basic anthropological method of participant observation. It treats the major dimensions of Islamic society from the core elements of the religion (including the religious-social values it promotes) to the type of society it engenders, the laws that institutionalize social practice, and the contemporary movements for reform or restoration of Islamic precepts in individual nations.

Writing from the perspective of a sympathetic American woman, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban discusses in depth the social dynamics of gender transformation and Islam, examining the complex issue as one more dilemma confronting societies that are struggling to cope with Western ways of thinking.

Fluehr-Lobban’s formal research and informal observations span the years 1970 to 1990, a time of dynamic change for the Arab and Muslim worlds. These decades took her from the life of a graduate student to that of a professor. With her husband and two daughters, she lived and conducted field research, traveling extensively in Africa and the Middle East. She conveys here the richness of her family experiences in their adopted communities, their deepening understanding of both Western and Islamic culture, and their growing appreciation for the Muslim "other" as a fellow human being.

Buy this books From Amazon
Islamic Society in Practice

Pass : gigle.ws
Download Link

Islamic Insurance: A Modern Approach to Islamic Banking

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:37:00 -0800

By Aly Khorshid
Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon
Pages: 224Date: 2004-03-25
ISBN-10 : 0415311055

Description:
Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should help its victims. "Insurance", however, need not be a commercial venture. In its purest sense, it is assistance with the adverse effects of inevitable afflictions, an arrangement beneficial to all. Schemes to ensure the livelihoods of traders and communities have been in existence for millennia.

Commercial insurance on the other hand, was invented ostensibly for the same ends but with the chief beneficiaries being the shareholders and directors. Among the countless revelations Islam passed on, two prohibitions, namely riba (usury) and gharar (risk), have been used by legislators as grounds for the prohibition of insurance. Islam is not against making money, and there is no inherent conflict between the material and the spiritual. Islamic law allows igtehad (initiative) to the benefit of people as long as there is no harm to other people.

Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance. There is no prohibition in Islamic law against banking, nor insurance; similarly, Muslims can create insurance schemes that use their faith as the immutable basis for a working model. Aly Khorshid demonstrates how initial clerical apprehensions were overcome to create pioneering Muslim-friendly banking systems, and applies the lessons learnt to a workable insurance framework by which Muslims can compete with non-Muslims in business and have cover in daily life. The book uses relevant Quranic and Sunnah extracts, and the arguments of pro- and anti-insurance jurists to arrive at its conclusion that Muslims can enjoy the peace of mind and equity of an Islamic insurance scheme.

Buy this books from Amazon
Islamic Insurance: A Modern Approach to Islamic Banking (Islamic Studies Series)

Download Link
.

A Primer on Islamic Finance

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:32:00 -0800

rared single pdf, with cover, no bookmarks
0.446 MB

Economics generally makes the assumption that human behavior is rational and, therefore, takes rationality as given. Religion, in contrast, considers humans to be fallible (thus potentially irrational) and aims to influence our behavior. Bringing religion into our economic lives, then, necessarily means bringing moral values into what is supposed to be free of such values. Some would think that never the twain—religion and economics—shall meet, but in reality, they do.

Moral values, often derived from the major religions of the world, are increasingly being
introduced into our economic lives in the form of environmental concerns, protection of
the rights of labor, and promotion of fairness in trade. In finance, the increased level of
interest in socially responsible investments is a good case in point. It is in Islamic finance,
however, where economics and religion really come together.

The rise of modern Islamic finance in various parts of the world has motivated many,
whether academics or practitioners, to understand it. Investment professionals, including
CFA charterholders, are no exception; they want to learn about Islamic finance because they
are working in this industry, are considering joining it, or simply want to quench their
intellectual thirst. Not surprisingly, many books have been written on Islamic finance to
meet this demand, but there is a scarcity of introductory texts that are simple but compre-
hensive. This monograph is one such text—reader friendly and wide in scope: It covers basic
Islamic financial concepts (such as riba and gharar), markets (banking, capital markets,
insurance), products (bank accounts, equity funds, and sukuk), and issues, such as corporate
governance and risk management. In presenting the material, the authors, Zaha Rina Zahari
and Bala Shanmugam, with the assistance of principal researcher Lokesh Gupta, have made
extensive use of the experience of their home country, Malaysia, which is perceived as the
most advanced and liberal model of modern Islamic finance.

This monograph helps the reader understand that the Islamic finance industry does
not have global Shari’a standards to decide what is and isn’t compliant in every part of the
world. Moreover, many observers note that there is a gap between the theory of Islamic
finance and its practice; they argue that the industry is putting form over substance to merely
replicate conventional financial products. The debate evokes much passion, and it seems to
be gaining momentum as Islamic finance gains market share and attention.

But debate is an inevitable consequence of the merger of faith and finance and, in
particular, of the emergence of Islamic finance. In the current global financial crisis, the
intellectual environment seems to have become more conducive to considering alternative
methods of meeting financial needs and increasing the role of moral values in our economic
lives. This monograph is, therefore, in tune with the times. The Research Foundation of
CFA Institute is pleased to present A Primer on Islamic Finance.

Download Link
.

Islam in China

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:13:00 -0800

By Mi Shoujiang, You JiaPublisher: Chinese Intercontinental Press
Pages: 205, Date: 2004-01
ISBN-10 : 7508505336

Description:
Islam in China, in five chapters, depicts the introduction and influence of Islam in China, including the development and flourish of the Islamic mosques, the nationalization of Islam in the country, the combination of Islam with traditional Chinese cultures, the discrimination the Muslims had to face, and the Chinese Muslims¡¯ participation in the war of resistance against Japan. With green-tinted photos and illustrations.

Download Link or Mirror
.

Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society, 2nd Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 02:36:00 -0800

By Akbar S. Ahmed
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 2002-02-01, ISBN-10 : 0203406303
PDF File-Size: 1.49 MB

Now reissued with a new introduction, Discovering Islam is a classic account of how the history of Islam and its relations with the west have shaped Islamic society today. Islam is often caricatured as aggressive and fanatic. Written in the tradition of Ibn Khaldun, this readable and wide ranging book balances that image, uncovers the roots of Islamic discontent and celebrates the sources of its strength.

From the four "ideal Caliphs" who succeeded the Prophet to the refugee camps of Peshawar, an objective picture emerges of the main features of Muslim history and the compulsions of Muslim society.

Download Link or Mirror
.

Introduction to Islamic Law : Islamic Law in Theory and Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 23:21:00 -0800

By Ahmed AKGÜNDÜZ
9080719269, 9789080719262
IUR Press, Rotterdam 2010, 406 Pages
PDF, 18.29 MB,

The world today has become one large village. Muslims and non-Muslims live side by side and have to learn about one another, share commonalities and respect differences. At this time more than one and a half billion Muslims live in this village.

Some of them are pious Muslims, trying to live in accordance with Islamic rules, whereas others do not while believing that these rules come from God (the Quran), from interpretations of His Messenger {the Sunnah) or the consensus of Muslim jurists {ijma), and are at least rules derived via analog)' {qiyas) from the main sources of Islam. Most Muslims think along these lines and agree with the above. The reader should remember that Muslim individuals should live according to Islamic rules in private, but no individual is responsible for implementing Islamic law.

In any event, the need to learn the facts about Islamic law is necessary for Muslims as well as for non-Muslims if they live in the same society with Muslims, at least in the sense of general information.

Download Link
.