A good book on the religious practices of Islam?

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My wife is from a part of her country that is half Moslem, and we are going to live there in a few months. When we discuss the religious practices of Moslems, I find that know little about them. I wonder if anyone can recommend a worthwhile book on the subject that we can look at when such questions come up? I would just like to better understand the religious practices of the people we will be living among when we are there.
 
Karen Armstrong’s biography on Muhammad is a good place to start understanding the religion. Its not too long and it gives a lot of information, but it is also very readable. It won’t give you a crash course in what holiday falls when, but it does give you a good foundation to try and understand Islam.
 
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Salaam/ Peace
mdgspencer said:
… worthwhile book on the subject …
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Holy Quran 🙂

translations in English, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Melayu, German, Russian, Turkish, Bosnian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Farsi, Urdu

searchtruth.com/list.php

usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/

Audio : audioquraan.com/quraan.asp

few info : Introduction to Islam

What is Islam?:

The name of the religion is Islam, which comes from an Arabic root word meaning “peace” and “submission.”

Islam teaches that one can only find peace in one’s life by submitting to Almighty God (Allah) in heart, soul and deed. The same Arabic root word gives us “Salaam alaykum,” (“Peace be with you”), the universal Muslim greeting

Who is Allah?:

Allah is the proper name for Almighty God, and is often translated merely as “God.” Allah has other names that are used to describe His characteristics: the Creator, the Sustainer, the Merciful, the Compassionate, etc.

Muslims believe that since Allah alone is the Creator, it is He alone that deserves our devout love and worship. Islam holds to a strict monotheism. Any worship and prayers directed at saints, prophets, other human beings or nature is considered idolatry.

islam.about.com/od/basicbeliefs/p/intro.htm
 
mdgspencer said:
My wife is from a part of her country that is half Moslem, and we are going to live there in a few months. When we discuss the religious practices of Moslems, I find that know little about them. I wonder if anyone can recommend a worthwhile book on the subject that we can look at when such questions come up? I would just like to better understand the religious practices of the people we will be living among when we are there.
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Hi

The best book on teachings of Islam and acts/deed of Muhammad is Quran. I would suggest you to read it and understand it.
www3.alislam.org/index.jsp

Thanks
 
Muslim_Woman said:
http://theislampath.com/smf/Smileys/default/salam.gif

Salaam/ Peace

Holy Quran 🙂

translations in English, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Melayu, German, Russian, Turkish, Bosnian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Farsi, Urdu

searchtruth.com/list.php

usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/

Audio : audioquraan.com/quraan.asp

few info : Introduction to Islam

What is Islam?:

The name of the religion is Islam, which comes from an Arabic root word meaning “peace” and “submission.”

Islam teaches that one can only find peace in one’s life by submitting to Almighty God (Allah) in heart, soul and deed. The same Arabic root word gives us “Salaam alaykum,” (“Peace be with you”), the universal Muslim greeting

Who is Allah?:

Allah is the proper name for Almighty God, and is often translated merely as “God.” Allah has other names that are used to describe His characteristics: the Creator, the Sustainer, the Merciful, the Compassionate, etc.

Muslims believe that since Allah alone is the Creator, it is He alone that deserves our devout love and worship. Islam holds to a strict monotheism. Any worship and prayers directed at saints, prophets, other human beings or nature is considered idolatry.

islam.about.com/od/basicbeliefs/p/intro.htm
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You beat me to it 😃
 
Muslim_Woman said:
Holy Quran 🙂

translations in English, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Melayu, German, Russian, Turkish, Bosnian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Farsi, Urdu

searchtruth.com/list.php

usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/

Audio : audioquraan.com/quraan.asp
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I would not recommend the Quran for Christian beginners who want to know Islam. They will feel very alienated, hated and condemned there and that will influence their impression on how Muslims treat them which is not good for their relationship with them. Besides lots of teachings in the Quran contradicts their values and that’s not helpful at all.

Short hand book on introduction to Islam would be more apt. After all they just want to know about practices in Islam.
 
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Salaam/ Peace
Reuben_J said:
… They will feel very alienated, hated and condemned there.
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Do u think same about Bible ? Anyway , here is the experience of a Chrisitan ( now ex ) about reading Quran for the first time.

http://www.thetruecall.com/home/images/articles/garymiller.jpg

Gary Miller : …One day, he decided to read the Qur’an to try to find any mistakes that he might take advantage of while inviting Muslims to convert to Christianity. He expected the Qur’an to be an old book written 14 centuries ago, a book that talks about the desert and so on. He was amazed from what he found.

…what made him even more confused is that he found a full “Sura” (chapter) in the Qur’an named “Mary” that contains a lot of respect to Mary (peace be upon her) which is not the case even in the books written by Christians nor in their Bibles. He did not find a Sura named after “Fatimah”(the prophet’s daughter) nor “Aishah” (the Prophet’s wife), may Allah (God) be pleased with both of them.

He also found that the name of Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) was mentioned in the Qur’an 25 times while the name of “Muhammad” (Peace Be Upon Him) was mentioned only 4 times, so he became more confused. He started reading the Qur’an more thoroughly hoping to find a mistake but he was shocked when he read a great verse which is verse number 82 in Surat Al-Nisa’a (Women) that says:

“Do they not consider the Qur’an (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy”.

thetruecall.com/home/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=215
 
I wouldn’t recommend the Qu’Ran for someone who just wants a crash course, unless its heavily, heavily annotated. That’s a starting point for an actual study of the religion. If someone told me “I’m moving to a Catholic neighborhood. What should I know about Catholics?”, telling them to read the Bible or the Catechism wouldn’t be a good idea. I’d get them Catholicism for Dummies or the equivalent. All they need are the basics, and the Qu’Ran is a very dense, complicated read.
 
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51i-+xlUnDL.SL500_AA240.jpgI have somewhere or used to have (might have lent it to someone and not got it back) a book called the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam. (On Amazon)

I would recommend that for you–you can probably find it in a regular bookstore like Barnes & Noble or Borders, and it’s a really useful book. It describes some of the major beliefs of Islam, and goes in-depth on “religious practices.” It will probably describe most of what you’ll see from Muslims from a religious point of view.

It also briefly describes some major historical points of Islam, American Islam, relations with Christians and Jews.

And it was written by a convert to Islam. (Yahya Emerick)

Overall it’s a well-written and informative book–that’s what I’d recommend. I’ve read it and had some friends read it and figure it’s pretty helpful.
 
Muslim_Woman said:
He started reading the Qur’an more thoroughly hoping to find a mistake but he was shocked when he read a great verse which is verse number 82 in Surat Al-Nisa’a (Women) that says:

“Do they not consider the Qur’an (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy”.
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Maybe he did not find this:

Discrepancies include the Qur’an mistaking Jesus’ mother Mary for Moses’ sister Miriam, claiming that Mary was Moses and Aaron’s sister, a child of Amram (Sura 3:35-48; 19:27-28), despite the 1500 plus years which separate the two. They claim that a Samaritan sculpted the golden calf at the foot of Sinai (Sura 20:85-88) despite the fact that Samaritans didn’t come into existence until several hundred years after the Exodus (at which time the calf was made, Exodus 32:1-4).
 
Chancellare said:
Maybe he did not find this:

Discrepancies include the Qur’an mistaking Jesus’ mother Mary for Moses’ sister Miriam, claiming that Mary was Moses and Aaron’s sister, a child of Amram (Sura 3:35-48; 19:27-28), despite the 1500 plus years which separate the two. They claim that a Samaritan sculpted the golden calf at the foot of Sinai (Sura 20:85-88) despite the fact that Samaritans didn’t come into existence until several hundred years after the Exodus (at which time the calf was made, Exodus 32:1-4).
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I do find it mildly amusing that people simply misunderstand certain passages and assume that the Book must be wrong.

About the first, even Muhammad was asked about that and he gave an answer. About the second, the passage doesn’t describe a “Samaritan” necessarily (it’s easy to see people might come to that conclusion though, as it says As-Samiri which is probably what you’d call a Samaritan.) There’s a statement from Ibn Abbas which is interesting on that point, describing him as from a cow-worshiping people called Bajarma. Someone else said he was from Samarra which is a place in Iraq. But Samaritans are from Samaria, are they not? Looks like a case of someone jumping to conclusions, if you ask me.
 
** I may explain only one point here. It is a great misunderstanding about the high level of the Quran. The friends are not knowing about it. Please consider the following about the sister of Aaron mentioned in the Quran:

From OP: Discrepancies include the Qur’an mistaking Jesus’ mother Mary for Moses’ sister Miriam, **claiming that Mary was Moses and Aaron’s sister, a child of Amram (Sura 3:35-48; 19:27-28),

The Quran is perfectly right in calling Mary as the sister of Aaron due to the nature of her duties in the temple with Zakariyya a.s. She was bestowed to the service of the temple by her mother. That was exactly the job of Aaron a.s. i.e. the service of the temple.

It is for that reason that people (Jews) called her “O, sister of Aaron…” Not because she was the real sister of Aaron. She belonged to the children of Imran who was the father of Moses a.s. So she is mentioned as a lady from the line of Imran.

Please note that Quran calls her and tells that people called her sister of Aaron and not sister of Moses a.s. Why the people did not call her sister of Moses a.s.? The reason is simple as I have described above. Her job or nature of job linked her to Aaron a.s. and not to Moses a.s.

When the Quran says about Mary “O, sister of Aaron…” it means the Quran is describing her very well. Please understand. Quran is not describing her as a real sister of Aaron. There is much time difference between Mary and Aaron. She is called sister of Aaron symbolically only. It is parabolic.
 
While still on the topic (hopefully not veering away from OP), there are many other list of factual and textual errors found by scholars in Quran:
  1. Contradictions With the Bible Which Point to Errors:
    Moses
    Yahya
    Trinity
    Ezra
  2. Internal Contradictions Which Point to Errors
    Mary & Imran
    Haman
  3. Errors Which Contradict Secular and Scientific Data
    Ishmael
    Samaritan
    Sunset
    Issa
    Mountains
    Alexander the Great
    Creation
    Pharaoh’s Cross
    Other Scientific problems
    4. Absurdities
    Man’s Greatness
    Seven Earths
    Jinns & Shooting Stars
    Solomon’s power over nature
    Youth and dog sleep 309 years
    People become apes
    Sodom & Gomorrah turned upside-down
    Jacob’s smell & sight
    Night/Day/Sun/Moon are subject to man
    5. Grammatical Errors
    Reference:
    debate.org.uk/topics/history/quran.htm#I
 
Chancellare said:
While still on the topic (hopefully not veering away from OP), there are many other list of factual and textual errors found by scholars in Quran:
  1. Contradictions With the Bible Which Point to Errors:
    Moses
    Yahya
    Trinity
    Ezra
  2. Internal Contradictions Which Point to Errors
    Mary & Imran
    Haman
  3. Errors Which Contradict Secular and Scientific Data
    Ishmael
    Samaritan
    Sunset
    Issa
    Mountains
    Alexander the Great
    Creation
    Pharaoh’s Cross
    Other Scientific problems
  4. Absurdities
    Man’s Greatness
    Seven Earths
    Jinns & Shooting Stars
    Solomon’s power over nature
    Youth and dog sleep 309 years
    People become apes
    Sodom & Gomorrah turned upside-down
    Jacob’s smell & sight
    Night/Day/Sun/Moon are subject to man
  5. Grammatical Errors
    Reference:
    debate.org.uk/topics/history/quran.htm#I
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**How do these differ from similar problems faced by those who want the Bible to be thought inerrant, etc. **​

**What is so unreasonable about seven earths ? It’s a very old idea, so it’s unsurprising if some form of it recorded in the Koran. I’m not even a Muslim, & I suspect that I could find perfectly good answers to most of these. **
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

**How do these differ from similar problems faced by those who want the Bible to be thought inerrant, etc. **​

**What is so unreasonable about seven earths ? It’s a very old idea, so it’s unsurprising if some form of it recorded in the Koran. I’m not even a Muslim, & I suspect that I could find perfectly good answers to most of these. **
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Hi

Thank you very much.

Regards
 
planten said:
** I may explain only one point here. It is a great misunderstanding about the high level of the Quran. The friends are not knowing about it. Please consider the following about the sister of Aaron mentioned in the Quran:

From OP: Discrepancies include the Qur’an mistaking Jesus’ mother Mary for Moses’ sister Miriam, **claiming that Mary was Moses and Aaron’s sister, a child of Amram (Sura 3:35-48; 19:27-28),

The Quran is perfectly right in calling Mary as the sister of Aaron due to the nature of her duties in the temple with Zakariyya a.s. She was bestowed to the service of the temple by her mother. That was exactly the job of Aaron a.s. i.e. the service of the temple.

It is for that reason that people (Jews) called her “O, sister of Aaron…” Not because she was the real sister of Aaron. She belonged to the children of Imran who was the father of Moses a.s. So she is mentioned as a lady from the line of Imran.

Please note that Quran calls her and tells that people called her sister of Aaron and not sister of Moses a.s. Why the people did not call her sister of Moses a.s.? The reason is simple as I have described above. Her job or nature of job linked her to Aaron a.s. and not to Moses a.s.

When the Quran says about Mary “O, sister of Aaron…” it means the Quran is describing her very well. Please understand. Quran is not describing her as a real sister of Aaron. There is much time difference between Mary and Aaron. She is called sister of Aaron symbolically only. It is parabolic.
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Hi

It is a godd explanation. God Allah bless you!

Thanks
 
Hi

Well one cannot truthfully understand Muslims if one does not understand the root and essence of Muslims, which is naturall the Quran which mentions the essentials of teachings of Islam and deeds/acts/Sunnah of Muhammad.

He should start from Quran, in my opinion.

Thanks
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

**How do these differ from similar problems faced by those who want the Bible to be thought inerrant, etc. **​

**What is so unreasonable about seven earths ? It’s a very old idea, so it’s unsurprising if some form of it recorded in the Koran. I’m not even a Muslim, & I suspect that I could find perfectly good answers to most of these. **
Click to expand...
I never said they are unreasonable nor surprising nor they have no ‘perfectly good answers’.
I can even do better; like seven moons or nine dragons! See the ‘reasonableness and the lack of surprise’ of it all?😛
 
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