Being Muslim: A Practical Guide

One of the best guides to Islam that I've read.

Perfect for all Muslims, not just converts

All Muslims, especially reverts, should have this book! Excellent! covers all the basic (and not so basic) aspects of the life of a Muslim. Soooo complete! This, a Quran, and a good sira (biography of the prophet) is all you need!

Masha'Allah! As a revert to Islam this book helped plenty., a great starting guide.

This book was a good purchase for my sister in law that has just converted to Islam. Has good explanations for someone that is new to Islam.

I wouldn't just recommended this for new Muslims I would recommended for all Muslims. Clear, intelligent and fundamental.

Terrific book. Clear, concise and just what I needed to help improve my knowledge of Islam. Very useful, being used all the time.

Inferior product and impossible to return as it needs to go back to the States. You will loose about £10 of your purchase price!

I've been a student of Islam for going-on 20 years, in my duties as a senior U.S. military leader (now retired), and have become deeply familiar with the scripture, theology, and jurisprudence of the faith. But it's only within the last couple of years that I've begun to think of myself as a prospective revert. And as I began contemplating that step, I realized that--despite my studies, and my experience of Muslims over two decades of war--I was woefully unprepared (ignorant, even) on the MECHANICS of daily life AS A MUSLIM. This book fills that critical gap in the English-language literature on Islam. You may know Muslims pray five times a day, facing Mecca--but what are the actual STEPS in that prayer? How are the five prayers similar--and how do they differ? It's all in there--WITH HELPFUL DIAGRAMS & TABLES. You might have heard that you have to be in a state of "ritual purity" when you pray--but what does this MEAN, how might you inadvertently BREAK it, and what would you have to do to restore it? It's in there--again, with appropriate illustrations. Muslims fast--especially during Ramadan--but what EXACTLY does that entail, what things (bodily or spiritual) could invalidate a day's fast...and what do you do then? It--and so much more--is in there. As a Catholic for much of my adult life, another thing I appreciated about this book was its AVOIDANCE of what I might term "cafeteria Islam." This is not a book that soft-pedals parts of the faith revealed through Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad to "fit it in better" with what we might LIKE it to be--comfortable in all the cautions our 'liberated' 21st-century civil culture has thrown to the wind. Any faith worth following isn't one that conforms the will of our Creator to our desires; rather, it challenges us to conform our desires to the will of our Creator. That is the Islam presented here. And yet, it is ALSO a reflective introduction to the thoughtful faith of the God whose first command to His final Prophet (pbuh) was "Iqra!" -- READ! Muslims are challenged to never cease learning, reflecting, and drawing closer to God, and Being Muslim is written in that spirit. The book concludes with exceptionally rich end matter: key Qur'anic readings in both English and the (transliterated) Arabic used in worship (a real leg-up for reverts who previously didn't know a word of Arabic!); a categorized list of further readings to continue your spiritual journey as a Muslim, an extensive glossary you can refer back to as you master Islam's particular vocabulary, a bibliography of the works cited in the text, and a good index so you can move from READING this book to using it as a reference, for quick location of passages when you need to refresh your memory on a specific topic. A final note: the one key omission I'd identify in the list of readings is an orientation to normative Islam's second source of scripture, the Sunnah--the sayings and lived example of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). While a couple of reliable introductory COLLECTIONS are listed, the Sunnah is basically oral history, and it's important for the new Muslim to understand that it comes in the full spectrum of quality--from completely trustworthy all the way down to weak or even likely fabricated--and a range of authority (tracing to the Prophet himself, or just to one of his original Companions, or merely to a successor to an original companion). OUTSIDE the curations in the list, you'll encounter lots of things people are presenting as hadith, which may or may not be suitable for the use being made of them--and this can be a source of much confusion, even leading you astray, if you're not attuned to it. So before you delve into hadith, I would recommend the book, Approaching the Sunnah : Comprehension and Controversy , by the eminent scholar Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi; it's been of great use to me. Welcome to Islam--and may Allah bless you and guide you on the straight path.

I wish this book had been written sooner, like many years ago. This book is a definite reference that should be in every Muslim home, school, mosque and library. I got the eBook because the shipping charges to Canada for the physical book was a few multiples of the actual cost of the physical book. I do look forward to purchasing the physical book some day Insha'allah.

Great overview of Islam for a westerner like myself. This is easier to understand than Mullins Muhammad Ali’s works but now I can read those works and understand better.

It really helped me revisit the fundamentals and clarify some concepts in a concise yet clear manner. Thanks Asad Tarsin.

Love this book. Arrived a week early.