Wardah Best Reads of 2008
January 27, 2009
Trends of 2008
Last year was very much a year for large reference works, mainly on the Qur’an, such as Routledge’s The Qur’an: An Encyclopedia (a very readable reference book, despite its 800 pages); FonsVitae’s magisterial ‘Great Commentaries of the Holy Qur’an Series’ starting off with translations of Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Tafsir Ibn Abbas, Tafsir al-Tustari, and al-Wahidi’s Asbab al-Nuzul. Another development that is making (sound) waves is the CDs of home-grown label Sout Ilaahi.
On to the best of 2008 (in no particular order)…
1. The Qur’an: A New Translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (2008 re-issue)
Oxford World’s Classics
This translation comes highly recommended by Shaykh Khalil Moore who honoured us by visiting our little shop in 2008. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem has taken great effort to make the English rendition of the Qur’an lucid and clear, and it is wonderful to see the language cascade seamlessly from image to image. This should be on the bookshelf of everyone for whom English has become a first language. While we still maintain that the best translation is the Nawawi Foundation’s The Majestic Qur’an (now sadly out of print), we praise M.A.S. Abdel Haleem’s work for its accessibility, flow and beauty.
2. Book of Tauhid: A Manual for Learning the Six Pillars of Faith (Second Edition)
Qalam Publishing
Abdul Shakur Hadi
The first priority is knowledge of Allah.
Finally. A work that explains and describes the six pillars in a systematic way has been produced in the English language. Most of us who grew up in the Malay-speaking world would probably have had some exposure to the works (kitabs) of the Malay shaykhs of the past which describe the Sifat 20 (20 Attributes), list (and describe) the archangels, the prophets, the books of Allah and so on. This book does just that and is essentially a primer on the doctrine of Ahl Sunna wal Jamaah.
3. Grand Saint of Singapore: The Life of Habib Nuh al-Habsyi
Masjid Al’Firdaus
Ustaz Ghouse Khan Suratee
This is another long-overdue work. It is the biography of Habib Nuh al-Habsyi, the saint widely celebrated to be THE saint of Singapore, who lived and died in Singapore in the early 1800s. The book narrates the life of Habib Nuh and surfaces many anecdotes from his saintly life. This book is certainly a first in Singapore (a first that is even recognised by the President of Singapore, S.R. Nathan) and we hope that this landmark publication spurs other works that document the Islamic heritage of Singapore and the region.
4. The Masnavi: A New Translation by Jawid Mojaddedi (Vols I & II)
Oxford World’s Classics
Oxford World’s Classics scores another homerun with this translation of Mevlana Rumi’s Masnavi, which is widely recognised to be the greatest Persian Sufi poem. As with M.S.A. Abdul Haleem’s translation of the Qur’an, the language is strikingly beautiful. Not only do the verses rhyme, they also have a cadence that is all the more pleasing when recited – a rare achievement for a translation. And that’s not all, for Jawid Mojaddedi also manages to convey, as the original does masterfully, Sufi teachings cloaked in irony and humour. Wonderful.
5. A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar
World Wisdom
Amadou Hampate Ba
This work, originally in French and now available for the first time in English, is divided into three parts. Part One deals with the life and milieu of Shaykh Tierno Bokar of Mali. Part Two deals with his words (his culture transmitted knowledge primarily orally) and Part Three deals with his teachings. Shaykh Bokar (1875–1939) was a spiritual leader of the Tijani tariqah who, despite having to live in a time of political upheaval and sectarian unrest during West Africa’s colonial period, was a beacon of spiritual intelligence, love, charity and tolerance. This is a surprisingly relevant work in our own age of extremism (arising from either religious or secular fundamentalisms) that has given rise to increased intolerance and exclusion.
6. The Messenger: The Meanings of the Life of Muhammad (s.a.w.)
Penguin
Tariq Ramadan
This is not a work of a historical person. It is a work that describes the central figure in the life of each Muslim – Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. To Muslims, the Prophet is not a personality of the past, but a reality that is ever-contemporaneous, and this book captures this essence in a way modern readers (both Muslim or otherwise) can understand and appreciate.
