Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Islam

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ruqaiyyah Maqsood did an excellent job detailing Islam for all to understand-muslim and non-muslim alike. I am an American woman and I converted to Islam approx. 5 years ago. Most Intro to Islam books don't convey the beauty of the religion nor do they convey the details of it's history simply. Ruqaiyyah's words did both.....she took the complicated history of Islam and made it simple. Congrats to her and May God be pleased with her work!

Having just spent 7 months in the Middle East, and planning on returning soon, I have been trying to become familiar with the beliefs and customs of the Arab people. Teach yourself Islam is an excellent resource to scratching the surface of the beliefs and customs in this part of the world. It is written in straight forward language and is organized well, so as to make looking up one particular topic easy.

This is a wonderful book for those looking to learn about Islam and for all Muslims who already know about Islam. It gives basic info on the religion but also helps clarify that middle eastern cultures are not good representations of the religion. This book is a great buy and definitely worth one's hard earned cash.

This book is for muslims and non muslim to understand islam. As I am a convert muslim myself and with all my readings and study's it is good to go back and know the basics. This book simplifies and gives an understanding of what the foundations of islam. I am definitely buying 5 books and giving them to family members who have questions or want to know why my life has changed to islam

Written by a Muslim devotee; as such, it lacks any "critical" questioning of Islamic theology (see: WHY I AM NOT A MUSLIM by Warriq). Presents the "basics" of Islam, but not as detailed as in EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM or ISLAM FOR DUMMIES. Compared to similiar paperbacks, I found this book to give a "fair" review in explaining the differences between Sunni and Shi'ites, and the Sufis of both faiths. No critique of exisiting Islamic governments. One scholary thing I found rather disconcerting is that while Maqsood very frequently provides source-citations for many specific quotations from either the Quran or the hadith, the author nonetheless all too frequently wrote: "Mohammad believed this" about some topic, but then doesn't provide a citation/attribution for the author's statement. Worthwhile reading for a light, brief review of Islamic bascis (but no 'deep' analysis)-- but, hey, it's a 'brief' introduction paperback. Chapters: Life of Muhammad; the Quran and its teachings; Islamic worship: hajj, prayer, fasting (sawm), Ramadan, Jesus, zahak-tax, pillars of Islam, festivals; Shariah, Sunni, Shiite, Sufism; sex, purdah-women, pre-destination; Rites of passage: birth, marriage, death; Social Islam: dress, diet; glossary.

Teach Yourself Islam is quite an insightful read. The author touches almost every aspect of the history, principles and heart of Islam. She also demonstrates in certain sections the difficulties on Muslim converts in western parts of the world. However, the information, while accurate, is brief. Should one like to learn, for example, more on the 5 pillars of Islam, or sufism, one would have to consult other references. All in all, an excellent beginners guide to the beauty of Islam.

I purchased this book for a course on the Major Civilizations of Asia, and found it to be a very good read. While it was necessary for the course, I feel that it should be required reading for anyone who doesn't know about Islam. That includes the people that think they know by what they've seen on the news.

I found this book to be both patronizing and oversimplistic. I am not an expert on Islam or any religion, but I know that, especially in these times, one cannot afford to make unfounded assumptions about any faith. And perhaps this was the wrong book to read, but I was expecting (hoping for) an academic treatment of the subject -- that is, an account as unbiased as humanly possible. Of course every author is biased. But I did not expect to be so consistently confronted with this bias. I would hope that any book that purports to help you "teach" yourself anything would be honest about the subject and not paint everything up to look perfect. Because a religion can be valid and spiritual and deeply beautiful and still be deeply flawed. God is God, but religion is human. I will look elsewhere for an honest treatment of the subject.