I would recommend reading a biography of the prophet (sawa). I think reading about the prophet's life is one of the best ways to understand Islam.
As a note, if the Qur'an translation you have is proving difficult to get through, try a different one. Not all translations are the same. You can go to quran.com to compare some translations or search this sub for some recommendations.
What about Islam's beliefs do you find difficult?
"Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous." 2:177
Jesus (as) is a revered, respected and beloved prophet in Islam. He is mentioned a lot in the Qur'an, particularly in chapters 3 (Ali 'Imran) and 19 (Maryam).
On the off chance there is a mosque somewhere near you, try getting in touch or going to a visit just to check it out, ask some questions, etc.
Last but not least: Ask God for guidance. At night before you sleep, face the qiblah if you wish (north east), and ask God with a sincere intention to guide you to truth, to peace, to what is right and better for you, whatever it may be.
>Apparently female infanticide was rampant in pre-Islamic Arabia
Arabia in pre-Islamic was a diversity place. Remember there was 360 idols of different Gods before Mo smashed them all. It depended on which tribal but in some woman had more right than man. Khadijah, Mo's first wife was a rich widow and Mo had to work for her until her death. You can know more about pre-Islamic Arabia by reading this book.
Just read it normally and if you have questions ask. Hopefully you got a reliable interpretation like saheeh or sahih international. I am sure there are many reliable interpretations but this is the one I am most familiar with.
All english books titled "Qur'an" are interpretations made by human authors. They are a lot easier to understand and read than the Quran itself which only exists in the arabic language.
Everything you need to know about Islam will be clearly and explicitly told in the Quranic interpretation you have. There is not a single fundamental of Islam which is not mentioned in the Quran. It's always a good place to start alongside the seerah. Some people recommend the martin lings seerah life of the prophet from birth to death.
Someone recently sent me a photo of my great grandparents from my grandmother's side.
I saw my great grandmother, there were a cock-ish grin on her face, with her hand on her hip and thought, "Now, that is one cool lady! I wish I could've known her." I will never meet her, but I love her already. I didn't love her before I saw that photo.
Regarding Muhammad, I was really quite skeptical of him as a prophet and couldn't see why people loved him so much. The book <em>Muhammad: His Life Based Upon the Earliest Sources</em>, by Martin Lings shed some light on the man as a person and the basic story of his prophethood. It is a good book. It didn't try to preach to me or convince me of anything, it just laid out the known facts. And it was well-written, which made it easy and enjoyable to read. I couldn't put the book down, once I got into it.
https://www.amazon.com/Princess-True-Story-Behind-Saudi/dp/0967673747
Similar cases, the original pakistani case i cant find right now.
RemindMe! 2 Days
Finally, my time to shine.
In terms of the amount of minimally biased historical research I recommend:
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings
Link: https://www.amazon.com.au/Muhammad-Martin-Lings/dp/1594771537
In terms of understanding the nuances and significance of that historical data I recommend: Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong
Link: https://www.amazon.com.au/Muhammad-Karen-Armstrong/dp/0061155772
Full disclosure, I am not a Muslim.
I’m in Qatar so it’s a local offering that’s why I’m interested
If you research a company called Port of Mocha in California you can see the owner he had some crazy trips to Yemen. In one trip he was capture by the Houthi rebels and had to have the state department arrange his release
no one is disputing that. what's being disputed is the false narrative you're pushing as well as your sources. Here are some comparatively better sources & a better starting point for those interested.
Maybe stories would give you an idea about the life back then I dont know of there is translations for "Antara Ibn Shaddad" "war of kharoos" "the Basus war" or "zeer salem" And you have this book on amazon but I know nothing about it https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415195357/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_0AXK4G5H8476C33A7YH3
if your interested in Islam then learning about the Prophet is really helpful. The best English biography at the moment is by Martin Lings. Amazon link
There’s a good twitter thread that has a solid booklist. twitter link
Seerkersguidance.org has a bunch of free courses.
There’s some more resources but these should be good introductions.
I was baptized Christian and at a young age, studied the faith a bit, but it came down to that I couldn't trust the Bible. It's got Truth mixed with distorted truths. It's the Word of God AND the word of (imperfect) humans.
The Quran is believed to be unchanged. Not only is it not the word of Muhammad (he was simply a Messenger), it is only the word of God. Supposedly, originally the Torah was like this as well, but then (like the Bible), some powerful humans decided to change it to suit their needs better. AFAIK, even the historical research into the Quran remaining unchanged confirms this.
If you want to learn more about Prophet Muhammad, I highly recommend the book <em>Muhammad: His Life Based Upon the Earliest Sources</em> by Martin Lings.
I found it very well written and I found it a great introduction to learning more about Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him).
Yeah, textbook prices are insane. I was thinking something similar to this, except for Hungary. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143118277/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_S4QADQWK0E4PF80Z06P9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
In that case, I would recommend this book, which start with the origin and history of the Kaaba.
The great thing about this book is that it uses historical sources and not religious sources.
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1594771537/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_CV3ZM10GZHXJGJH4S879
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings.
Also Stories of the Prophets by Ibn Kathir is a collection of stories about Prophets (peace be upon them) prior to The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. This has a lot of good information.
If you're up for some reading, here's a book on the biography of The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which contains a lot of details on his life which you may not have known. It's a good read and very inspiring once you understand all that he went through and how he kept succeeding despite overwhelming odds. It'll teach you about our religion and provide historical context of how things originated in our deen.
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings.
Here's another book on prior Prophets (peace be upon them). I've started this one myself and I always wanted to learn about our past Prophets (peace be upon them) and the people they guided and how they lived and what obstacles were faced.
Stories of the Prophets by Ibn Kathir.
I recommend you order and read the book below to get a good understanding of his life.
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings.
Hello!
You may like Martin Lings’ book “Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources”
I also have an annual tradition of reading Omid Safi’s “Memories of Muhammad” during the month of the Prophet’s birth.
I’d probably start there and then if you want to read the more classical ones you can try to find Ibn Ishaq’s bio.
No worries, if you like reading books I would advise readingthis book by Martin Lings about the life of the prophet Mohammed.
But I will tell you that, Mohammed and Jesus pbut are very very very comparable if you take the first 13 years of the prophethood of Mohammed with the 3 years of prophethood of Jesus, and the last 10 years of prophet Mohammed are close to prophet Moses peace be upon all of them.
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
By Martin Lings.
You should read “Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources” by Martin Lings to learn more about the foundation of Islam.
https://www.amazon.com/Muhammad-Life-Based-Earliest-Sources/dp/1594771537
The most significant two events happened almost concurrently. The Iranian Islamic revolution is well known but not the second which was the siege of the grand mosque in Mecca. The two events are considered the most significant that drove people from secular Arab Nationalism to Islamism. This book greatly outlines this: https://www.amazon.com/Siege-Mecca-Forgotten-Uprising-al-Qaeda/dp/0385519257
"Muhammad Based on the earliest sources" by Martin Lings is my favorite. The opening bit is a little slow but once you start the life of the prophet, it gets so good that it's hard to put down.
Muslim scholars try to follow the most authentic sources of Muhammad's (pbuh) life. Narrations that are not authentic would be regarded as weak sources. Here's one book with authentic narrations of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his life.
I'm sorry I'm a bit busy with work right now to research this properly, but one of the most interesting dynamics to follow right now in global politics is the ~reform MBS is attempting to implement in SA. It's been many years since I dug into any of this stuff deeply, but from what I understand, the export from SA of Wahabi ideology, beginning with Egypt and the foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood in the '50s, was a consequence of the arrangement made between Ibn Saud and the conservative militant tribes that provided him with the strength of arms he needed to dominate the Arabian Peninsula. It's really a fascinating subject, and if you're interested in learning more, I wholeheartedly recommend Sleeping With The Devil, by Robert Baer.
Please read more from the sources that MUSLIMS claim to be authentic. Read Muhammad by Martin Lings.
Get to know him and his family and companions. This is the most rigorously and authentically documented and biographized life of a human being in history. We know how he drank, ate, dressed, we know how many white hairs he had by the end of his life. We know how he recited the Qur'an to the level of how he moved his tongue...
We know he preferred to sit when he drinks, and when he'd drink he'd do it with his right hand, on 3 separate phases, not all at once, so as not to shock the body. We know he entered (what is the equivalent of bathroom at the time) with his right foot and exited with his left. We know how he cleaned his teeth and how he flossed, how he cleaned himself to the very detail. How he moved his index finger in prayer, where he placed his eyes. What he said when he saw the moon, in its different stages.
We know what he did when it rained. He'd go outside, expose his shoulders to it, welcoming "A most recent companion of its Lord".
I can go on forever ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
Let me know if you have any questions or sources :) ʾinshāʾAllāh I can help!
Thank you for giving me opportunity to write this. I benefitted from it a lot!
Salām
Sure.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Muhammad-Life-Based-Earliest-Sources/dp/0946621330/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1 for a detailed biography.
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Work-Muhammad-Critical-Lives/dp/0028643712 -> This is a kind of summarized version of history.
You can start with biography of the prophet .
And then perhaps the Quran.
Good luck.
P.S. Personal opinion. Not an expert.
A complete defense of the character of the Prophet is a bit of a tall order for a reddit comment, and I'm much too underqualified to provide it given that I myself am a recent convert still learning the seerah.
If you'd like, you could bring up specific claims and I could do my best to point you to answers, but frankly, though I know relatively little about the life of the Prophet, his family, and his companions, what I do know about him couldn't be further from the barbaric, power-hungry sexual deviant that people might try to portray him as.
In 1928, Mohandas Gandhi is recorded as saying the following of the Prophet in Young India:
>I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind. I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet and the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.
As far as I can tell, this is the best English language resource on his life. I think all serious thinking people owe it to themselves to honestly investigate why this man is held dear by almost two billion people. Instead of dismissing his followers as poor souls misled by malevolent forces, he should be approached without the biases of a religious agenda.
>At present, a lot of blood is being shed in the name of Islam.
Does this mean Islam teaches you to shed blood? Inb4 verses quoted out of context. Read this book about his life and you'll see what a great human he was.