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ISLAMICA Magazine is on hiatus until further notice due to funding difficulties.

Please see their announcement.

Islamica Announcement

We have fine-tuned our opening hours at the store.

Monday to Saturday – 10am to 9pm

Sundays and Public Holidays – 10am to 6pm

I Look I See 2 CD is here.

Tracks:
01. Ramadan Moon
02. El Eid
03. Upsy Daisy
04. At-Tahiyat
05. Shaytan
06. All of the Prophets
07. Arkan Al-Islam
08. Heart of a Muslim
09. Silent Sunlight
10. Tala'al badru alayna

Check out the official website for audio samples. Our favourite is a fresh rendition of the classic Tala'al Badru.

Available now at Wardah Books.

The Sublime Treasures: Answers to Sufi Questions | Imam al-Haddad
A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar
Battle for Saudi Arabia | Abukhalil
Understanding the Present | Appleyard
Colossal Elephant and His Spiritual Feat | Moayyad
No Logo | Klein
Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World | De Zengotita


Restock
Stations of Desire | Sells
Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Losing My Religion | Lang
Struggling to Surrender | Lang
Humanity: A Moral History | Glover
Prolegomena

Through the Eye of the Needle | Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani
Neoplatonism and Islamic Thought
Incoherence of the Philosophers
Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism
Brief Introduction to Islamic Philosophy
In the Face of the Absolute
In Praise of Slowness
Who Speaks for Islam?
Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study

Restock (LONG OVERDUE)
Sublime Revelation
Utterances of Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani
Fifteen Letters
Concerning the Affirmation of Divine Oneness
Necklaces of Gems
The Call to Believers in the Clear Quran
Emanations of Lordly Grace
Beads of Dew

Restock
Ocean Without Shore
Metaphysics of the Healing | Avicenna
Inspirations on the Path of Blame
The Drop that Became the Sea
Mevlevi Wird
Knowing Heart
Garden of Mystery: The Gulshan
Search for Beauty in Islam
Rights and Responsibilities of Marriage CD Set | Hamza Yusuf
The Poor Man's Book of Assistance CD Set | Hamza Yusuf
Purification of the Heart CD Set | Hamza Yusuf
The Need for a Sacred Science | Nasr

Symphony of Remembrance | Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
The Holy Cities, The Pilgrimage and The World of Islam | Sultan Ghalib al-Qu'aiti
Nur al-Idah: The Path of Clarification
Rubai of Rumi: Insane With Love
Rumi: Swallowing the Sun
Seven Days of Man
Adventures of Amir Hamza | Lakhnovi
Lemon Tree: An Arab and a Jew | Tolan
Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood | Barakat
Remembering in a World of Forgetting | Stoddart
A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue | Lobel
Stories of the Quran | Ingrid Mattson
Man of Light | Henry Corbin
Taste of Hidden Things | Sviri


Restock
Garden of Truth | Nasr
Inner Journey | Chittick
Spiritual Writings of Amir Abd al-Kadir
Knowledge and the Sacred | Nasr
Islamic Philosophy from its Origins | Nasr
Search for Beauty in Islam | Fadl
Travels with a Tangerine | Mackintosh-Smith
Graves of Tarim | Ho
Purification of the Heart | Hamza Yusuf
Muslim Jesus | Khalidi
My Little Lore of Light | Hajjah Amina Adil
The Light of Muhammad | Hajjah Amina Adil
Healing Power of Sufi Meditation
Key to the Garden | Habib Mashhur Haddad
The Book of Assistance | Imam Haddad
The Lives of Man | Imam Haddad
The Book of Illumination | Shaykh ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari
Ibn Arabi: A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection
Ibn Arabi: The Universal Tree and the Four Birds
Lawaih | Shaykh Jami

A 7-week course

Starting: 10 am Sunday, 13 April, 2008
Meeting Time: 10 am every Sunday
Place: Al-Markaz (upstairs from Wardah Books, on Bussorah Street)
Culprit: Omar Edward Moad – email: phimer@nus.edu.sg
Attendance Fee: $25 per attendee

The Philosophical Foundations of Islamic Metaphysics is a seven-week seminar and discussion-circle series on the basic concepts and formative questions involved in the powerful intellectual encounter between Islamic peripatetic philosophy and Ashari kalam, represented for purposes of this series in the persons and ideas of ibn Sina on the one hand, and al-Ghazali on the other. The objective of the series is twofold. The first is to clarify as much as possible, in the English language, certain basic philosophical terms and concepts which are essential for a full understanding of the nature of the discussions in which they are pivotal. The second is to review some of these discussions, on topics such as the existence of God, creation and / or emanation, the eternity and / or temporality of the world, and Divine attributes such as unity and knowledge, and to facilitate a greater sense of wonder at the analytic rigor and depth of inquiry demonstrated by some of the luminaries of the Islamic intellectual tradition. The material of this series is based largely on the Metaphysics of ibn Sina’s al-Shifa and al-Ghazali’s Tahafut al-Falsafah. The material covered, however, is selected to enrich participants’ further reading of other great thinkers in contemporary and later periods of Islamic history, insha’Allah.

Required materials: Copies of key texts and notes will be provided electronically and made available from a webpage to which all participants will have access. Coffee will be served, and while not required is nonetheless recommended.

Tentative Schedule (by week):

1) Space, Time, and the Imagination in the Tahafut [or al-Ghazali vs. ibn Sina on the Eternity of the World part 2 – against the “Second Proof”] – this is to wet the appetite at the outset
2) ibn Sina on Primary Concepts and the Existence-Essence Distinction.
3) ibn Sina on Modality (the ‘possible’ and the ‘necessary’) and Causation.
4) ibn Sina’s Argument from Contingency for the existence of God, and al-Ghazali’s Objection.
5) al-Ghazali vs. ibn Sina on the Eternity of the World (part 1 - against the “First Proof”).
6) al-Ghazali vs. ibn Sina on Divine Unity and Attributes
7) al-Ghazali vs. ibn Sina on Divine Knowledge


Should interest remain at the end of all this, insha’Allah, we may extend the series with additional topics, possibly including ibn Rushd’s commentary.

The “culprit” of this series, Omar Edward Moad, earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 2004. He is now a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore pursuing research in various areas of Islamic thought and philosophy.

The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left
Ed Husain

To Islamists and Fundamentalists, Islam is a Political Movement, the Quran a Manifesto, the Ummah a Utopia and tradition is a distracting Opiate. Adaab (noble comportment) is jettisoned for the sake of Revolution. Yes, Islamism has more in common with atheist Communism than with Gnostic religion. That Islamism—and the Islamist—is disconnected from Islam is all too clear in the memoirs of Ed Husain.

Ed relates in his book about how he was brought up a traditional Muslim; he even had a Sufi shaykh whom he looked upon as his grandfather. However, upon entering higher education, his desire to learn more about Islam led to a downward spiral that turned an open-minded, intelligent, practicing Muslim into a bigoted, violent activist.

What was unsettling for me was that the course of events that led to his radicalization seemed unavoidable. Perhaps it is a trick of the narrative format in which the book is written, but it is clear that his traditional, Sunni upbringing as well as his early education in a primary school where he mixed freely with non-Muslims, were no safeguards—at least not initially.

It is for this very reason—the notion of the inevitability of radicalization—that I believe this book is an important work. It sends a strong signal to Muslim parents as well as educators of the need to be pro-active in steering their charges away from the crooked path that leads to extremism, chauvinism, and ultimately violence and terrorism. No one is immune.

So is there no cure for this ailment? Perhaps the best course of action is prevention.

Ed Husain’s book raises many important questions. But at least there is some small comfort that people like Ed are coming to the forefront, calling a spade a spade and forcing Muslims to look within to bring about change. More must be done by the ‘silent’ majority. Why do we put up with fundamentalists who distribute their books, blare on their microphones, and lure our children with free education?

Traditional Islam, drawing upon 1400 years of scholarship, spiritual flowering and artistic elaboration is more that well equipped to deal with this aberration in Islamic history. The question is, are Traditional Muslims drawing upon their heritage effectively and saying ‘No, not anymore’ to the Islamist who claims to speak for Muslims.

Perhaps we need to reflect on the words of Martin Luther King Jr:
“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

I applaud Ed’s bravery in writing this book.

May the bane of Islamism be short-lived and its chapter in world history be thin.


The Islamist is available at Wardah

The Alchemist of Happiness DVD, about of the life of Hujjatul Islam al-Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali (qs), is now available at Wardah Books.

This is the trailer:



This ground-breaking documentary is a must-see. Get your friends, kids, uncles and aunties; finally something good on TV!

All praise is due to the One, the Absolutely Transcendent;
And may He bless the one who is praised

Wardah is 5 years old this month!

To celebrate, we are giving away a small, very small, token of appreciation to all the readers who have made it all worthwhile. In these 5 years, we have met many readers both locally and from abroad, and I must say that it has been an unimaginably enriching experience. We love to hear about the books you read, and we love sharing about the books we read. It's all about conversation.

We would like also to take this opportunity to express our apologies for our many shortcomings all these years. Thank you for your patience with us.

May God forgive us and bless you.

Alhamdulillah


From all at Wardah: Marhainie, Ibrahim, Abdul Hamid, Muhsin & Sulaiman

Each year we do a roundup of the best reads. Last year, there was a relative drought of captivating reads, but one book stands out. It is a book by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. An attempt at a review is given below. May I present Wardah's pick for the best of 2007.



The Garden of Truth
The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition
Seyyed Hossein Nasr


This breathtakingly well-written, erudite summary of Sufism, its cosmology, methodology, and above all, its relevance, is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in, or aspires to be a traveller towards God.

Thankfully, Nasr has published it with Harper, one of the largest international publishers, thus ensuring that this book will be available from every major book retail chain throughout the world. It is time, as Nasr hints at in his introduction, that people are introduced to Islam through the window of Sufism.

Nasr had set out to write a modern, classical treatise on Sufism—and has succeeded. This is a book which will be read and re-read by many. And I believe it will spark renewed interest in Sufism as well as Islamic metaphysics, poetry and sacred art. It is a summary, or rather a map of the Sufi cosmos and places each bit of information in its proper place, thus yielding an enlightened understanding of the whole. Reading this book is an experience unto itself; though a poem Nasr quotes several times in the book admonishes: "The Book of the Sufi is not black ink and words, It is none other that a pure heart, white like snow."

The book is unique in that it is written for the modern reader whose Western education has created certain intractable habits of mind. Nasr obliges the reader by exploring various philosophical questions such as 'Why is there evil?" and "Why does God judge us by our actions on Earth when it is our Souls that return to Him?"; each time giving a response from within the Sufi tradition. He obliges also by giving a historical account of the flowering of Sufism over the centuries—all the time reminding the reader that the reality of Sufism is metahistorical. That said, his account of the history of Sufism (actually an appendix of the book) is the best I have come across. He not only describes the various luminaries, schools and tariqah, but also demonstrates their inter-mixing and interactions that gave rise to the rich, mature tradition we observe today.

Appropriately, he ends his book with an invitation "to transform theoria into actual experience". In our modern world, according to Nasr, we need, more than any time in human history, to integrate the contemplative life and the active life. The Sufi path is not so much a path of discovery, but a path of restoration and recovery. To become who we really are.


The Garden of Truth is available at Wardah

New title
Tafsir al-Jalalayn Translation | A. Bewley

Restock
Muhammad (Martin Lings) Audiobook

Illuminations | Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Rumi's Sun: The Teachings of Shams of Tabriz | Refik Algan
Garden of Mystery | Shahbistari
Mosque: The Heart of Submission | Mahmutcehajic, Chittick

Restock
Sublime Quran
Guide to Goodness (Dalail al Khayrat)
Pearls and Coral Vol 2 | Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Universe Rising | Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism | Nasr
Does My Head Look Bg In This? | Abdel Fattah
Eleventh Hour | Martin Lings

If you find yourself becoming desensitized to the news and the images on television, start worrying now. Your humanity is at stake. In his title, Jonathan Glover is referring to this meaning of ‘humanity’—the quality that makes humans, well, ‘human’. To put it another way, the meaning here is the opposite of ‘inhumanity’. I did not realise the subtlety of this meaning the first time I picked up the book. I thought it was a book on twentieth century history, and expected a light read on twentieth century human endeavour on the topic of morality. What I instead got was an unflinching look at the horrors of the last century: Srebrenica, Auschwitz, Rwanda, Hiroshima, Khmer Rouge’s Cambodia, Vietnam, and of course Iraq, seen through the eyes of a moral historian.

Cruelty, torture and barbarism are inhuman. Humans see the value of honesty in relationships, generosity amongst friends, warmth towards children and creativity in work. But why is it that humans as a group behave so horrifically inhuman? The disparity is chilling. What caused the students in Mao’s China to inflict such unspeakable cruelty to their teachers and parents? What caused the American soldiers to go on a rampage and kill innocent villagers in My Lai? Why was there little restraint in the decision to bomb Nagasaki?

Senseless as all these might seem, there are some patterns that history instructs: the erosion of moral identity, tribalism, the Hobbesian trap, utopian projects and the desire to create mankind anew.

As depressing as it all is, there is hope. The first step is to not look away but to learn from the past. John F. Kennedy had read The Guns of August, a book that details the way Europe drifted into a war that no one wanted. When confronted with what was later known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy was certain that no matter what happens, he was not to repeat the mistakes of the leaders of Europe in 1914. Both he and the Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, knew they were in a trap that ordinarily would have escalated into war. Khrushchev too wanted to avoid war and wrote to Kennedy thus: ‘You and I should not now pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied a knot of war, because the harder you and I pull, the tighter this knot will become. And a time may come when this knot is tied so tight that the person who tied it is no longer capable of untying it, and then the knot will have to be cut’. Both men found a diplomatic solution and nuclear war was averted in the fall of 1962.

Perhaps Humanity is the Guns of August for the entire century: a compendium of errors that led to the horrors of the recent past. My only hope is that it is read by all who are in a position to decide ‘not to tighten the knot’. After the missile crisis, Khrushchev was reported to have said, ‘Don’t ask who lost or who won. Mankind won’.

Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century
Jonathan Glover
460 pages