1-Thematic Commentary on the Qur'an

Muhammad Al Ghazzali

A unique and modern contribution to understanding the Quran, unlike traditional approaches because it focuses on the organic unity of each sura, highlighting the logic or inherent reasoning that courses through the sura and unifies its various components and images. The author’s cogent method of interpretation takes account of the fact and each sura has its unique coherent and integral character, defined by a main subject or theme of topics. Once this is defined, the rest of the sura comes together like the pieces of a puzzle. This wonderful approach makes the beauty of the suras come alive and the reader gains a greater understanding of its meaning and flow.
The most moving, however, is that of Sidi Ben Achir, immaculately white under the deep blue sky and against the acquire background of the wall, from which old bronze cannon still point at the sea.

#017b79">2-The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation
Kabir Helminski

As human beings, we stand on the threshold between two realities: the world of material existence and the world of spiritual Being. The "knowing heart" is the sacred place where these two dimensions meet and are integrated. In Sufi teaching the human heart is not a fanciful metaphor but an objective organ of intuition and perception. It is able to perceive all that is beautiful and meaningful in life - and to reflect those spiritual qualities in the world, for the benefit of others. Every human heart has the capacity and the destiny to bring that world of divine reality into this world of appearances. The Sufis have been educators of the heart for some fourteen centuries. Their teachings and methods are designed to help us awaken and purify the heart, to learn to listen to our deepest knowing. (Shambhala)

n xstyle="font-family: tahoma">3-Gog and Magog
By Buber, Martin
1999/03 - Syracuse University Press
Trade Paper, 320p.

Originally titled For the Sake of Heaven, Gog and Magog is a fictional religious chronicle in which the heroes are Hasidic rabbis. The setting for the novel is Poland and Hungary during the Napoleonic wars at the end of the eighteenth century. Although magic and superstition play their parts in the story, it is really Martin Buber's effort to articulate two approaches to the question: May men use evil to accomplish good? May men take power into their own hands - even to do the work of redemption - without submitting first to the will of God? More particularly, Buber unfolds the inner world of messianic longing and expectations that characterized Judaism then and continues to characterize it to the present day.

4-Islamic Art and Spirituality

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

The Islamic Texts Society (1987)
16 full color and 11 monochrome plates 213 pp

This is the first book in the English language to deal with the spiritual significance of Islamic art including not only the plastic arts, but also literature and music. Relying upon his extensive knowledge of the Islamic religion in its exoteric and esoteric dimensions as well as the various Islamic sciences, the author relates Islamic art to the inner dimensions of the Islamic revelation and the spirituality which has issued from it.

5-Islam and the Destiny of Man

Charles le Gai Eaton
The Islamic Texts Society (1994)

A wide-ranging study of the Muslim religion from a unique point of view. The aim of the book is to explore what it means to be a Muslim, a member of a community which embraces a quarter of the world’s population and to describe the forces which have shaped the hearts and minds of Islamic peoples.

"This book deserves to be read over and over again."

lim Education Quarterly
"This is a beautifully written book. It offers a taste of theology, of history, of aesthetics and of eschatology blended in such a way as to provide a whole and balanced image, a vision of life that is both comprehensive and thoroughly Islamic."

—Parabola Ma

6-The Eternal Message of Muhammad

Abd al-Rahman Azzam
 Translated from the Arabic by Caesar E. Farah
Introduction by Vincent Sheean
The Islamic Texts Society(1993)

This translation of an Islamic classic offers the western world a simple yet profound interpretation of Islam. Drawing upon years of unparalleled experience in diplomacy and government, Azzam examines the social and economic ramifications of the Muslim state; one based on humane ideals of law and justice expressed in the Qur’an, and one which can provide the foundation for a just society in the twentieth century. The author founded and is generally considered as the father of the Arab League. He served as the League’s first Secretary-General between 1945-52 as well as distinguished himself in a long career as an Ambassador and parliamentarian.
"Abd al-Rahman Azzam combines the best Islamic mode, the aspects of thought and action, like the Muslim warriors of another time who are typified for us westerns by the figure of Saladin." Vincent Sheean