A Thinking Person's Guide to Islam, The Essence of Islam in 12 Verses from the Qur'an 9781906949, 9781906949334

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GUIDE to ISLAM The Essence of Islam in 12 Verses from the Qur’an H . R. H .

PRINCE GHAZI BIN MUHAMMAD

Foreword by

h.m.

King Abdullah 11 ibn al-Hussein

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GUIDE to ISLAM

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GUIDE to ISLAM The Essence of Islam in 12

H . R . H .

PRINCE

GHAZI

BIN

MUHAMMAD

Foreword by h.m. King Abdullah u ibn Al-Hussein

TURATH PRESS

PUBLISHING

© The Prince Ghazi Trust for Qur’anic Thought 2016 First Edition January 2017 Updated Edition June 2018, Reprint 2021 All royalties will be paid to the Prince Ghazi Trust for Quranic Thought.

All rights reserved. Aside from fair use, meaning a few pages or less for non-profit educational purposes, review, or scholarly citation, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. isbn

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THE PRINCE GHAZI TRUST FOR QUR ANIC THOUGHT

978-1-90-6949-30-3 (case) 978-1-906949-33-4 (soft)

Jointly Published by White Thread Press WT Press Limited London, UK wAvw.whitethreadpress.com

Turath Publishing 79 Mitcham Road London SW17 9pd www.turath.co.uk

The publishers do not take responsibility for all of the authors personal opinions expressed herein.

Distributed in the UK by Azhar Academy Ltd. London [email protected] Tel: +44 (208) 911 9797 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is also available from the British Library.

® Printed and bound in Turkey on premium acid-free paper. The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirement of ansi/niso Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). The binding material has been chosen for strength and durability. Cover design and typography by arm

Cover pattern based on the Hilu family of Fez’s Quranic frontispiece. All calligraphy featured in this book is available at www.freeislamiccalligraphy.com

Qontents

i

FOREWORD

11

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

14

A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION

14

INTRODUCTION

15

WHAT IS RELIGION?

17

What does the word ‘religion’ mean? 18 Why is it important to know all this? 19

2

21

WHAT IS ISLAM?

The meaning of the word ‘Islam’ 21 Islam as a civilisation 23 Q Islam as a religion 26 The inner meaning of the rites of Islam 28 Why is it important to know all this? 3 2

3

‘who IS YOUR LORD?’

35

Mercy 36 Love 37 Why is it important to know all this? 41

4

WHY DID GOD CREATE PEOPLE?

45

Kindness to others 47 ® Why is it important to know all this? 48

5

WHAT ARE HEAVEN AND HELL?

51

Why is it important to know all this? 5 5 6

WHAT IS THE QUR’AN?

57

The Qur’an as revelation 57 The Arabic Language 58 ® The Arabic Language of the Qur’an 61