Islam: Its Basic Practices and Beliefs

This introductory work on Islam offers an overview of the Islamic concepts of monotheism, prayer, Zakah, Fasting, Hajj and other articles of faith. Since the author is steeped well in the Sufi tradition, this book carries an extensive chapter on Itisan. (pp.221–262) Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi, with whom theauthor worked in the cause of promoting Islam, is quoted extensively in this chapter. Appended to the work is a Glossary of Terms. (pp.267–274) It is a pity that the author’s definitions, though sound, are too brief and may not be very helpful to those who are new to Islam. It is hard to endorse his insistence that Zakah money be paid only in gold and silver. For he asserts: ‘So for Zakat purposes it is better to view paper money as being like bond certificates... This does not in fact legitimise their use as a medium of exchange by Muslims, since there is no way under the laws of Islam that such financial instruments can be employed to replace gold and silver coinage as money... There is no difficulty in obtaining the gold and silver necessary to fulfil this obligation, especially now the prophetically sanctioned gold dinars and silver dirhams are becoming increasingly available throughout the Islamic world’. (pp.68, 69). The absence of citations is another incongruity in this work.