Islam starter kit for English speakers

pearlsfromthepath:

Because accessing reliable resources has become highly inconvenient, we tend to trivialise the importance we give to what we read, whether it be on the Internet or in books. For this reason, I have composed a list of crucial texts, that essentially addresses Muslims who live in the West. Although numerous PDF links are provided, I strongly recommend you purchase these books if you decide to use them in sha Allah.

Translations of the Quran

- The Quran, by M. A. Abdel Haleem [PDF]
- The Message of the Quran, by Muhammad Asad [PDF]

Collections of Hadith

- Al-Muwatta, collected by Imām Mālik [PDF]
- Sahīh al-Bukhārī, collected by Imām Bukhārī [PDF]
- Sahīh Muslim, collected by Muslim Ibn al-Hajjāj [PDF]
- Sunan Abu Dawud, collected by Abu Dawud [PDF]
- Jāmi’ al-Tirmidhī, collected by Muhammad al-Tirmidhī [PDF]
- Sunan Ibn Mājah, collected by Ibn Mājah [PDF]
- Hadith Qudsi, based on an-Nawawī’s work [PDF]

Exegesis of the Quran

- The Message of the Quran, by Muhammad Asad [PDF]
- Tafsir ibn al-Kathir, by Ismaīl ibn al-Kathīr [PDF]
- Tanwir al-Miqbas, by Ibn Abbas
- Tafsir al-Qurtubī, by Imām al-Qurtubī

Transliterations

- The Quran: Transliteration in Roman Script, by Yusuf Ali Abdullah
- The Quran: Transliteration in Roman Script, by M. Pickthall

Quranic sciences

- Dictionary of Quranic Usage, by M. A. Abdel Haleem
- Understanding the Quran: themes and style, by M. A. Abdel Haleem
- Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran, by Imām As-Suyutī [PDF]

Islamic jurisprudence

- Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, by Muhammad Hashim Kamali [PDF]
- The Clarified in Legal Theory, by Imām al-Ghazālī
- The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam, by Yusuf al-Qaradawi [PDF]
- The Four Imams, by Mohamed Abu Zahra

History of Islam

- Islam: The Straight Path, by John Esposito
- The Emergence of Islam, by Muhammad Hamidullah
- In the Footsteps of the Prophet, by Tariq Ramadan
- Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, by Tariq Ramadan [PDF]
- Stories of the Prophets, by Ismaīl ibn al-Kathīr [PDF]

Philosophy

- The Reconstruction of Islamic Thought, by Muhammad Iqbal [PDF]
- Revival of Religious Sciences, by Imām al-Ghazālī [Vol. 1,2,3,4]
- Sufism for Non-Sufis? Ibn Ata’ Allah’s Tâj al-‘Arûs, Sherman Jackson
- Disciplining the Soul and Breaking the Two Desires, by Imām al-Ghazālī