Islamic novels?

Before I reverted I enjoyed reading fiction. Since reverting I haven't read so much, not much fiction, though I do read Islamic educational things everyday. Even now, almost 6 years on, I am still learning about Islam and I know that I will be learning for the rest of my life.

But as I said, fiction. Finding a novel which doesn't clash with my faith, well it is not always easy. When I was a Christian, I used to get Christian novels now and again; fiction which had Christianity as a central theme.

So does anyone have any suggestions for novels with an Islamic theme? I know there are Urdu novels out there, but my language is English. So it must be in English.



Izzy

Salam,

I had a friend who had similar questions. In the end he decided he was going to write his own novels. Alas, he moved to Saudi Arabia to teach linguistics so I don't know if he ever carried out his intention.

Salam.

This is more of an Islamic Hadith book more than anything but the Stories of Sabahas section is excellent. Really good for learning lessons.

It is a "FAZA'IL-E-A'MAAL" book (first book in a two volume series I think)..

Salam alaikum Banu Hashim,

Unfortunately Faza'il e A'maal is known to contain fabricated and weak hadith. I was told that Shaykh Akram Nadwi advised people not to read it.

How about The Life of the Companions by Abdul Hamid Hamid or something like that? Two volumes. Perhaps there's also some weak stuff in it, but it's closer to the novel format.

Yet none of these are really novels. Martin Lings' Sirah is more like a novel, but also based on false narrations.

Greetings,

Here is a wikipedia entry on fiction in Arabic Literature, some of which might be available in translation.

I don't know if that's any use, but the link is there just in case.

Peace

abumalik said:

Salam alaikum Banu Hashim,

Unfortunately Faza'il e A'maal is known to contain fabricated and weak hadith. I was told that Shaykh Akram Nadwi advised people not to read it.

How about The Life of the Companions by Abdul Hamid Hamid or something like that? Two volumes. Perhaps there's also some weak stuff in it, but it's closer to the novel format.

Yet none of these are really novels. Martin Lings' Sirah is more like a novel, but also based on false narrations.

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just quoting for reference and to register a protest,, since I am not allowed to refute, if I do an anon mod will restart the harassment campaign.

though it might be a good idea to make these people, the Internet "salafis" actually give examples of fabrication and the damage caused by such "fabricated" ahaadees, then we could go over them one by one.

also we could, occasionally, be allowed to comment on their literature and "saheeh" ahaadees contained therein

in other words it should be free for all sects/schools/mazahib or none

doorster said:

just quoting for reference and to register a protest,, since I am not allowed to refute, if I do an anon mod will restart the harassment campaign.

though it might be a good idea to make these people, the Internet "salafis" actually give examples of fabrication and the damage caused by such "fabricated" ahaadees, then we could go over them one by one.

also we could, occasionally, be allowed to comment on their literature and "saheeh" ahaadees contained therein

in other words it should be free for all sects/schools/mazahib or none

Click to expand...

I was told by a trustworthy brother that Shaykh Akram Nadwi, who is not Salafi but Hanafi, said there are fabricated and weak hadith in Faza'il e A'maal. It shouldn't be about what sect you belong to. Fabricated hadith are fabricated hadith, no matter who quotes them.

abumalik said:

I was told by a trustworthy brother that Shaykh Akram Nadwi, who is not Salafi but Hanafi, said there are fabricated and weak hadith in Faza'il e A'maal. It shouldn't be about what sect you belong to. Fabricated hadith are fabricated hadith, no matter who quotes them.

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I do not care who told you, prove it in open forum hadith by hadith or retract it.

I was ttaught by a Hanafi brother, far more knowledgeable, that there is NO harm in usage of "weak" ahadees in those books since they are not about legislative matters but about spreading good,


however, there are "saheeh" ahadeeth out there being used on certain sites to issue fatwas many of which have made me cringe but I am not allowed to post about them,. but it always free season on harmless Hanafis, (but we are also not allowed to talk about their evil twin the deobandis.)

Back to novels...

Once you have enough posts, Ishbah, you will be able to access the Creative Writing section on this very forum. There are a few stories there by our own members that you might enjoy.

And I wrote one of them, so I'm shamelessly promoting it here.

doorster said:

I do not care who told you, prove it in open forum hadith by hdith or retract it.

I was told by a Hanafi brother, far more knowledgeable, that there is NO harm in usage of "weak" ahadees in those books since they are not about legislative matters but about spreading good,

however, there are "saheeh" ahadeeth out there being used on certain sites to issue fatwas many of which have made me cringe but I am not allowed to post about them,. but it always free season on harmless Hanafis, (but we are also not allowed to talk about their evil twin the deobandis.)

Click to expand...

Your hatred of salafis shouldn't blind you to the issue of weak hadith.

There is ikhtilaf on the issue of weak hadith in righteous actions. Many scholars said it was ok to use weak hadith because they are encouraging good actions. But they made conditions. Ibn Hajar sets the following conditions:
1. That the hadith isn't fabricated (mawdu')
2. That the person that acts according to the hadith knows that it is weak
3. That it doesn't lead to widespread habits.

Others said it's not allowed because many weak hadith contain exaggerations and anyway, why would you want to know something that the Prophet (saw) probably didn't say?

But brother, before you start going on about Salafis and Hanafis you should calm down. We shouldn't be out to get each other because we're all Muslims. Imam Kandahlawi was a great scholar and a great man. He did a lot of amazing things. But that doesn't mean that everything he said was correct. We can say the same thing about someone like al-Albani. He was a great scholar and a great man, but he also made mistakes. So what? It doesn't mean they were bad Muslims because they made mistakes. In fact, they are rewarded for their mistakes, as the hadith says about the Qadi who does ijtihad and gets it right gets two rewards, and if he gets it wrong he gets one reward. So don't take things in such a negative way and don't get so upset.

Btw, I'm not a Hanafi or a Salafi.