Over the weekend a discussion broke out in the comments section of the blog regarding the level of scholarship within the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, as well as discussing some of the books and publications by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. We thought we would follow up the discussion by introducing some of the scholarly publications by the community, which have recently been recommended by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. Below we give a list of publications we have heard endorsed by our present Khalifa, as well as a few extra that we liked, followed by a brief introduction to each book and the link to the online edition. We have also at the end provided a few other useful research links.
Recommended by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad:
1- The Review of Religions
2- Our God
3- An Introduction to the Study of The Holy Qu'ran
4- The Life and Character of the Seal of the Prophets
3- An Introduction to the Study of The Holy Qu'ran
4- The Life and Character of the Seal of the Prophets
5- Essence of Islam
Recommended by This Site
6- The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam
7- Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth
8- Forty Gems of Beauty
9- A response to the Pope's Remarks about Islam
10- Invitation to Ahmadiyya
1- The Review of Religions
The Review of Religions magazine was founded by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1902. The magazine has English, German and Urdu language editions. The English edition perhaps has a slight disadvantage, in that most of the scholars of the Ahmadiyya Community have traditionally been from and continue to remain from South Asia and consider Urdu their first language. However, it is hoped that the recent establishment of Jamia Ahmadiyya universities in several African countries, the UK and Canada will lead to a closing of that gap. In recent years Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has emphasised the importance of this magazine on several occasions and of course the best articles in it have always been those by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his successors. However, below we would like to present four articles published in the last few years by other scholars, which we particularly enjoyed reading:
'Does God Exist' by Pasha Sahib:
http://www.reviewofreligions.org/2894/does-god-exist/
'Absolute Oneness' by Pasha Sahib:
http://www.reviewofreligions.org/5582/absolute-oneness/
'Faith and Certitude' by Pasha Sahib:
http://www.reviewofreligions.org/4033/faith-and-certitude/
'Noah and the Flood' by Fazal Ahmad:
http://www.reviewofreligions.org/5397/noahas-and-the-flood/
2- Our God
In the children's classes on MTA, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad regularly recommends certain books to the students and the remaining three recommendations of his featured on this list are such examples, including this one. This book was written by Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad, the younger brother of the second Khalifa. Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad features on several occasions on this list. He was historically a great scholar of the community and completed a masters in Arabic. He studied the classic Islamic texts and wrote several books in Urdu which have since been translated into English. This book contains strong, logical and easy to understand arguments from an Islamic perspective on the existence of God. They refute modern atheistic philosophies:
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/OurGod.pdf
3- An Introduction to the Study of The Holy Qu'ran
The Second Khalifa, Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, began a project to write a commentary on The Holy Quran. However, when he had only completed approximately half of this commentary he was stabbed in the neck and although he lived for several more years he was less active and was not able to complete this masterpiece. Parts of it have been loosely translated into a English version, but this introduction remains one of the greatest pieces of scholarly work on the Quran that I have ever come across:
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Introduction-Study-Holy-Quran.pdf
4- The Life and Character of The Seal of the Prophets
Published in three volumes, this biography of The Holy Prophet s.a.w's life is the best I have read and I have read several by Ahmadi scholars, non-Ahmadi scholars and non-Muslim scholars. It is incredibly detailed, referenced, unbelievably scholarly and along the way refutes the most common Islamaphobic allegations against The Holy Prophet s.a.w. It was also written by Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad, the younger brother of the Second Khalifa and in my opinion it is a must read for any Muslim who isn't already a scholar in Islamic history.
http://www.alislam.org/holyprophet/Seal-of-Prophets-Vol-1.pdf
5- The Essence of Islam
The Essence of Islam was a five-volume collection of extracts from the writings of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on a range of topics. It has been translated into the English language and will give readers a good understanding of the Imam Mahdi's views and teachings. The only downside is of course that as the writings are taken from dozens of books which were written over a period of decades and so this collection can at times feel a little disjointed, but it is certainly an exceptionally useful introduction to his views:
http://www.alislam.org/books/
6- The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam
One of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's masterpieces:
http://www.alislam.org/library/browse/volume/Ruhani_Khazain/book/Islami_Asool_ki_Philosphy/?l=English#page/-31/mode/1up
7- Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge and Truth
Like a few of the titles on this list, it is lengthy and it did take me ten full years to read it from cover to cover. No I didn't spend the whole ten years reading it, I'm not that slow...Written by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad and refuting doctrines as varied as communism, capatilism, Darwinism and Richard Dawkin's writings on atheism, the book works to establish the existence of God, the Oneness of God, the unparalleled perfections of Islam and The Holy Quran over all other religions, theologies and philosophies. It is simply phenomenal and well worth the ten year read:
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/revelation/index.html
8- Forty Gems of Beauty
Another book by Hadhrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad, the younger brother of the Second Khilafa. It is a collection of forty ahadith, with commentary. He has specifically chosen his forty favourite ahadith and it is an absolute emotional roller-coaster to read through them, they really are beautiful.
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Forty_Gems_of_Beauty-20080905MN.pdf
9- A response to The Pope's Remarks about Islam
Recently, this site had the honour of publishing a series of three sermons delivered by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, defending The Holy Prophet s.a.w. against the disgusting international Islamaphobic film, 'Innocence of Muslims'. Some may think this was a one off, but in reality Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has repeatedly defended Islam and our beloved Prophet s.a.w against the enemies. One example was his sermons on Geert Wilders. There are many other examples, but to list just one when The Pope criticised Islam in 2006 Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad delivered the following emphatic response:
http://www.alislam.org/topics/response-to-pope/islam-response-to-the-pope.html
10- Invitation to Ahmadiyyat
Written by the Second Khalifa, this book contains a very simple, easy to read and clearly presented set of arguments in favour of Ahmadiyya and refuting anti-Ahmadiyya allegations:
http://www.alislam.org/books/invitation/content.html
List of English Literature by Ahmadi Scholars that is available online:
http://www.alislam.org/books/
Videos of Question and Answer Sessions with Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:
http://www.alislam.org/v/k-Question_Answer_Session.html?page=1
Index of Audio Question and Answer Sessions with Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:
http://www.askislam.org/
Live Streaming of MTA (Muslim Television Ahmadiyya) in English:
http://www.mta.tv/streaming/index.html
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