History and Biographies

This is a book in Urdu relates seventy real story of new Muslims.

With the arrival of the Muslims in Spain, the once arid and illiterate land became the capital of European scholarship and agriculture, where people of all faiths were granted security under Muslim rule.

1-An account of how and when Islam first entered China. 2-The spread of Islam in China upon its arrival, and a glimpse of the various mosques built in that era.

The Quran lays light on the lowest place of earth.

The wife of the ambassador Elman Arasli says in the beginning of the book, "In the Spring of 1994, we arrived in the Arabian Peninsula. My husband Elman Arasli was appointed extraordinary plenipotentiary ambassador representing the Azerbaijan Republic at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We had to establish the first embassy for our newly independent state in this country. To tell the truth, I was not at all willing to travel to any place, as this meant parting again with the children and leaving home …"

Will the Dajjaal go to all parts of the globe or will the people come to him? Will all those who are alive when he emerges meet him? Will some be able to escape and not see him? I read in some ahaadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that the people will flee from him to the mountains.

I heard one of the pilgrims who visited the House of Allaah say that any pigeon of Madeenah, when the time of its death approaches, flies to Makkah and soars above the Ka’bah as a farewell, then it dies after flying a few miles away. Is this true or not?

A brief book on the two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia, the Holy Mosque in Makkah is the most revered place of worship for Muslims around the world. At the center of the Mosque is the Ka’aba, which literally means ’cube’ in Arabic. All Muslims are required to face in the direction of the Ka’aba five times every day when offering their prayers. The Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah is the second most revered place of worship for Muslims around the world. Millions of Muslims visit the Mosque each year, to worship, to visit the Prophet’s grave, and to see the city that gave birth to Islam.

The discourse in this book addresses elite western politicians, intellectuals and thinkers. It discusses the most important issues related to the political system of Saudi Arabia from an Islamic perspective and through the state’s laws like the Basic Law of Governance. Among the issues discussed by the book, for instance, the imama (leadership), the rights and duties of the Muslim leader, the nature of relation between citizens and the King, the concept of Shoura in Islam and the impact of the implementation of this Shoura in Saudi Arabia compared with democracy, the concept of bay’ah (pay of allegiance), the formation of political parties and the so-called opposition, the freedom of opinion, as well as other issues raised in the Western media and political circles about the political system of Saudi Arabia.

The annual Religious Freedom Reports released by US State Department often include sections about religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. These reports are officially distributed by the State Department and then circulated amongst the centers of research in the West as well as the international media outlets and other channels. Saudi Arabia comes on top of concern of those involved in these reports, due to its religious and political significance. Accordingly, it becomes incumbent on us, as Saudis, to discuss the sections in these reports which cover religious freedom in our country and provide facts that are not included in these reports. While discussing these reports, we should explain to the world our view point vis-à-vis these reports. We should also allow the reader to discover the truth as stated therein and according to criteria upon which many fair-minded, rational people agreed with us.

This book includes a comprehensive vision of issues related to the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice and its official establishment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This book was prepared by a group of Saudi academicians, males and females, representing different Saudi universities and various geographical regions. They address the Western public opinion, its political and intellectual sources. Their aim is to clarify reality for Western public opinion, its political, intellectual and media sources. This reality that remains obscure for this public opinion as a result of certain political circumstances, religious superiority or suspicious media lusts. This reality was obscured from the West by the current rapid international developments and changes.

Most of those who come to Saudi Arabia either as visitors or workers are often awe-struck at the vast development all over the country. They admit that their image of Saudi society was very different before they arrived and lived in it. "Saudi Arabia in 100 Questions" aims at presenting simple and comprehensive answers for many questions that may be raised by others about Saudi Arabia. The answers to the questions in this book were formulated in a simple way reflecting the various political, economic, cultural and social aspects of life in Saudi Arabia. This will make this book an important reference that facilitates information and cultural communication between KSA and other countries and people.

Here we are with the book Stories of the Qur’an by AI-Hafiz Isma` il Ibn Katheer Ad- Dimashqi (May Allah rest his soul), taking a tour throughout the stories mentioned in the Glorious Qur’ an pertaining to which Allah the Almighty says: {Indeed in their stories, there is a lesson for men of understanding}. (Yusuf, 111) Yes, in order to find admonition, lessons and exemplary models! This book handles the stories that are cited in the Glorious Qur’an, gathered from the book titled, Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah (The Beginning and the End).

Perhaps some people will disapprove that we write about the position that Aqsa Mosque occupies in the hearts of the Muslims and in the Sharee’ah of Islam. For, the sanctity of Al-Aqsa mosque is an incontestable fact among the Muslims and the position it occupies does not need any further explanation. The merits of this mosque are established by explicit texts from the Qur’an and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslims. However, we are sure that the reader of this book will excuse us for the facts we are going to reveal, and realize how much we have been deceived by some people who claim to support Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Land of Israa and to defend the oppressed Palestinian people and their sacred sites. Therefore, it is very pertinent to rise up in defence of Al-Aqsa Mosque and to call attention to the fact that the Shiite books and their authorized sources, which they wrote with their own hands, indicate that they have no regard or recognition for Al-Aqsa Mosque in its present location and that, according to them. They also hold that ‘real Al-Aqsa mosque’ is in the Heaven and that majority of people mistakenly believe that it is the mosque that is in Palestine!! We have tried to not leave out those claims without refutations that show their falsity. This is a contribution we can make to reveal the truth so that all the Muslims will be aware of the enormity of the deception and fraud of those folks. Through research and exhaustive study, we have affirmed that all those Jews and orientalists who have attempted to cast doubt on the position of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque relied heavily, in support their vicious claims, on Shiite sources. They thereby used these sources as a weapon against foundations of our Ummah with an aim to shaken the position of Al-Aqsa Mosque in our hearts. We deem it suitable to point it out here that our goal is to unite the ranks of this Ummah to support our sacred sites and to love those individuals whom Allah used to win these places for Islam. We also intend to block the way in the face of these Jewish ‘professors’ and orientalists who find in the Shiite books, a ready tool for weakening the position that Al-Aqsa Mosque occupies in the hearts of the Muslims. As such, those dubious narrations whose goal is to cast doubt on the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque must be meticulously scrutinized and the sanctity of that mosque must be proved through argument and authentic evidences.

The book begins with a discussion of the sacred nature of Makkah Al-Mukarramah, the boundaries of the Haram (Sanctuary) and its sanctity. Then it discusses the superiority of Makkah and narrates Ahadith to that effect. Then it mentions the names of Makkah and the significance of these names. This book also speaks of Ibrahim (Abraham) and Isma’il (Ishmael) (peace be upon them) and their connection to Makkah and its sanctity and development.

A question answered by Shaikh Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid regarding: "What is the ruling on sending salaams to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) with the pilgrims?"