RECOMMENDED READING

 RECOMMENDED READS

Note: These are recommended reads by MPV, however the views expressed by the selected authors do not necessarily reflect the views of MPV.  Please click to read more about MPV’s Principles now available in many languages.

If you’d like to purchase one of these books we encourage you to support independent bookstores.

QURAN: MPV RECOMMENDS:

• Quran – A Reformist’s Translation – translated by Edip Yuksel, Layth Al-Shaiban, Martha Schulte-Nafeh
  Order a Hard Copy

• Islam Awakened (Quran, Transliteration, English Translations)

• The Clear Qur’an - translated by Dr. Mustafa Khattab

GENERAL ISLAM

• Essays on Progressive Islam - Adis Duderija

• The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook – Dilara Hafiz, Imran Hafiz, and Yasmine Hafiz. Acacia Publishing (2007).

• Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam – Mark Levine. Three Rivers Press (2008).

• Globalized Islam – Olivier Roy

• A History of Islamic Law – Noel J. Coulson

• No God but God – Reza Aslan

• Postmodernism and Islam – Akbar S. Ahmed

• Progressive Muslims – Omid Safi (Editor)

• Reading the Muslim Mind – Hassan Hathout

• Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust – Richard C. Foltz, Frederick M. Denny, and Azizan Baharuddin (Editors), Center for the Study of World Religions (2003)

• How Sharia-ism Hijacked Islam: The Problem, Prognosis, and Prescription - Hasan Mahmud

• Controversies in Islam - Dr. John Andrew Morrow

• Mecca: The Sacred City - Ziauddin Sadar

• Why as a Muslim I Defend Liberty - Mustafa Akyol

• Islam without Extremes - Mustafa Akyol

• Inside the Soul of Islam - Mamoon Yusaf

• This Book is NOT to be doubled - Samaa Elibyari

ISLAM AND POLITICS

• Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a | Book Review – Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im
  Note: This is an external site not affiliated with MPV

• Islam and Slavery - Dr. John Andrew Morrow

islam and race

• Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam - Sylvia Chan-Malik

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X

• Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom Movement Beyond America - Sohail Daulatzai

• Servants of Allah - Sylviane Diouf

• Marriage and Slavey in Early Islam - Kecia Ali

PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH)

• Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time – Karen Armstrong

• The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World - Dr. John Andrew Morrow

• Muhammad, the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait - Mohamad Jebara

• The Humanity of Muhammad: A Christian View - Craig Considine

LGBTQI

• Islamic Law and Muslim Same-Sex Unions — Junaid Jahangir and Jussein Addullatif (with a foreword by Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle)

• Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflction on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims — Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle

• Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1300-1800 — Khalid El-Rouayher

• Sexual and Gender Diversity in the Muslim World: History, Law and Vernacular Knowledge — Vanya Hamzic

• Gendered Morality: Classical Islamic Ethics of the Self, Family, and Society — Zahra Ayubi

• Sexual Violation in Islamic Law — Substance, Evidence, and Procedure

• We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir — Samra Habib

• Koolaids — Rabih Alameddine 

• The Others — Seba Al-Herz (Read an Excerpt)

• Bareed Mista3jil — Meem

• An Arab Melancholia — Abdellah Taïa (translated by: Frank Stock)

• Him, Me, Muhammed Ali — Randa Jarrar

• God in Pink — Hasan Namir 

• War/Torn — Hasan Namir

• Guapa — Saleem Haddad

• In the Spider’s Room — Muhammad Abdelnabi (translated by: Jonathan Wright)

• Lyric Sexology Vol. 1 — Trish Salah

• The Philistine — Leila Marshy

• Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen — Amrou Al-Kadhi

• Among the Eunuchs: A Muslim Transgender Journey - Leyla Jagiella

• Arabic Edition: You Be You! Explaining Gender, Love & Family - Jonathan Branfman

• Moondragon in the Mosque Garden - El-Farouk Khaki and Troy Jackson

WOMEN IN ISLAM

• “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an – Asma Barlas

• Forgotten Queens of Islam – Fatima Mernissi

• Inside the Gender Jihad – Amina Wadud

• The Scimitar and the Veil – Jennifer Heath Collum

• Sexual Ethics and Islam – Kecia Ali

• Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women – Khaled Abou El Fadl

• The Veil and the Male Elite – Fatima Mernissi

• Women in the Mosque: Historical Perspectives on Segregation - Nevin Reda

• Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Though and Social Practice - Marion Katz

• Journeys Toward Gender Equality in Islam - Ziba Mir-Hosseini

• Tying the Knot: A Feminist/Womanist Guide to Muslim Marriage in America - Kecia Ali

• Hijab: Word of God or Word of Man? - Dr. John Andrew Morrow

• The Most Controversial Qur’anic Verse: Why 4:34 Does Not Promote Violence Against Women - Dr. John Andrew Morrow

• Women’s Rights in Islam: Global Conversations on Practice and Theology - Edited by Askuri & Ezra Chitando

• 30 Rights of Muslim Women: A Trusted Guide - Daisy Khan

• Shabaz! A Graphic Journey Through Islamic Feminism - Dr. Lana Sirri

• Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam - Shehnaz Haqqani

FICTION AND POETRY

• The Cairo Trilogy – Naguib Mahfouz

• Emails from Scheherazad – Mohja Kahf

• My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk

• The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf – Mohja Kahf

• Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality – Edited by Sarah Husain

Philosophical

• Shari’a Compliant: A User’s Guide to Hacking Islamic Law - Rumee Ahmed

• Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition - Edited by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani, and Jana Rumminger

Would you like to suggest a book?