Recommended links page? That’s so 1993 right?

The World Wide Web, the Information Super Highway, whatever you call it, can be an extremely beneficial place, if you know exactly what you’re looking for, like the definition of a word. It can also be a very misleading place if you’re not sure what you need and what your answer should resemble. This may be especially true when looking up historical events or ideas and you have no experience with different perspectives on the subject, and may get a very biased presentation without knowing it.

As for what the internet contains of non-beneficial information, then Muslims who believe in Allah and the Last Day should severely limit their time with it. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “two blessings wasted by many people are good health and free time,” recorded by al-Bukhari. So beware wasting time and good health sitting in front of the computer over what contains no benefit at all, or what may even be sinful to peruse.

So what about learning about Islam from the internet or interacting with other Muslims from around the world online? Be wary, and, just as mom told you, don’t talk to strangers. Many websites that are labeled “Islamic” are actually run by Christians or Jews, apparently presenting information about Islam, but within its pages are very misleading words and stories, or subliminal messages, meant to misinform Muslims, or curious non-Muslims, who do not know better. Other websites may be presenting “Islamic” information, but the information is slanted to promote a political or heretical agenda. Still, well-meaning Muslims may put websites together, but they did not study Islam thoroughly, so their defense and promotion of Islam is of limited or tainted benefit. From the thousands upon thousands of websites “about Islam” very few can be recommended and are known to be by knowledgeable and mature Muslims.

Further, whenever you search for anything about Islam, it is heart-wrenching to see the unfathomable amount of severe hatred directed towards it. It’s obvious that there is a war supported by many groups, fighting to plant the seeds of doubt in your heart regarding your faith. Their goal is for you to turn away from Islam entirely. If you were to follow them, surely you would be among the losers in the Hereafter. As for these doubts that come to us from outside sources, remember that Allah is not unaware of it, as He says:

{وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا شَيَاطِينَ الْإِنسِ وَالْجِنِّ يُوحِي بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُورًا ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ رَبُّكَ مَا فَعَلُوهُ ۖ فَذَرْهُمْ وَمَا يَفْتَرُونَ} ﴿١١٢﴾ سورة الأنعام

“And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies – devils among mankind and jinn, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion (or by way of deception). If your Lord had so willed, they would not have done it, so leave them alone with their fabrications.” [6:112]

And also,

{… وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا ۚ وَإِن تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَإِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ} ﴿١٨٦﴾ سورة آل عمران

“…you shall certainly hear much that will grieve you from those who received the Scripture before you and from those who ascribe partners to Allah, but if you persevere patiently, and become pious, then verily, that will be a determining factor in all affairs,…” [3:186]

Allah has decreed this so that those individuals’ sins compile and accumulate while whoever does not desire the Truth will be drawn to them, and whosoever is sincere towards the Truth will turn away from it. Others may straddle in between, privy to doubts, unsure of where to lean, lending an ear to every accusation without the knowledge background to realize the foolishness or pseudo-scholarship being presented.

So this is another way Allah tests His creation. He sees that those who want to be pious and close to Allah have more opportunity to face different tests. But if you hear something about the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Islam or the history of the Muslims that seems troubling to you, never think that you have stumbled upon something that Muslim scholars haven’t refuted, debunked, clarified or exposed and buried. Trust me on this. And many attacks against Islam today were used during the Prophet’s time, and are refuted by the Quran itself. Others have been addressed by the scholars of every generation, even if you find it far-fetched that scholars would have responded to a certain allegation, they most likely have, maybe a millenium ago. I’ve even found that many “recent” discoveries that supposedly debunk Islam are in fact very old news which itself was discredited long ago. The anti-Islamic news world repeats stories, hoping that the current generation won’t research the last generation’s defeats, and to strengthen their hatred and disregard of Islam. Even Allah pokes fun at this,

{كَذَٰلِكَ مَا أَتَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا قَالُوا سَاحِرٌ أَوْ مَجْنُونٌ ﴿٥٢﴾ أَتَوَاصَوْا بِهِ ۚ بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ﴿٥٣﴾} سورة الذاريات

“Thus, no Messenger ever came to those before except that they said, ‘A magician! A madman!’ Did they counsel one another with it? Rather, they are a transgressive people.” [51:52-53] – i.e. it is as if the previous generations told the contemporary generations what to accuse Islam and the Messengers with, they lack originality.

I’ve personally looked at many of the writings of those who attack Islam, its teachings and foundations. After the knowledge that Allah has blessed me with, although I am still much the learner, I have been able to see through the sleight of hand pseudo scholarship that is used and sophomoric attempts to discredit the Message and reliability of Islam and its sources. This is not the setting to enumerate examples. My only intention in mentioning this is to show that most likely, anything offered to you which may seem damning may have a perfectly logical and even wise explanation, or be wholly false. Yet, I strongly caution you from lending an ear or eye to any such misinformation since it can lower one’s iman to see people hate Islam, even if you know what they say to be false, and make you feel defeated or encircled. It requires many years, perhaps decades of integrated Islamic studies in Arabic to reach the point that your heart won’t be harmed, if there even exists such a level. Even scholars of old used to forbid one another from debating argumentative people who do not desire guidance. If you fear yourself affected by some of this information, my advice is just to read the Quran, and listen to recitations of the Quran and to slowly seek Islamic knowledge. Many of those who have delved deep in these issues, when they pause and read the Quran, it is as if they forget about all the technicalities they just dove in to and fall in love with Allah’s Book once again.

 

With all that in mind, I compiled this list of websites with trustworthy and beneficial content for you to satisfy the learning crave and receive new ideas and greater understanding.

 

All-encompassing sites:

http://www.islamweb.net

http://en.islamway.net/

http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/

http://understand-islam.net/site/

http://idealmuslimah.com/ geared towards women.

 

Da’wah:

http://www.islamreligion.com this may be the best website to offer to non-Muslims. It contains hundreds of brief articles about nearly every topic.

http://www.islamalways.com this is the primary website for shaykh Yusuf Estes. Yusuf Estes, a former preacher who accepted Islam around 1990, is not a scholar of Islam, but he is a highly experienced “daa’iyah” (caller to Islam) who has worked day and night to promote orthodox Islamic teachings and invite Christians and others into Islam as well as teaching Muslims the basics of their faith. He has created over a dozen well organized and easily navigable websites revolving around the most important questions surrounding Islam. He also has a TV channel “Guide US” available on satellite.

http://www.islaam.ca/ has a small number of articles, some revert stories, and a few pamphlets. It is run under the auspices of Troid, a controversial site I’ll get to later insha’Allah.

http://www.whyislam.org excellent site with many short articles geared for non-Muslims. They also produce excellent pamphlets for distribution.

http://www.ifoundislam.net/revert-supports/ specifically geared for new Muslims.

 

Activism & Politics:

Some articulate individuals and mobilized organizations are great to follow when wanting to learn and disseminate a proper American Muslim response to various national incidents.

I personally recommend following/liking: Dalia Mogahed, Ahmed Rehab, Hassan Shibly, Linda Sarsour. There are also witty and informed non-Muslims who speak up for our rights, such as Jeremy McLellan, Glenn Greenwald, Bernie Sanders, and Jill Stein.

As for organizations, the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is in a class by themselves for defending the civil rights of individual Muslims across the country as well as speaking up when they as a group are spoken of improperly. They have chapters in most major US cities (e.g. Chicago) and each has its teams of lawyers, counselors, etc.

 

Qur’aan or Sunnah specific:

http://www.transliteration.org/quran/ excellent website to help those just learning how to recite the Quran

http://www.yaqb.org/ don’t like one Quran translation? No problem, this website has 13!

http://quran.com/1 the Saheeh International translation, the most authentic and trustworthy in my humble opinion. This is one of the only translations that I can recommend without warning people of the ‘aqeedah of the translator.

http://sunnah.com/ perhaps the single best resource for hadeeth texts in English. Searchable translations. Similar to it is http://qaalarasulallah.com/ which has more content, although the interface is not as friendly.

http://www.quranflash.com nice page to recite Quran from.

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp study the Qur’ans grammar and meaning, word by word.

http://allahsquran.com/ – for Muslims and non-Muslims alike, from the Yusuf Estes team, with many useful resources.

 

Specific Islamic topics/Miscellaneous:

http://www.salafimanhaj.com/ – a Library format, with e-books and tapes.

http://www.muslimmatters.com an excellent blog that addresses a lot of social taboos among ethnic Muslims and “elephant in the room” topics of Western Muslim communities.

http://aljumuah.com/ perhaps the oldest Islamic magazine from America, generally contains high quality content for lay readers with a love for Islamic studies.

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/ perhaps one of the single best websites devoted solely to apologetics – defending Islam against the accusations of critics, orientalists and pseudo scholars. Unfortunately however, there is not enough work being done in this arena.

http://www.islamophobia.org/ similar to the previous, this website seeks to expose and combat anti-Islamic hate propaganda, created by CAIR.

http://forums.islamicawakening.com/activity.php online forums have a lot of pluses and minuses. From the pluses is that they may gather a huge amount of contributors which may include students of knowledge. But from the minuses is that a lot of laymen who have just enough knowledge to make them arrogant or foolish do most of the posting. This particular forum focuses a bit too much on politics but it does have a lot of good posts in it as well. However, many of their threads are missing an enlightened contributor to present a balanced middle-path viewpoint.

http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vbe/ this forum—when accessible and not experiencing technical difficulties—provides a much more mature and monitored discussion of Islamic topics. The downside is much fewer contributors.

http://prophetictimeline.com/ excellent website covering events of the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ with an interactive map and timeline.

http://www.singlemuslim.com// the single best and largest Muslim matrimonial website [and how I met my wife!]. Completely free for women. Men have a pay a decent amount in order to read or send custom messages.

http://islamstory.com/en This site is administered by a popular Muslim historian, Raghib al-Sarjany.

http://www.islamicfinder.org a one-stop resource for discovering where and when to pray. Just type in any zip code and it will tell you when the prayer times are for that area as well as where you should face your body and even local Islamic centers. Good resource to use prior to travel.

http://www.madeenah.com/ – collection of nice articles translated by some students of the Islamic University of Madeenah.

http://al-amana.net/home/ Nice website for Muslim news and current events in the Muslim world—primarily Western minorities. Has some relevant links as well.

http://www.lostislamichistory.com Good website with articles about various history topics

http://www.1001inventions.com/Discover_Muslim_Heritage unfortunately this website doesn’t give much educational information, however, there is a book of the same name “1001 inventions” that details a lot of the most important contributions made by Muslims to the advance of science and technology. Also, the book “Lost History”.

 

Question/Answer (Fatwa):

http://www.islamqa.com Nearly all of the content on this website is reliable and trustworthy. It is the most comprehensive database of questions and answers in a dozen or so languages. The overseer, Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, is not a person free from controversy, but as for his work with this website, it must be applauded. No doubt, it represents a fairly conservative opinion, but only because he aims to provide Islamic answers based on the Quran and Sunnah and understanding of the Prophet’s companions, not simply the “do whatever you want” answers from people who do not know the Quran and Sunnah or they compile the concessions of every scholar. The only thing one should avoid reading about on this website are questions/answers related to politics and apostasy. Other than that, most of the time, he presents certified verdicts and answers given from some of the most respected scholars of our age. Other equally valid opinions may exist to whatever he presents, but you can at least rest assured that what he provides is a valid opinion.

http://www.fatwa-online.com/ a small collection of q/a. They also have a beneficial e-mailing list.

http://www.fatwaislam.com/fis/ another small collection, but organization is easier.

 

Bookstores:

I listed several at the bottom of my recommended library books.

http://www.jarirbooksusa.com the most famous dealer of Arabic books in the US, perhaps even the Western hemisphere. Only recommended for experienced buyers because it contains a little bit of everything from everyone. And if I understand correctly, the same guy runs the store http://www.alkitab.com. Most of the content is reliable, but best to enquire if unsure, because he does carry a few rare books from really deviant groups, for reference.

 

Specific individuals:

http://www.bilalphilips.com Bilal is a Jamaican revert with Canadian citizenship. He earned a bachelor’s at the Islamic University in Medinah, then a master’s at King Saud University in Riyadh and a doctorate from Wales, UK. He currently resides in Qatar and is the founder of the Islamic Online University. He has written numerous books in a career spanning decades.

http://www.virtualmosque.com/ formerly suhaibwebb[dot]com, Suhaib (formerly, William) Webb is a white-American revert from California, and was also the imam of Boston for a few years, during the Boston marathon bombing. He studied fiqh extensively at al-Azhar in Egypt and was granted license to issue fatwa by Egypt’s controversial grand mufti. He often supports more lenient stances, if they exist, on issues where more orthodox Islamic positions clash with American culture.

 

Video Specific:

http://www.thedeenshow.com/

http://www.halaltube.com/

http://www.tubeislam.com –

 

Audio (podcasts)

Home

http://muslimlifehackers.com/podcasts/

 

Islamic Studies:

http://almaghrib.org/ This institute, comprised mostly of bachelor’s graduates from the Islamic University of Medinah, offers semester like courses in many important topics in the English language.

http://www.alkauthar.org/ Similar to the previously mentioned group. However the Maghribi folks are more US/Canada centered while this group centers more around South East Asia. Also founded by a graduate of the Islamic University of Medinah.

http://bayyinah.com/ – Arabic school run by Nouman Ali Khan, wildly popular lecturer.

http://wisamsharieff.com/alphabet_book/ – The content that this speaker offers is always excellent. I posted this link in specific since it shows the best Arabic letter pronunciation page I’ve seen online for those who want to learn to recite the Quran properly. Many other websites and programs are geared towards colloquial/dialectal Arabic, to help you learn how to converse in Arab countries. However, it is not permissible to recite the Quran with the slang Arabic tongue. This speaker’s sole goal is to help you with your recitation of the Quran to increase your faith. He is also the founder of the “AQL” (Advocating Quranic Literacy) institute, http://www.aqlonline.com.

http://www.albaseerah.org/ this website and organization, run by an alumnus from Umm al-Qurraa University of Mecca, is superb for the services they provide. They are an amazing group to perform hajj with as well to really boost your faith. However, for those who want to make hajj with them, they should have a decent Islamic studies background first, because their study sessions can be VERY intense. All year round, they offer classes from various reputed scholars translated into English. They also oversee the site http://www.studyislaam.org but again, it’s for an advanced level.

The purpose of mentioning some of these websites which are a bit more advanced are manifold. First off, it allows new Muslims to set goals for themselves—goals of learning so they can some day reach the level where they are ready to participate in more advanced studies should they need or desire and become educated laymen. Second, some new Muslims, after learning a few things may think they’ve become hot shots and can answer just about anything about Islam! If that’s the case, let them try some of these organizations out and the programs they have to offer to see if it challenges them or not.

http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/ a FREE online university offering associates and bachelors’ degrees in Islamic studies as well as individual classes for whoever desires to participate. The university is run by Shaykh Dr. Bilal Philips, who resides in Qatar. Every professor has at least a master’s degree in the subject they teach. The degrees are accredited by one or two other accredited universities, so if someone wants to go further in their studies, they would have to get the degree authorized by one of those other institutions or continue their studies with that institute.

http://www.kiu.org the “knowledge international university” opened by shaykh Abdur-Rahmaan al-Sudais of Mecca with its headquarters in Riyadh, KSA.

http://www.qalaminstitute.org/ from Abdul-Nasir Jangda.

https://www.madinaharabic.net/ – excellent source for learning Arabic, with private tutoring available, whether you want to learn Arabic to understand the Quran, converse, or even for business, with male and female instructors.

http://www.sibawayinstitute.com/index.html – another great source for learning Arabic, with more stress on grammar.

http://mylanguages.org/learn_arabic.php – another site for fundamentals in Arabic grammar and vocabulary.

http://www.alhudaecampus.com/ run by Dr. Farhat Hashmi of Pakistani background. It has tajweed lessons for sisters who can read the Quran and tafseer lessons for sisters. Some theologians might find some problems in the tafseer but overall the services are respectable, especially the tajweed department.

http://www.abouttajweed.com/ – information about proper recitation of the Quran.

http://www.readwithtajweed.com/index.htm – for developing and understanding proper recitation of the Quran.

If you’d like to learn Arabic, also read the article: http://muslimmatters.org/2009/02/03/now-is-the-time-to-learn-arabic/ and the author has listed several helpful resources for every step of the way.

A word of caution, there are many websites that offer classes for Quran or Arabic. They are legitimate as far as what they claim to offer, usually. However, from my wife’s experience, most of them are organized by individuals who create these businesses to lure teachers to teach for 10-25% of the prices charged while they pocket the rest for doing nothing and frequently neglect paying the teachers anything. For that reason, I would not encourage enrolling in any such websites one finds unless they find out that it is run by teachers and/or that all the teachers are being treated with the proper respect due to them.

 

“Islamic” Clothing

I only add the quotations because, for men at least, “Islamic” is frequently misunderstood with regard to clothing. Arabian thobes or the baggy Asian “M. C. Hammer” pants called “sharwal” combined with a long shirt called “qamees” are certainly the garb of choice for imams and more conservative members of the Muslim community. Nonetheless, that does not mean that typical modest Western clothing is un-Islamic. For prayer at least, I recommend carrying a light “house thobe” to slip over yourself if your pants are tight or shirt may slip up in the back when bending over. For women, there are clothing guidelines and designations supported by a wide market catering to their needs and preferences. Other items like prayer mats and prayer caps for men known as a “kufi” can easily be procured from generous Muslims. If you have a friend coming back from a Muslim country soon, hopefully they could bring some, since they are, in Muslim countries, dirt-cheap. Opt for a solid color prayer mat, or with simpler design, and avoid red or yellow, since all of that is distracting when the most perfect prayer is attained by uninhibited contemplation. Prayer mats, of course, are never required for prayer, but they have been used since the time of the Prophet’s companions since the ground may be hard or dirty.

http://www.almoultazimoun.com based in France.

http://www.aliexpress.com a Chinese based response to amazon.com with cheap prices and many items for free shipping that arrives surprisingly fast. This is a good place to search for Islamic clothing manufactured in Malaysia and Indonesia. We’ve ordered from there several times without problems.

http://aljalabiya.com/ for women

http://www.sunnahstyle.com for women, based in Toronto.

http://www.shukronline.com/ – for men and women, with excellent quality, but more expensive.

http://www.reflectionsofiman.com – based in California.

http://www.sajdamat.com/Default.asp – thicker prayer mats for those who experience foot and knee pain while praying on harder surfaces. Unfortunately, the mats are a standard size and not of greater length and width for taller Muslims.

 

Salafi Websites:

What sets these websites apart, and a few others here, is their administrators’ “ultra-conservative” method of propagating Islam and extra attention to theological matters. Their methodology (also called manhaj) as they claim is simply following the Quran and Sunnah based on the understanding of the Salaf (predecessors)—the first generations of Muslim scholars. However, I would generally not recommend any website unless it specified that somewhere. What separates these from the rest is that the brothers and sisters who follow this movement refuse to acknowledge the existence of Islamic scholarship in any Western countries, and almost rely solely on the direction of a small handful of scholars, four or five, and their students and associates.

Do not be narrow-minded.

There are scholars in and from Western countries, even converts, possessing credentials no less than many scholars of Muslim countries. So when these brothers narrowed something which Allah made outstretched, they started resembling a cult which is why some Muslims call them “madkhalis” as an ascription to the Saudi scholar to whom they are devoted most, whom some of them have declared to be infallible if speaking against supposed heresy. Some even claim that acknowledging his authority is the very difference between orthodoxy and heresy. Thus, many of them have fallen into extremes with regard to the Islamic obligation of warning against heresy and heretics. While the work of these individuals is commendable on some fronts, their excessive devotion to studies of heresy has led to an appalling confusion of priorities. They took harsh positions towards other students of knowledge, callers to Allah and even conservative scholars for minor issues, or things not even blameworthy, neglecting to give the benefit of the doubt or private counsel before publicly rebuking them and authoring against them and assigning nefarious connotations to the speech of their targets. They also have a double standard with “guilty by association” principles. They severely rebuke western students of knowledge for certain correlations while forgetting that their own scholars have taken similar positions. One would get the idea that they apply the “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” rule for deciding whom to disrepute. And if anyone criticizes them, they claim that the critic has spoken against Islam and orthodoxy itself.

In spite of that, elements like these in the Ummah serve as a reminder for the rest of us to keep closer to the Straight Path and the way of the Salaf. Just as the presence of Sufis reminds us to work more for self-betterment and achieving closeness to Allah, and likewise with other sects that may have taken a concept we are prone to neglect, while they go to extremes in it, such as having concern for current affairs and empathizing with persecuted Muslims.

While many other callers to Islam may compose their own words of wisdom and present Islam in a fashionable manner, these individuals have instead bitten down upon the narrations of the earliest scholars which are full of wisdom, light and life for the soul. However, having living role models is of grave importance as well, to demonstrate that piety is not extinct nor should it ever be. We students of knowledge should accept that responsibility and not place the burden of piety upon scholars who lived a thousand years ago while we live life however we want with the excuse that the early generations have passed and we could never reach them.

As for refutations of individuals, books and groups that have fallen into heresy, it takes open minded, knowledgeable, experienced and balanced students of knowledge to sort between the just and the exaggerated. So I strongly caution against reading anything written in that regard.

Perhaps most followers of this movement in America are reverts, which is very luring for us to cling to a group that not only appears to strictly follow the Quran and Sunnah, but can completely identify with our struggles as new Muslims. Another luring trait in all of their masjids and websites is referral to their group of scholars from the Arab gulf countries, establishing frequent tele-links with them. Placing the emphasis on foreign scholars creates a sense of wonderment and reverence for those scholars, as they are imagined with an aura or glow—foreign, as if alien, like supernatural and that no one from our neighbors could ever become one of their peers. Nevertheless, the movement possesses a trait of the khawaarij as they treat non-Muslims with respect or politeness to endear their hearts towards Islam—which is commendable in America—but neglecting that same treatment to other Muslims, not excusing them for ignorance or decades of cultural conditioning. All this has left mainstream Muslims with negative opinions towards ultra or super Salafis as they are sometimes called.

While following the general understanding of faith of the earliest generations of Muslim scholars is commendable if not obligatory, following a specific modern-day group and their specific interpretation of the interpretation^[1]You read that correctly. Since the Western Salafi students and callers reject that there exist any scholars in the Western hemisphere, this forces their words and actions to be a guesstimate of what … Continue reading of a small group of scholars on salafiyyah (or salafism) has led to disastrous consequences. That is people who join the movement eventually feel burnt out and either leave Islam entirely or join a different sect or they continue with this brand of salafiyyah while taking the morals of non-Muslims to cope with their lack of heart-fulfilment. After the first decade of the 21^st century, this movement’s infighting have made it so broken up that they have essentially marginalized themselves, and much of their flocks have integrated within the rest of the mainstream American Muslims.

However, a great strength of these websites in the refutation department is their attention to refuting terrorists and their ideologies and practices. For this they should be commended. Reason being, most people think terrorists are salafis and salafis are terrorists. There are many groups that call themselves salafi, because it is an ascription to the earliest generations of Muslim scholars whom the Prophet specifically singled out for praise. So these individuals have the burden of making sure anyone who doesn’t know better can understand who they are not.

http://www.salaf-us-saalih.com has some good content.

http://www.salaf.com/s/ some of the links at the bottom are relatively useful for advanced ‘aqeedah issues.

http://www.allaahuakbar.net/ – has an alphabetized list of groups that do not wholly agree with mainstream Islam in matters of creed.

http://www.salafimanhaj.com/

And Allah Knows best.