Tags: Muslim Scholars, Recommended Islamic Books, Western Scholars on Islam

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Listed below are top western Muslim scholars and authors of the 20th and 21 centuries, whose lives and contributions to Islam have impacted myself as well as many others. These are a few of many western converts to Islam whose publications, speeches and their lives have represented the most coherent, logical and most truthful face of Islam. Their works and their lives should be a source for those who seek about Islam and an exemplary for Muslims themselves.

1. Leopold Weiss (alias Muhammad Asad) (1900 – 1992)

“(The Quran is) the ultimate manifestation of God’s grace to man, the ultimate wisdom, and the ultimate beauty of expression: in short, the word of God.” – Leopold Weiss (Alias Muhammad Asad)

Leopold was a Jewish journalist from 20th century’s Austro-Hungarian Lwów in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, currently known as Lviv in Ukraine. He witnessed many events throughout his long life, from the fall of the Ottoman empire, WWI , WWII, to the rise and fall of the Berlin war. He rode on horses when there were no cars around and flew in the most sophisticated commercial planes. His life was truly an amazing story.

He traveled throughout almost all of the Middle East, Russia, Pakistan and China. He visited many African countries and live in the most modern European cities as well as The United States. As a result of his journeys and his thorough study of religions he converted to Islam. Although, he is still unknown amongst some Muslims, because of his contributions to Islam Leopold Weiss could easily be given the title of “Muslim personality of the century”.

His book “The Road to Mecca” is an amazing spiritual, cultural, geographical and historical journey blended perfectly together. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested to find out more about Islam from an unbiased person who “saw it all”. Also Muslims themselves could take home valuable lessons from Weiss’s words and advantures. He takes you along the story of his early life while explaining and answering many questions about Islam yet leaving the final judgment up to the reader. You can purhase his book here.

2. Dr. Jeffrey Lang (American professor)

Dr. Lang is an American professor of Mathematics. He was baptized and lived in a catholic family. Upon going through difficult times in childhood, later questioning God, the purpose of life and struggling to find any convincing answers in the Bible, he rejected his faith and become an atheist.

At the age of 28, after picking up and reading a copy of the Quran by chance, he was compelled to find logical, personal and emotional responses to his unanswered questions. His further research and findings paved the way for him to eventually embrace Islam. Since then Jeffery Lang has written many articles and given many speeches on Islam, helping mostly the youth and the newly converts to Islam, yet challenging many incorrect “customs” labeled as “religious” within Muslim societies.

Jeffrey Lang has written three books, which are wonderful resources on Islam for both born Muslims and converts. In his book “Losing My Religion: A Call For Help” he explains his emotional encounter with the Quran. Lang pens down his experiences step by step is  in the first chapter -  “Losing MY Religion” – which the book itself is named after. In later chapters he answers  a handful of misconceptions about Quranic verses and Hadiths. He also writes to help converts to Islam as well as young Muslims and their families living in the West. Although a few pages related to explaining Hadiths could be dry, that first chapter of the book totally blow me away. His emotions, reactions,  contemplations and logical conclusions after reading each verse of the Quran makes his book a must read.

Before Losing My Religion, Jeffery Lang wrote “Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America”, where he lays it all open and and explains his research into the Quranic verses in more depth than his later book. In the third chapter – The Decision – he talks about Islam in the west, proves that Islam is NOT just an Arab religion. He talks about issues such as gender differences, religion and culture and prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In the last chapter He – Nourishing Faith – , he talks about issues such as “Experiencing Intimacy (with God)”, “Bearing witenss”,  and “Zakah (charity) and spiritual cleansing”.

He also has another book out: Struggling to Surrender: Some Impressions of an American Convert to Islam

3. Gary Miller (Canadian Doctor and University Prof.) (Alias Abdul Ahad Omar)

Dr. Miller was an Ex-Christian missionary, mathematician and theologian. He converted to Islam after reading the Quran and finding out that not only the Quran does not hold any mistakes or contradictions, it also holds incredible scientific and proven facts that no one not even prophet Muhammad (pbuh) could have known 1400 years ago.

Gary Miller’s has produced numerous articles on Islam and the Quran which are published online. See here. You can also find a number of his passionate lectures on YouTube or Googlevideo.

4. Dr. Maurice Bucaille (French Doctor) (1920-1998)

Dr. Maurice Bucaille (1920-1998) was an eminent French surgeon, scientist, scholar and author of “The Bible, The Qur’an and Sciece: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge”.

His book is devoted to the comparison of scientific findings the Bible and the Quran, it also contains the result of his research into the Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Quran and their very origins.

The Bible, The Quran and Science is quite arguably the best and most well-known book about the scientific miracles of the holy Quran. It is unique in its field of religion and science.

Being an outstanding scientist, Dr. Bucaille was selected to treat the mummy of Merneptah (one of the Pharaohs); which he did. During his visit to Saudi Arabia he was shown the verses of the Quran in which God states that the dead body of the Pharaoh will be preserved as a “Sign” for humanity of generations to come. As an impartial scientist Dr. Bucaille, who (being also a Christian) was conversant with the Biblical version of Pharaoh’s story as being drowned in pursuit of Prophet Moses, he was extremely surprised to learn that the Quran made precise prediction about the preservation of the body of that same Pharaoh who followed Moses  to the sea and his death; something unknown to the world till only of recent centuries.

This discovery persuaded Dr. Bucaille to study the Quran in its original language thoroughly, which he did after learning Arabic. The final conclusion of his comparative study of Quran and the Bible is that the statements about scientific phenomena in the Quran are perfectly in conformity with the modern sciences whereas the Biblical narrations on the same subjects do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.

Read an online version of his book here.

Or purchase a copy of it for yourself here.

5. Dr. Laurence B. Brown (American Doctor)

Dr. Brown, an ex air force servant, who was raised in a Christian family but himself an atheist, was led to Islam, upon his daughter’s survival from a serious heart diseases. Before. He began a religious search in spiritual journey to find the truth of creation and God. However, before accepting Islam, Dr. Brown went through a desperate search in Christianity and Judaism to find the truth but could not find convincing answers for foundation to the tenants of faith and peace.

In his books, he relates his deep research in the Abraham religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – for finding convincing proofs about truth of a religious doctrine.

Dr. laurence Brown is one of the best western scholars in Islam and has written wonderful pieces to inspire Muslim converts.

Two of his best books are as follow:

MisGod'ed:

MisGod’ed is absolutely well researched book, which digs deep into exploring religions but very respectfully, simply and coherently explains the inconsistencies in the Bible – both the New and Old Testament -  within the Christian and Judaism faith. Employing a logical and factual style he also proves the truth of the Quran.

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God'ed:

After publishing MisGod’ed, Dr. Brown wrote God’ed which was a continuation to his previous book. In this, he essentially shows that the Quran is a Divine revelation that is consistent with the basic teachings of the Old Testament and Jesus (pbuh). In it he also details the reasons why Islam regards Muhammad (pbuh) as the final Prophet of God as evidenced by his life.

6. Martin Lings (January 24, 1909 – May 12, 2005)

Lings was born to a Protestant family in Burnage, Manchester and spend significant time of his life during his childhood in the United States due to his father’s occupation. He attended Clifton College and went on to Magdalen College, Oxford English Language and Literature. After graduating from Oxford Lings went to Vytautas Magnus University, in Lithuania, where he taught Anglo-Saxon and Middle English.

For Lings, however, the most important event happened at Oxford, where he discovered the writings of the René Guénon, a French metaphysician and Muslim convert and those of Frithjof Schuon, a German spiritual authority, metaphysician and Perennialist. Lings later converted to Islam.

In 1939 Lings decided to travel to Cairo, Egypt, where it became his home for over a decade; he became an English teacher at the University of Cairo and produced Shakespeare plays annually, where he himself learned a great deal about Islam.

He later returned to United Kingdom where he continued his education, earning a BA in Arabic and a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies from the University of London.

After many years of research and study, in 1983, Martin Lings wrote a biography of prophet Muhammad, which earned him acclaim in the Muslim world. His work has been recognized as the “best biography of the prophet in English” at the National Seerat Conference.

You can buy his book here: Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

See here for his other works

7. Lisa Spray – American author and convert to Islam

Lisa has written a few books in which she delicately explains Islam and the Quran from a position of a western woman and according to her own experiences and understandings. Her narration and explanations are very beautiful and delicate, showcasing how the message of the Quran reached her conscious and how the manifestation and acceptance of the truth has brought her peace.

Two of her most beautiful books are as follows:

Women’s Rights, the Quran and Islam
Read online version here,
Order your hard copy from Amazon here.

Jesus: Myths & Message
Read online version here.
Order your hard copy from Amazon here.

8. Dr. Murad Wilfried Hofmann

Dr. Hofmann was born as a German Catholic, but converted to Islam in 1980. His conversion was met with some controversy due to his high profile in the German government. Discovering Islam  but mainly as a result of what he witnessed in the Algerian War of Independence, his fondness for Islamic art, and what he saw as contradictions in Pauline Christian doctrine.

Here are some of his books.

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