A comprehensive explanation and commentary of the first 24 hadith of Imam al-Nawawi's classic compilation, Riyadh al-Saliheen.
Author: Abu Zakaria Al-Nawawi
Muhammad Pocket Guide is one of the most comprehensive and summarized pictorial books about the prophet of Islam Muhammad (peace be upon him). It provides a broad biography and summarized information about Muhammad such as his character and personal details. In addition, it provides a broad overview about his teachings and main events in his life. It is specially written for those who would like to get brief information about the founder of the Islamic religion and his teachings from Islamic authentic sources. It can be a useful tool to help understand the Islamic teachings, tradition and culture. Hence, it promotes understanding, tolerance, coexistence, and social harmony among people of different races, faiths and cultures.
Its author said in the introduction, "It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not the case with Allah. Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word "god," which can be made plural, as in "gods," or made feminine, as in "goddess." It is interesting to notice that Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a sister language of Arabic."
An excellent book for non-Muslims explaining various aspects of Islam.
Author: Pete Seda
Publisher: Islamic Propagation Office in Rabwah
Source: http://www.islamhouse.com/p/1301
An summarised text detailing the rules governing the Criticism of Hadeeth. From its introduction -'A hadith (pl. ahadith) is composed of two parts: the matn (text) and the isnad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable; 'Abdullah b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH) is reported to have said, "The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked." During the lifetime of the Prophet (SAS) and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him when quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi'un) followed suit; some of them used to quote the Prophet (SAS) through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority - such a hadith was known as mursal (loose). It was found that the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet (SAS) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two persons, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the hadith from the Companion.'
Author: Mahmood Al-Tahaan
One Hundred famous Weak or Fabricated Traditions attributed to the Prophet.
Author: Ihsan Al-Utaibi