Reclaiming the Islamic Intellectual Tradition: Islamic Texts Society and its Publications

Islam & Science, Winter, 2004 by Elma Ruth Harder

In 1981, a small group of scholars established the Islamic Texts Society (ITS) in England to produce English translations of important works of Islamic tradition and to publish new works relevant to contemporary issues concerning Islam and Muslims. The Society was subsequently registered as an educational charity in the UK.

The first publication of the Islamic Texts Society was Martin Lings' Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, a book that is regarded as the best English language biography of the Prophet of Islam. In fact, this biography is one of the finest single-volume works of sirah ever written in any language. Its thoroughly researched material is combined with an intense sensibility and immediacy to the sources, as if the author has lived and relived that era of fundamental changes in human history. The exactitude of its expressions, the subtly of its language and the detailed narration of events has made this award-winning book an enduring legacy.

Since then, the Islamic Texts Society has embarked upon a publication program that has produced many acclaimed works. ITS has published material that has never before been available to English readership, including translations of unpublished manuscripts and the works of contemporary scholars from around the world. The Society's high standards have been maintained with each and every text. To date ITS has published over forty books.

The long term aim of the Islamic Texts Society is to provide a comprehensive selection of books on various aspects of Islam. Publications range from outstanding individual new works by contemporary scholars in their respective fields to revised and updated editions of classic texts to translations of hitherto unpublished manuscripts.

A major thrust of the Islamic Texts Society is to bring the works of Muhammad Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) to a wide English readership. Al-Ghazali's wisdom and influence render him as one of Islam's most important scholars and his works have been studied throughout the Muslim world for centuries. To date, the Society has published five volumes in their al-Ghazali Series, of which two have won the British Book Design and Production Award for the best general paperback: Al-Ghazali on Invocations and Supplications (1991) and Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God (1993).

Another series of the Society is the Muslim Personalities Series. Dedicated to the lives, ideas, and writings of major Muslim scholars who have contributed to Islamic thought throughout the centuries, this series aims to bring out scholarly monographs for the general public.

Books published by the Society fall into seven broad categories: (i) Qur'an, Sirah and Hadith; (ii) Islamic Law and Jurisprudence; (iii) The al-Ghazali Series; (iv) Muslim Personalities Series; (v) Translations from the Islamic Heritage; (vi) Monographs on Spirituality and Sufism; and (vii) General Titles on Islam.

Qur'an, Sirah and Hadith

In 1983, the Islamic Texts Society published an edition of the Qur'an that can easily be considered the most beautiful twentieth century edition of a book that has always attracted the finest artisans and calligraphers in Muslim history. Reproduced from an exquisite Arabic type that was handset at the beginning of the twentieth century, the text is very legible. The book is 848 pages, printed on off-white, wood-free paper that was produced specifically for this Qur'an. The ink, also, was especially produced to meet the highest standards and splendid title pages, endpapers and the frames and ornamentation on every page are printed in gold, blue and black. The cover design was adapted from a Moroccan binding of the ninth century hijra (fifteenth century CE) by Dr. Mahmud Rasch. Even though this is a very expensive book (500 British pounds for leather and 350 pounds for linen), combining traditional techniques and motives with modern technology, it is a masterpiece.

For Muslims, hadith literature ranks second to the Qur'an in importance. In 1993, the Islamic Texts Society republished a revised edition of Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi's book Hadith Literature, Its Origin, Development and Special Features. It deals with all aspects of origin, classification, and authenticity of hadith, the problems of falsification of the material and a systematic approach to the literature. In 1997, two bilingual companion volumes appeared: the popular An-Nawawi's Forty Hadith and Forty Hadith Qudsi. Translated by Ezzeddin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies with an aim to produce a translation for accuracy and readability, the books are printed with the original Arabic alongside the English translation.

Sirah literature deals with the life of Prophet Muhammad, and ITS has published two definitive biographies. The biography by Martin Lings, which has subsequently appeared in nearly a dozen languages since ITS first published it, has been reprinted in English several times to meet the needs of the market. The other sirah book is essentially ITS' only book for children: The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (1985) is a retelling of the story based on traditional biographical material by Leila Azzam and Aisha Gouveneur. The authors have written this book to make sirah easily accessible for children, and have included passages from the Qur'an and ahadith. The book's color illustrations sensitively depict traditional scenes in Arab life without portraying the Prophet or his companions.