Rikers Island Rabi al-Awwal Books (Prison Gift Program)

By purchasing this book bundle, you are authorizing us to send it to a prisoner on Rikers Island on your behalf.

This will given during Rabi al-Awwal.

BOOK 1: The Shamail of Imam Tirmidhi

The Shama’il al-Muhammadiyya of Imam al-Tirmidhi presents us detailed descriptions of the moral, physical and spiritual qualities of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The perfections that Allah bestowed upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ encompass every aspect of his blessed being: his outward physical form, his senses, his internal form and his inner beauty. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the most perfect embodiment of created beauty and form, and he is unsurpassed in his perfections. No one can rival or outstrip him in any laudable quality or trait. He knows Allah as He should be known. He fears Allah as He should be feared. He loves Allah as He should be loved. Understanding the Shama’il is absolutely critical to any proper understanding of Islam, for it details the qualities of the message-bearer, which fundamentally alters how we understand the message he brought.

BOOK 2: Healing the Spiritually Sick: A Selection of Noble Hadiths as a Guide for Beginners

Every science has its beginners, and the wisest teachers have always known what to place first in their students’ hands. From a larger collection of Hadith known as Shifa al-Saqim (Healing the Spiritually Sick), al-Habib Umar bin Hafiz of Tarim, founder of Dar al-Mustafa, selected fifty-nine short, sound sayings of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: words brief enough for a child to memorise and deep enough to guide a lifetime.

This edition presents each Hadith in fully vowelled Arabic with a clear English translation, its sources referenced. Beneath every entry stands a reflection drawn from Imam al-Ghazali’s Ihya Ulum al-Din, followed by points to ponder for private thought or the family table. In Tarim, one reading of the Ihya has always begun another; here, a beginner’s first Hadiths are set beside the tradition’s greatest manual of the heart.

The fifty-nine entries traverse the whole life of a believer: sincerity of intention, the secrets of prayer and congregation, remembrance and salawat, charity given in secret, honest earning and the lawful morsel, mercy at home and beautiful character abroad, the guarded tongue, the shared table, love of the Prophet ﷺ and his Household, the remembrance of death, and a good opinion of Allah at the last breath.