Author: Naima Suhaib
Translated by: Eeman Asif Misbah
Available at: Dawah Books
“Without heroes, we are all plain people and don’t know how far we can go.” (Bernard Malamud)
If you ask a child or even a teen who his or her hero is, the answer is likely to be a comic book character, a sports personality, or a media celebrity. Unfortunately, these are artificially created images, so we must actively educate ourselves and our youth about the real heroes, who have worked to improve humanity through their struggles for knowledge and justice. The “Muslim Heroes Series”, translated into English by Eeman Asif Misbah, is one such collection that will be an invaluable addition to any Muslim home or school library.
Printed by “Sahar Publishers” and available at “Dawah Books”, these colourful and aesthetically pleasing booklets are simple to read and understand. Originally written in Urdu, Naima Sohaib’s, “Tareekh-e-Islam ki Azeem Shakhsiyaat” includes about twenty most prominent Muslim scholars, reformists, revivalists, and rulers. The English booklets feature one Muslim hero each and consist of about 30-40 easily readable pages.
A brief introduction of the personality on the title page helps the reader to choose the booklets – for example, Sultan Mohammad Fateh is introduced on the cover page as ‘The Ottoman Caliph who conquered Constantinople’. Each biography is divided into sections focusing on the early life, scholarship, achievements or conquests, trials and death of the particular personality. For instance, the booklet on Aisha’s (rtaf) life includes sections such as ‘Domestic life and Household Management’, ‘Love and Obedience Towards her Husband’, ‘Upbringing’ as well as her role as a widow, her efforts in battle, and her home school.
The booklets on all four Imams and other scholars include lucidly explained and detailed accounts of their struggles, trials, and tribulations for the cause of Islam. Such is the scope of these condensed biographies that they give not just an overview of the personality in focus, but also explain the challenges of his or her particular time period. For instance, the booklet on Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi includes a historical background of the crusades. Similarly, Imam Ghazali’s biography includes an explanation of the Batiniyyah sect and the dangers of the influence of Greek philosophy on Islamic reasoning.
This series of books is a great resource on Islamic history, with the potential to provide positive role models to our youth and ourselves as well.
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