Tazkiyah literally means purification. In the extended sense it means growth. In this respect, tazkiyah means intellectual development. The mind is not something stagnant, it is ever-growing, like a tree. It is this process which is called ?adding faith to their faith? (48:4) in the Quran. Adding faith to faith means development in consciousness, which is another name for intellectual development. The real faith is one which does not stagnate, but grows continuously in its conviction about God.How does tazkiyah or intellectual development take place? The path to this is contemplation. Contemplation is in itself a continuous process ? contemplating the Quran and Hadith, the life of the Prophet, the lives of the Companions, the various human disciplines, the universe, the earth and the heavens. There is also the kind of contemplation which takes place during serious discussions. In this process of contemplation, new ideas emerge, deeper meanings come to light, new aspects hitherto unexplored of different events and realities are discovered, and every experience will bring him closer to God.

Washington Irving, has long been admired for his writings on American lore and history, but his work on Islamic subjects, particularly his studies of Islamic Spain, deserve wider recognition. The author first visited Granada in 1828, and revisited the city many times, living within the precincts of the Alhambra and having access to the many historical documents housed there. The Alhambra is a more personal study reflecting the author?s enchantment with the splendours of the palace and his intimate knowledge of the history of the Muslims in Spain

The decisive encounters between the East and West-- Islam and Christendom--in the fields of war or peace had the most far reaching effects on their destinies. This is one of the most important subjects of Islamic history, indeed perhaps the most important of all. Besides its abundant and eventful episodes, it throws much light on this eternal struggle between the East and the West. As many of these events are scantily dealt with by the Islamic chroniclers, careful reference to Western sources and scholars been made to analyse the subject in detail.

This book is an abridged translation of La Escatologia Musalmana en la Divina Comedia originally published in Spanish in Madrid in 1919. Prof. Asin discovered parallels between the Islamic lore about the After-life based on Hadith, and The Divine Comedy by the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). Though this created a controversy at that time, now the opinion of all eminent scholars of Europe and America is in favour of Prof. Asin?s thesis

It is scarcely surprising that Persia?a land where civilization has flourished at a high level for nearly three thousand years--should abound in worldly wisdom. This book illustrates some of the many ways in which Persian culture has influenced Persia?s neighbours, and become a legacy to the whole world.