Samir Abbasi

 Here’s the English translation: *Razia Sultan* Razia was placed on the throne by the nobles of Delhi in order to get rid of Shah Turkan and Firoz Shah. According to Minhaj-i-Siraj, a contemporary historian, Razia was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex, and therefore, in the estimation of men, all these qualities were useless. Although Razia was an intelligent, just, kind, and talented ruler, and was endowed with all the qualities necessary for a good king, her reign lasted little more than 3 years. The reason was her intimacy with Jamaluddin Yaqut, an Abyssinian slave who had risen to the position of master of the stables. Even orthodox Muslims turned against her because she began dressing like a man, rode in public, and conducted business in the open. As a result of all the above reasons, the amirs and maliks at Razia’s court, as well as the governors of some provinces, began to conspire to remove her. Within a fortnight of her ...

Here’s the English translation: *Tipu Sultan* Tipu Sultan was born in November 1750 to Hyder Ali and Fatima. He was a well-educated man who could speak Arabic, Persian, Kannada, and Urdu fluently. Tipu was a great warrior [he was known as the “Tiger of Mysore”] and paid utmost attention to the formation and maintenance of an efficient military force. He organized his army on the European model with Persian terminology. Although he took the help of French officers to train his soldiers, he never allowed them [the French] to develop into a pressure group. Like his father, Tipu understood the importance of a naval force. In 1796, he established a Board of Admiralty and planned a fleet: 22 warships and 20 large frigates. Three docks were set up at Mangalore, Wajidabad, and Molidabad. Tipu was a patron of science and technology. He is credited as the ‘pioneer of rocket technology’ in India. He wrote a military manual explaining the operation of rockets. He was also a pioneer in introducing ...

 Here’s the English translation. I’ve cleaned up the repetitions in the original text for clarity: *Allama Iqbal* Dr. Iqbal’s ancestors migrated from Kashmir and settled in Sialkot. They were Sapru Brahmins who had converted to Islam about two hundred and fifty years ago. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal was the pride of this family.  Dr. Iqbal’s father, Sheikh Noor Muhammad, was a very pious and God-fearing elder. He had a small business in Sialkot and was beloved by everyone in the city because of his righteousness and piety. He had two sons: Ata Muhammad and Muhammad Iqbal. This same Iqbal later came to be regarded as Asia’s greatest poet. Iqbal was born in 1873 in Sialkot. Sheikh Noor Muhammad had his children educated in Urdu, Persian, and English. Sheikh Ata Muhammad, who was 14 years older than his younger brother, became an engineer, while Iqbal, after studying at the Mission School, entered college. Among Sheikh Noor Muhammad’s friends was a renowned scholar named Maulvi Mir Hasan,...

 Here’s the English translation: *Imam Ibn Taymiyyah* Ibn Taymiyyah was born on 22 January 1263 CE in Harran, Syria. His father, Shihab al-Din Abul-Mahasin Abdul Halim [d. 1283 CE], came from a scholarly family that notably belonged to the Hanbali school of law. He memorized the Qur’an at a very young age; he also memorized large portions of hadith from his father, who was an expert in the subject. Among the hadith texts he studied were the two _Sahih_ collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim and other major compilations such as the _Musnad_ of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He also studied diverse subjects such as mathematics, Sufism, and various Islamic sects. After his father’s death, Ibn Taymiyyah, at the age of 22, assumed the prestigious teaching position formally held by his father at the Sukkariyya Madrasa. Present at his first lecture at this renowned center of learning were notable scholars including the prominent qadi Ibn al-Zaki al-Shafi‘i and Shaykh Taj al-Din al-Fazari. Many regard Ib...

Here’s the English translation: *Imam Ibn Taymiyyah Part 2* Some people from the city of Hama in Syria requested Ibn Taymiyyah to write on the subject of Allah’s attributes, and in 1298 CE he wrote the treatise _al-Hamawiyyah al-Kubra_. In this treatise his views differed from those of some scholars of Damascus, especially the Ash‘aris, who accused him of _tashbih_ regarding the interpretation of those attributes.[anthropomorphism] Before Ibn Taymiyyah, the Ayyubid rulers who governed Syria and Egypt were strong supporters of the Ash‘aris, whose reasoning was based on philosophical ideas, whereas Ibn Taymiyyah’s theology was directly based on the teachings of the pious predecessors. A council of jurists convened to investigate the charges against Ibn Taymiyyah decided that Ibn Taymiyyah and his two brothers should be imprisoned for about two years. During this time, Hanbali religious leaders in both Egypt and Syria were treated harshly, and some were even imprisoned. Upon his release f...

 Here’s the English translation: *Imam Bukhari* Of all the _Musannaf_ works, indeed of all the collections of hadith, the most important is _al-Jami‘ al-Sahih_ of al-Bukhari. It is said that the compiler questioned more than a thousand hadith scholars who lived in far-flung places such as Balkh, Marw, Nishapur, the Hijaz, Egypt, and Iraq. Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma‘il, who was born in 194 AH / 810 CE in Bukhara, was of Persian origin. Like many scholars of his time, al-Bukhari began his education in his hometown under the guidance of his mother. After completing his initial education at the young age of 11, he dedicated himself to the study of hadith. Within six years he had acquired the knowledge of all the hadith scholars of Bukhara, as well as all the knowledge contained in the available books. Thus he went to Mecca with his mother and brother to perform the pilgrimage. From the Holy City he undertook many journeys in search of hadith, passing through all the important cente...