New Book: Kitāb ut-Tawḥeed: The Basis of Islam and the Reality of Monotheism

The Book of Monotheism

Kitāb ut-Tawḥeed: The Basis of Islam and the Reality of Monotheism, occupies a unique place amongst contemporary Islamic works.

Volume 1 is now published and is the first book in the series.

The book is the magnum opus of Professor Muḥammad ibn Abdullah al-Mas’ari (may Allah preserve him), and has been rendered into English for the first time.

The work represents an in-depth study into the very root origins of Islam, the essential nature of Tawḥeed.  Coupled with that, it tackles head on not only the age-old problem concerning the precise nature of worship (ibādah) and polytheism (shirk), but also how these topics correspond to contemporary issues like ruling, governance and allegiance.

Liberated from confused ill-disciplined divisions, primacy throughout the work is given to the original textual sources: the Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah.  By returning to the original textual sources many of the phantasms that have plagued Islamic thought for far too long and directly challenged.

The first volume published in this series covers the foundations of Deen and its fundamental maxims, comprising three parts:

• Part I: Religion & Worldly Life
• Part II: The Nature of Revelation and the Revealed ‘Dhikr’
• Part III: Fundamental Issues of Uṣul and ‘Aqeedah 

Volume 1 contents listing

Set out below is the complete contents listing for the book.  When compared with the original Arabic text, chapter titles overall have been streamlined and abbreviated.
Part I

1. Deen and Dunya
2. Urbanisation, Civilisation and Culture
3. Distinguishing between ‘Deen’ and ‘Dunya’
4. Islam is an intellectual creed
5. The definition of Islam
6. The meaning of ‘there is no deity except Allah’
7. The meaning of ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’
8. The Grades of Deen
9. The Basis of Islam and its Essential Pillars

Part II

1. Revelation is both the Qur’an and the Sunnah
2. ‘He doesn’t speak of his own desire…’
3. ‘Whoever obeys the Prophet, indeed obeys Allah’
4. Types of Divine Revelation
5. ‘Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it…’
6. ‘I only follow what is revealed to me’
7. Prophet Muhammad is the ‘Excellent Exemplar’
8. ‘That Allah may forgive your previous and future sins’
9. Reagarding the acts of the Prophet – can he forget?
10. Enjoining the good, forbidding all evil
11. The Sunnah as an independent source of law
12. The Hikmah and Dhikr are also revelation
13. The meaning of the word ‘Dhikr’
14. Testimony of the Sunnah to its proof
15. Some of what may or may not happen to the Prophets
16. Deception by false testimony?
17. Silence as a decisive proof?
18. The ‘Dhikr’ also encompasses the Sunnah
19. The ‘Dhikr’: Qur’an & Sunnah are protected
20. A brief overview of the period of ‘Sunnah recordation’

Part III

1. The Seal of Prophethood
2. An excellence that exceeds all others
3. All previous Prophetic laws are abrogated
4. ‘If my companion Moses was alive, he would be following me’
5. Prohibition relating to excessive questioning
6. Permissibility is the original or default ruling
7. What is the original ruling concerning worship?
8. A ‘Sunnah Tarkiyah’?
9. Actions are by intentions
10. Islam is the complete Deen
11. Prophet Muhammad permits all the good, outlaws all the evil
12. Verily, Allah does not command indecency

About the author

Born in Mecca (Friday 8 November 1946), Professor Muḥammad ibn Abdullah al-Mas’ari (may Allah preserve him) is from the Dawāsir tribe, which is the modern name for the famous tribe of Hamdān and hails from a distinguished and scholarly family.  His father, Sheikh Abdullah ibn Sulaymān ibn Abdur-Raḥman ibn Muḥammad al-Mas’ari, may Allah have mercy upon him (b. 1918 / d. 2005) was a learned scholar and one of the distinguished students of Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhim al-Sheikh, may Allah have mercy upon him. He also held several distinguished posts from early on, from being an assistant judge to Sheikh ‘Abdal-Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Bāz, to becoming vice-President and later President of the Board of Grievances (Diwān al-Mathālim; the Supreme Administrative and Constitutional Court), and a Professor of Islamic studies at Dar al-Tawḥeed, in Ṭā’if.

His maternal grandfather was the distinguished Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Abdur-Razzāq (d. 1973), the founder of Dar al-Ḥadith Academy in Mecca and al-Imām al-Ḥaramayn, of Medina and Mecca.
Naturally growing up in this distinguished scholarly environment Professor Muḥammad al-Mas’ari was an outstanding student from a young age, benefiting enormously from study circles with his father and his associates.  He has always had an insatiable desire for knowledge, leading him to peruse the rich collection of works from his father’s library, covering both the Islamic sciences, philosophy and literature.  A very early example of this, is the study he undertook of Majmu’ al-Fatāwa, which is Ibn Taymiyyah’s acclaimed work consisting of some 40 Volumes, following its publication in 1963.  That study included a complete critical reading of the text accompanied with detailed comments, observations and criticisms.

In tandem with his studies in various branches of Islamic sciences, Muḥammad al-Mas’ari is also Professor Emeritus of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics.  Published widely in the field of solar energy conversion, solid-state devices and QCD (quantum chromodynamics), some of his key achievements have been designing the first prototype electric car and the calculation of the Top-Quark mass within the framework of the renormalisation group equations.

However, it is his Islamic works that have made a quantum leap in contemporary Islamic thought, notable works include:

• The Seal of Prophethood
• Prohibition of building Mosques on Graves
• Najd and the Horn of the Devil
• The Constitution of Medina
• Ḥākimiyyah and the Sovereignty of Sharī’ah
• The Awaited Promised Mahdi

Professor Muḥammad al-Mas’ari lives in exile in London since 1994, where he currently continues his research and writing.

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