KHURRAM MURAD was formerly Director General of the Islamic Foundation. Born in 1932, he studied civil engineering at the Universities of Karachi (BE 1952)and Minnesota, USA (MS 1958), and worked as a leading consulting engineer at Karachi, Dhaka, Tehran and Riyadh. Actively involved in the Islamic movement since 1948, he was President, Islamic Jamiat Talaba, Pakistan (1951-52); a member of the Central Executive, Jama'at Islami Pakistan (1963-77), Amir of its Dhaka branch (1963-71), and has been Deputy Amir of Jama'at Islami, Pakistan since 1987. His written works include Way to the Qur'an; Sacrifice: The Making of a Muslim, apart from a number of books for children and translations of Sayyid Mawdudi's works including Let Us Be Muslims and Witnesses Unto Mankind: The Purpose and Duty of the Muslim Ummah. In SHARP `AH: THE WAY TO GOD, Khurram Murad gives a greatly illuminating and very concise, yet remarkably comprehensive exposition of a burning issue of our times.
For, in the wake of the powerful current of Islamic resurgence, the Shari`ah, in the eyes of friend and foe alike, has come to epitomise the goal towards which Muslims are restlessly trying to advance in quest of their destiny. Yet, paradoxically, nothing in Islam seems to arouse greater misgivings and more intense feelings of fear, hostility and ridicule as does the Shari`ah. Hence the need to understand it is no less compelling than the Muslim desire to implement it. How can it be viewed as the path that man, in Islam, must walk as he toils and strives for his Creator? What are its sources; its compulsive logic for immutability; its dynamics for coping with changed circumstances; its way of resolving tensions between love and law, inner motivations and outer sanctions, form and spirit; its historical development - these and many other important issues have been dealt with in a style which is both convincing and charming.
This booklet can be used to great advantage for explaining what is the Shari`ah.
