The Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and The Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi S Paperback – January 1, 2008

Faraz Rabbani writes this book as a very good manual for Muslims following the Hanafi School of Madhab. Shaykh Faraz Rabbani has approached this text in very simple terms with the goal – to educate in the basics and essentials we need to follow for Islam. Through the following excerpt in his book, he establishes this goal by further proving it with a verse from the Qur’an.Shaykh Faraz Rabbani writes: “God has commanded us to worship and obey Him, with sincerity, out of reverence, love, and thankfulness. He says in the Qur'an, "And they are ordered only to serve God, keeping religion pure for Him, to remain upright, and to establish worship and to pay the poor-due. That is true religion" (Qur'an, 98:5).”I really enjoyed how Shaykh Faraz Rabbani wrote out these chapters. Each chapter begins with verses of the Qur’an speaking of its’ characteristics. He then coupled this with listing basics and obligatory acts for each of these essentials. The fact that this book was written just including these basics, it is a very good manual a Muslim can refer to ongoingly. Every time I do Ablution, or Wudu, I can look up the handy list of obligatory acts as a refresher and make sure I’m not missing anything whilst I perform this act. I recommend everyone to have this copy on hand and refer to this book from time to time to ensure our basics are being covered accurately and soundly.

This book is great for those that want the barebones of what it is to be a Muslim. Very simple and straightforward. I recommend this to the new and those who wish to have a refresher on the basics time to time!

This text is superb. It's extremely concise without sacrificing on technical accuracy. It presents beliefs and ritual practice exactly as they've been traditionally presented by Muslim scholars for centuries, but without getting into details that someone really doesn't need to worry about until much later. For new Muslims, there's probably no better first book to rely on as a guide.

Excellent resource for Hanafi fiqh. I bought one copy and gave it to my brother in law who was taught Hanafi fiqh as a child and then bought another copy for my wife's personal usage. I wonder if there is a secondary book written by Shaykh Faraz regarding the other pillars.

I used this book to follow up the lecture/video class of the author. Useful to complete the course.

This book has such valuable information! I am glad I was able to learn about it and obtain this updated version of this great book.

I have only been through the book lightly, but there seems to be a lot of consistent information for any Muslim looking forward to learning more about the Hanafi Mathab. I believe this book to be beneficial. Obviously, the author doesn't go in depth as to the whys one must do this or that, or what exactly influenced this opinion in the Hanafi school of thought, but it's very useful if you want to put yourself into action.The book is rather short and straight to the point, but it's of a good quality. As previously mentioned, it may miss some in depth consistency, but it does not fail to accomplish its own mission statement: to increase the knowledge of a Muslim following the Hanafi fiqh, and to apply it in his own lifestyle in a short amount of time.Definitely recommend. The only down side - and that seems to be the case quite often with books dealing with the deen - is that it's a bit pricy in my opinion.

This book, alone with the guidance of an Imam or scholar, is perfect for a convert.