Daily Wisdom: Islamic Prayers and Supplications

This beautiful prayer book is part of a Daily Wisdom series by Kidwai, professor of English at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. It contains 365 short prayers in English with Arabic versions on facing pages. A helpful and detailed index lists topics and related prayers so that the reader can find prayers about, say, worry, children, or illness. The prayers are drawn from the Qur’an and hadith, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The volume includes decorative endpapers and a ribbon marker, making it a nice gift, especially for students of Arabic or those interested in interfaith relations. It also provides a glimpse of Islamic piety, with its emphasis on petitionary prayer and dependence on Allah for meeting needs both daily (a prayer on seeing someone smiling) and extraordinary (a prayer when facing a calamity). (July)