The status of comparative religion should fit into a category between history and religious practice. Comparative religion in its highest sense is a description that ‘compares’, ‘explains’ and shows a ‘continuity’ of religious beliefs with the stress on continuity of the same. So it is based on the ‘passing of the torch’ idea from one religious community to the next. In my opinion, it is a higher science than just pure history that relates facts but it is lower than the expressions given by duties owed by the creation to the Creator. In other words, it falls short on the expressions and deeds done for the sake of the One Creator Lord.

It would be a mistake to use comparative religion as a boring show and tell session on the nature and practices of various religions basically because this type of action provides little respect for the reasons behind religion in the first place. The major goal of any substantive and true religion is for one and only one purpose. That purpose is the ‘final goal’ for man’s destiny which is SALVATION if that is truly what is in his secret compartment of the heart. But that salvation is not based on man’s whims or else he becomes a ‘god’ dictating to himself and manufacturing his outcomes to suit his peculiar notions.

True history and religious practices along with the ideals set forth by religious philosophy can give a bigger picture to what has occurred in the development of religion. True history, however, becomes more important than showing religious customs between the various religious sects as these may be varied. That is part of the weakness of comparative religion but it is also one of its strengths. So now we have history and ideals to deal with which in combination with philosophy, herein called Islamic philosophy, can give a truer picture of events in the past, events currently taking place and some events that were foretold for ‘future times’.

The highest form of belief comes from the implementation of the practices and procedures as set down by the established founder or bringer of that particular faith with the UNDERSTANDING of the same. Hence, the great need for rightly guided scholars who don’t care much for the importance of their audience but do care a whole lot more for the truth. This is a description of a rare breed of individual – knowledgeable scholars. Knowledgeable scholars are greatly needed to present ‘facts and opinions’ that are truthful, relevant and up-to-date without throwing away the core meaning intended by the original messenger sent to enlighten that nation or mankind as a whole.

The case of ‘Jihad’ or ‘Slavery’ as to what, where, when, why and how is a case in point as to the relevance of the same and the dangers of the same. Otherwise, some can come in to the fold and offer their so-called ‘wisdom’ which turns out to be nothing but poppycock and dangerous poppycock indeed!

What do I mean by ‘dangers of the same’? Well, that was covered in one of my books but essentially the danger of misinterpretation leading to creating a falsehood (usually surrounded by great emotional appeals) without the extensive knowledge about how many other traditions of the religious founder’s other sayings are being trashed or thrown in the garbage.

Another case is the bugaboo of slavery. Certain kinds of slavery are legal. So should people revel and rejoice in trying to get slaves to be slaves? Absolutely not and that was never a rightly guided opinion. In fact, when unethical and immoral man used slavery as a reality, it became a barbarous, cruel and evil practice used for the exploitation of another human being. The original practice set forth in Islam was for the development, edification, freedom and salvation of that human being. So it is better not to have slavery in most societies not because a certain type of slavery is wrong but because the vast majority of human beings can’t handle it correctly and damage their own souls in the process.

Anyway, the weakness of comparative religion is in its not bringing out the ‘finer points’ of religious behavior called ways and practices of the religion or Sunnah of that religion as rightly guided practices as real scholars are supposed to do. However, comparative religion can be used as a learning tool to generate an appreciation for the ONENESS and UNIQENESS of the One God in His relationship to mankind as well as the religious continuity throughout the ages if man would have it (he still has his free will to struggle along the pathway that leads to salvation or his choice may be to bow down to his carnal and selfish desires inspired by the evil ones and their perverted suggestions). Comparative religion also proclaims the importance of following these approved religious practices but of course does not go into detail about how to perform them.

If this sounds confusing perhaps it is best to show an example. The example chosen comes from the Book of Isaiah chapter 19, verses 20-25.

And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a savior and a great one and He {God} shall deliver them.

And the Lord shall be known to Egypt and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it.

And the Lord shall smite Egypt: He shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord and He shall be entreated of them and shall heal them.

In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land.

Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel mine inheritance.”

Prophet Isaiah (pbh) lived and wrote in the 8th century BC. There is some controversy about his book as to whether it was all written by him. However, most believe that the vast majority if not his entire book originally came from the man called Isaiah. Fortunately, we have the Dead Sea Scroll version of Isaiah (pbh) which is a copy of some manuscript that can be verified to be over 2,100 years old.

The manuscript is important for several reasons and one of them is historical so that a person can see important developments unfold. Always it is best to say, “Allah (SWT) alone knows best” but Isaiah’s book contains some interesting and well founded insights as to what has happened in the past which also reflects on things that are current and has some relevancy for the future and why things will be what they will be.

In some parts of Isaiah’s work the believing Jews are lauded because of their tenacity to hold on to their beliefs. However, they remained a tiny minority and, as a result, Isaiah (pbh) lashes out at the majority of the Jews (as understood as to why Israel will be disgraced) because of three characteristics: they love the world and therefore have given up on the One God idea but rather offhandedly incorporate that into their worship. Secondly, they are fond of injustice and find ways to squeeze other people into suffering for their sadistic pleasure. Finally, they are arrogant by proclaiming that they are God’s ‘chosen people’ in a gross misinterpretation of their scriptures.

Another thing that pops out of this book is the description of the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary (pbh) and his role as the ‘Suffering Servant’. Now Jesus (pbh) is who he said he was or quite frankly he was a liar and a devil to proclaim what he said. Besides, his true followers knew him and proclaimed him as the real Messiah. The Jews, however, say that this ‘Suffering Servant’ is the modern state of Israel and a debate among them and the other religions that came after will not be appreciated especially if the Jews are pressed to the wall for a straight answer to the question, ‘Is Jesus the real Messiah’? If they answer yes they are cooked because ‘by their fruits you will know them’ and if they answer no and are correct then Jesus comes out looking much worse than a fraud.

Isaiah (pbh) also talks about Arabs, Prophet Muhammad (pbh) and Islam among other things. However, it was not his job to jump so far into the future that he will be talking about the end of time. Basically, since other prophets are coming after him including the importance of Jesus (pbh), his main thrust will be concerned with covering the so-called ‘Jewish thing’ up to and including Jesus (pbh). Yes, at times he will go beyond that point of 2,000 years advanced prophecy but these things are NOT covered in any great detail.

An amazing thing, however, is discussed and is found in Isaiah (19: 20-25?). Who is this ‘savior and great one’? Can it be proven historically and logically? Yes, it can with honest research but the research has to be honest and logical! Although the name of the individual so prophesied as being a ‘savior and great one’ is not mentioned, the history of the region and the goings on at key time periods are well known by those who care to study the ‘time frame’ given.

Previous to verse 20 from chapter 19 in Isaiah’s book we find an accurate description of the people and kingdoms of Egypt. Many centuries before this time they may have thought of themselves as ‘lords’ of this world with all the goings on between the various pharaoh-type led dynasties and the outer world but their backs were essentially broken when they decided to go against one of Allah’s greatest servants Moses (pbh). After that time they engaged in a downward spiral of infighting and lackluster warfare that netted them more redundancy than success and one can find their spiraling downwards as can be gleaned from chapter 19.

They and their pagan gods and ways gave them nothing but headaches. Maybe one of their biggest claims to fame would be their resistance to the modern organized religions that followed one after the other (Judaism and the then called Christianity). There were some Jews living in Egypt but Judaism never really caught on. As for Christianity it had a greater success than Judaism but still shared center stage with paganism and Gnostic beliefs. That is not a surprise because twisted Gnostic beliefs can be likened to revamped paganism with a facelift. Besides this, the Egyptians were bounced around like a ball between Persian interests and Roman interests so they didn’t feel very well disposed to being conquered again and again.

So far one thing is certain about this ‘menagerie’. They are far from becoming the ‘Lord’s people’ and they are just not going to join any brotherhood with the ‘Assyrians’ unless of course they were to intend some backstabbing mischief. Those ancient Egyptians were just too good in their own eyes to think of the Assyrian people as their equals.

Things do change, however, just like the prophet Isaiah (pbh) wrote about. He wrote that the One God would change things and He did!

The Assyria of Isaiah’s time and past his time (we are dealing with a future prophecy here but in Biblical language) included Lebanon, the vast majority of Palestine, all of Syria, Jordan, Iraq, parts of Iran and a few other smaller territories reaching up to parts of modern day Turkey. In modern times this area for all intent and purposes has become known as ‘The Fertile Crescent’.

It should be remembered, known and admitted that over 90% of this area claims to be Islamic at least in one form or the other and that will become a very important key point when discussing Isaiah’s prophecy about who this ‘key’ personage is who was called in the Jewish holy book as a savior and a great one.

We know that Jesus (pbh) can be called a savior and a great one but he definitely doesn’t fit with this prophecy because things did not unfold that way and this can be seen in verses 21 through 24. Besides, the Egyptians didn’t know ‘the Lord in that day’ and the sacrifice and oblation that they did, if one talks about the majority, was to foreign gods and concepts. Just a look at the fairytale book called, The Gospel of Judas is enough to give one pause and these are so-called Christians who must have been a step up from the much loved paganism.

We do have a key word which is historically and beautifully accurate. This word is ‘oppressors’. The Egyptian people have never liked conquerors that ruled over them but being weak they were not in a position to throw off their oppressors. Who were these oppressors that Isaiah (pbh) talks about and can we prove it? Yes, it is provable.

Just before the entrance of Islam to Egypt, the Egyptian high priest of Christian fame of the Coptic variety supposedly sent a message to the Christian population to ‘welcome’ the soon to be conquering Muslim army as the character of these people were light years ahead of the ‘Roman oppressors’ who dominated their society. To be fair to the Romans they were worldly fair but worldly fair is often a sham and hypocrisy. Anyway, this letter is said to be still in existence.

When Islam came into Egypt, things changed fairly rapidly. Remember Judaism had many centuries of going at it in Egypt but hardly made any headway. Christianity had its try over the centuries and didn’t make much headway either but outshone Judaism over the long haul and did make some advances.

So far we can get up to the time just before the entrance of Islam into Egypt and nothing of the prophecy of Isaiah (pbh) as shown above in his writings is coming true. There is no common thread of ‘brotherhood’ being shown throughout these vast territories spoken of by Isaiah (pbh) and the vast majority of Egyptians are not believing in the One God.

The entrance as to the spread of Islam changed all of that ‘in those days’ and such was the power of the many great Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbh) that things really changed in huge ways. That can be discussed later but the mystery man still eludes us as to who is mentioned as ‘a savior and a great one’.

The answer is not really difficult to find because there is only one logical person who fits the category of that which is described in Isaiah (pbh) chapter 19 verse 20.

Some may be thinking that I will say it was The Prophet (pbh). That is not correct for many reasons. One of the reasons is that he is far greater than that description and has greater accolades than that. There are a lot of other reasons (historical and time-wise) which show that these verses in Isaiah (pbh) can’t refer to him.

The major key in finding out who this person was is in understanding his position he attained to, the meaning of that position and the most important element in all of this is the bringing in a whole host of believers in Egypt, the vast lands of Assyria and most importantly the territory of Jerusalem under the unified banner of brotherhood and real belief. If a person can’t do that then he isn’t going to be considered ‘a savior and a great one’ according to Isaiah’s prophecy.

Before we get to that blessed individual who did accomplish these things let us go back in time to the period known as 8 AH. Islam was building steam under the banner of the spirit of truth but the diehard hypocrites and the Jews of Arabia were bent on destroying it. The Arabian Jews had long prophesied the coming of a new prophet who would truly be their savior and Messiah. The real Messiah came and went centuries before this but so what. Confronted with the growth of infant Islam it seemed like only a matter of time that the new movement would be crushed and enough were the pagan Arabs and Arabian Jews to do the job. They failed as the beauty of the pure worship of One God grew stronger and stronger.

In 8 AH, Prophet Muhammad (pbh) sent out letters to the leaders of the world in those days and one letter came to the Roman Emperor who made a telling speech about how Prophet Muhammad (pbh) was true. However that may be, he later engaged in warfare at various times to stop the growth of Islam but he and his minions failed miserably.

When the Jews and the Arab hypocrites saw the tide turning against them, they appealed to this Roman Emperor to stop Islam and crush it. So the first contest between the Romans and Muslims came at the battle of Mu’tah where 100,000 Roman soldiers came against 3,000 valiant Muslim soldiers. It was a vicious battle but the Romans left the battlefield humiliated by their enemy’s small but brave stand.

Next came the conquering of the city of Makkah, the birthplace of the holy, blessed and chosen one from the Creator Lord – the Prophet for not one nation but the whole world was he sent. With his head bowed in humility, he entered the city with his 10,000 strong force and the people in awe and fear found that he (pbh) came not to punish but to Praise Allah. Overwhelmingly the veils of ignorance and hatred for TRUTH dissolved and they swore allegiance to him and Allah.

This drove the hypocrites and Arabian Jews towards insanity and they appealed to the Roman Emperor and the pagan Persians to come and destroy the seeds of real faith. The Roman Emperor and the Persians did what they could do but they were constantly being humiliated on the battlefield even when they had far superior numbers. The Romans were losing territories at an alarming rate so they wanted to keep all their tax benefits in place plus the extra land areas giving them comfort and materialistic gains and the idea of worshiping the One God in truth didn’t appeal to most of them. The concept of using lip service to their Creator and a priest class appealed to them but an earnest belief did not.

The mop up campaign for the Arabian Peninsula began in earnest as the awe of the Prophet (pbh) and his high standard of morals and behavior melted most hearts. But the diehard hypocrites and a little Anti-christ plus a few tribes that held tribalism over truth stood in the way of total 100% love for Islam. And so Islam still did not succeed in making the Arabian Peninsula completely Muslim. The game was virtually over and flocks of new converts were pouring in from all over the territories.

With the true faith firmly established and with thousands of sincere believers in the fold it looked like the whole Earth was ready to fall. But 11 AH came and with it the alarming news that the Prophet (pbh) had died. This was the day that tears ran like a river among the believers but some individuals who were weak in faith or those who joined Islam because even a retarded person could see the ‘benefits’ of such a move, wanted to back off from their new faith.

Wasn’t Muhammad (pbh) supposed to live forever and be the mouthpiece and protector of humanity sent by Allah? Well some people may have thought so but the Prophet (pbh) was only a man and many were the prophets that came before him and died.

A void was created and a position was created also. Prophet Muhammad (pbh) was indeed that special prophet forever immortalized in the world and in the Hereafter with his name being connected with the Creator Lord in the affirmation of faith but he was only a man.

Another man must step forward even though the line of the prophets had come to an end. This man must be a representative of the sacred trust in carrying out the duties of leading the believers in the quest for Paradise and maintenance of True Faith. This man would be given the title of “Commander of the Faithful”.

That man’s blessed name is Abu Bakr whose job was to cement the faithful as one unit, keep the faith pure and in a healthy condition. That he did because he was the best human being on the planet at that time and his character traits were a thing of great beauty. His reign lasted only about two years and he cleaned out the nests of liars, hypocrites and commanded the force that killed one of the small Anti-christs of the day. He also was involved in sending armies to Iraq, Syria and in taking on some Persian elements but much of Syria and Iraq remained out of the hands of the Muslims. Definitely Egypt and Palestine were firmly out of bounds during his reign as ‘Commander of the Faithful’.

As great as this man was, he is still not the one who was prophesied by Isaiah (pbh). Just cleaning out the scum from Arabia and making some advances past the boarder doesn’t qualify him to be that person mentioned by Isaiah because what about the rest of the territories and the state of Jerusalem? So far we haven’t found the man yet who could rightfully be entitled to be called a ‘savior and a great one’.

After the death of Abu Bakr came The Man! His name was ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab. Nobody could touch Abu Bakr’s strength of character and devoutness but one man came extremely close. He was the next in line to be Commander of the Faithful and his reign of ten fruitful and productive years is legendary.  Under his command and planning, the conquests of Damascus, Iraq, Jordan, Persia, Syria, Palestine, Khurasan, Baluchistan, Armenia and finally Egypt came under the sway of Islam to be introduced to a brotherhood that was never seen before.

This did not mean that evil would vanish from the face of the Earth. During Caliph ‘Umar’s ten year reign, many battles were fought between the Roman forces and the pesky Persian forces (the two warring territories that controlled the ‘known’ world at that time). These factions did not want to give up huge territories nor did they relish a change of lifestyle different from their own. Islam came to set men free from the corrupt societies and to usher in true justice, peace and brotherhood of equality for all levels of society especially for the downtrodden and the common man. A man’s worth was based on his piety and religious knowledge not on skin color or position –especially under the reign of ‘Umar.

Books have been written about this man and his character and accomplishments. Truly no man on the face of the Earth at that time was his equal. In fact the first two Caliphs after the death of Prophet Muhammad (pbh) were so honored that they remain buried very close to his grave – Abu Bakr to his right and ‘Umar to his left. And Islam remained as a strong and impressive force for the freedom of believing people to give praise to the One True God Who created all things.

The important thing now is to see these things in the light of what Isaiah (pbh) had to say rather than eulogizing any man. Many interesting things have been written about this era and the reader can obtain various quality of books that go onto explain the politics and the actions of those days and the stories that have held people in awe even up to this day.

1. When were the Egyptians delivered from the oppressors? When the Roman army was kicked out of Egypt and Islam was introduced to the people.

2. When did the vast majority of Egyptians know the One God and do sacrifice and worship to Him Alone?  When Islam was introduced to the Egyptian populace and they fell in love with the Justice, fairness and peace that came about.

3. When were the Egyptians tormented and then healed? They were beaten like a ball between various factions of Romans and Persian conquests and reduced to beleaguered beggars until Islam made them walk upright.

4. When did the Egyptians and Assyrians (from vast territories) serve together in brotherhood instead of looking to slit each other’s throats? When Islam ruled the day and other religions paid the ‘Jizyah’ tax for having the freedom to worship as they pleased – as long as they didn’t promote trouble in conspiring against true worship.

5. When did Israel (Palestine-Jerusalem) join hands with Egypt and the Assyrian territories and become a place of blessedness free from the slaughter of Roman and sectarian violence of butchering various creeds? When the ‘land of the prophets’ was cleaned from its filth and Jerusalem once again became the third holiest site in the entire world.

Verse 25 admittedly may pose a problem. First, one can say that Egypt returned unto the Lord Who is the One and Only God. That Assyria being a part of the ‘fertile crescent’ became like a garden but more importantly by Allah’s Will the back of the ‘evils’ of false religion was broken. In other words, the garbage tales and false doctrines, which had infested the other religions with ‘tales of the ancients’, was for all intense and purposes stamped out by Islamic activities (see the article concerning Islam and the Rise and Fall of the Teachings of Jesus). Secondly, Israel especially Jerusalem, which is meant here, was cleaned from its wretched history of barbaric acts in the name of religion and from the filth of Roman domination and became (fulfilled) Allah’s inheritance.

However, it is quite possible that verse 25 refers to the future appearance of the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary (pbh) (his second coming) in that the paradise on Earth being under one religion and brotherhood again will rejoice in harmony and unity of purpose in serving only Allah as Lord.

The major thrust for acceptance of this idea is that there will be a paradise on Earth with harmony and unity of worship and that the Islamic period during ‘Umar’s reign did not make a ‘perfection’ on Earth nor did 100% of the people become one in understanding. That is true enough but perhaps people might forget one important thing. The entropy in that paradise as that will occur at some time after Jesus the son of Mary (pbh) enters the grave because he must like all men die.

How long this kingdom will last is only expressed in the New Testament as the ‘thousand year reign’ but we need not go into that except to say that the thousand year reign is supposed to be the thousand year standard of excellence of unity and harmony and then the kingdom starts to break apart at a certain steady pace until a certain breeze will be sent by the Creator Lord. What is important is the Islamic viewpoint that a wind will be sent to take out of the world anyone with a mustard seed of goodness in their heart and what will be left will be the trash of humanity or what I call Satan’s kingdom or the 5th Age of Man. This age features the occurrence of when the Quran and Allah’s Mercy is completely withdrawn and the Kabah in Makkah is destroyed. This must be so because this is the Earth and not the Paradise of the heavens that shall last for eternity.

So the argument suggesting that the reign of ‘Umar brought in only a temporal peace and that one can look at modern times and see only kingdoms and not unified brotherhood is not completely convincing.

Whatever the case may be without being dogmatic about it, the interpretation can go both ways as this verse could fit both ways. Verses 20-24, however, can only be about ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab because those conditions were fulfilled historically only under his leadership of the faithful – those brave souls who not only talked Islam but actually lived it. And to those people whose hearts showed no treachery or deceit, no matter their nationality, goes the honor given to them.

Some people may come and say, “No, all of these verses are about the second coming of Jesus (pbh) but that is nonsense and shows arrogance. That would imply that the Egyptians are worthless human beings who won’t know, serve or love God until they become such and such a religion (theirs) or until the second coming of Jesus (pbh). Not only that but they are a people being oppressed by Islam and that is who the oppressors are. That nonsense is not going to get anywhere except in the minds of delusional people who feed on such arrogant swill.

Sometimes it is good to ‘kill two birds with one stone’. What has been presented here in this show of how comparative religion works also serves another function. That function can be used to ‘guide’ a person through the sometime confusing waters of today by the saying, “which Islam is the right Islam?” To answer that question is fairly simple.

Any notion of any so-called believer attacking the first two Caliphs or abusing them is definitely a tipoff to a form of strange behavior. In other words, Holy Scripture says one thing but false, abusive, demented and pretend-type so-called scholars may say quite a different thing. The Word of God is far, far superior to the words of a half-wit. So, man has to be careful to follow only those who know Islam and not some false pretender or rabble rouser who defies logic in order to protect a devious and crooked belief.

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger (pbh) as saying, “Among the nations before your time there have been inspired people and if there is one among my people he is ‘Umar.”     (Bukhari and Muslim)

Sa’d b. Abu Waqqas told that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattab asked permission from God’s Messenger (pbh) to enter when there were with him some women of Quraish who were talking volubly to him with loud voices. They got up when ‘Umar asked permission and hastened to veil themselves and when ‘Umar entered God’s Messenger (pbh) was smiling so he said, “God keep you smiling Messenger of God!” The Prophet replied, “I was astonished at these women who are with me, for when they heard your voice they hastened to veil themselves.” ‘Umar then said, “Enemies of yourselves, do you stand in awe of me and do not stand in awe of God’s Messenger?” They replied, “Yes, you are more churlish and harsher.” God’s Messenger then said, “Never mind son of Al-Khattab; I swear by Him in Whose hand my soul is that the devil has never met you walking on a mountain-road without going to another one than yours.”     (Bukhari and Muslim)

Shaqiq quoted Hudhaifa as saying, “When we were with ‘Umar he asked which of us remembered the tradition of God’s Messenger (pbh) about the fitna (civil unrest, disturbances and the breakdown of law and order which leads to turmoil and may lead to murder, chaos and mayhem) and I replied that I remembered it just as he had uttered it. Telling me to relate it and remarking that I was daring, he asked how he had spoken and I replied that I had heard God’s Messenger (pbh) say, “A man’s fitna concerns his family, his property, his person, his children and his neighbor for any shortcoming in which atonement may be made by fasting, prayer, sadaqa (charity), recommending what is reputable and reproving what is disreputable.” ‘Umar said that this was not what he meant, for he was thinking of the fitna which swells like the waves of the sea. I asked the Commander of the Faithful what he had to do with it, for between him and it there was a closed door. He asked whether the door would be broken down or opened, and when I replied that it would be broken down he said that it would never likely be closed. Hudhaifa was asked if ‘Umar knew who the door was and he replied that he knew it as well as he knew that a night comes before tomorrow, adding that he had told him a tradition which included no misleading language. They were afraid to ask Hudhaifa who the door was, so they asked Masruq to ask him, and when he did so he replied that it was ‘Umar.     (Bukhari and Muslim)

Those interested in Islam as well as the Caliph ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab can go to the following places.

1. IslamicBookstore.com

2. Read the book, ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab: His Life and Times by Ali Muhammad As-Sallabi

3. Read the book, ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab: The Second Caliph of Islam by Abdul Basit Ahmad