Islamic Book Review

Many people want to know how to write an Islamic book review. A book review has a valuable contribution to the readership and acceptance of a particular book by an author. Reader’s valuable opinion, observation, and comment about the book is a book review. Today we are discussing briefly what is a book review, how to write a proper book review, and what to keep in mind while writing.

What is a Book Review?

A possible answer is just your reaction or feeling after reading a book. Your opinion on why others should read this book. If you feel that the book is too bad for you or that you have wasted time reading it – that is also a book review. It’s much liked the quality of a product so that others who read your reviews are interested or wary.

Review means looking back. That is, after reading a book, not just as a reader, but as an intelligent critic, a lengthy discussion on various topics, starting from the naming of the book, the motif or biography of the book, writing style, diction, application of contemporaneity with the subject, etc. The work of the literary critic is to look at the both good and bad sides of the book with a dispassionate eye and understand it correctly and then present it positively and in words, not just ‘fault finding’.

Purpose of an Islamic Book Review

A good review provides an overall idea about the particular book to the readers. By this, public or readers realizes the demand of the book. Because the reader can know in advance about the author, character, genre, biography, etc. as a result, the readers are interested in reading the book. Again, if the content of the book is against certain beliefs, customs, cultures, or people, then the readers will not like it and they can avoid that. All types of books are not suitable for all types and all ages of readers. A good review informs readers about what age and type of readers the book is suitable for. Therefore, the main purpose of writing an Islamic book review is to present general information and a clear idea about the particular book to the readers.

Write an Islamic Book Review

Consider Your Writing Ability

Your competence to write about something is your writing ability. Although we usually consider writing an easy task, writing a proper and meaningful review is always extraordinary in its quality. So, long-term practice, more studies, sufficient knowledge, and regular habits of writing about any subject will make you more capable of writing an Islamic book review.

Start Planning Your Writing

Planning is a must-need subject to write a review. Choosing which book you want to review, for what purpose, for what kind of audience, how you will present it to the readers, etc. means planning in this regard. You will not be able to write a meaningful review without a proper plan for the specific topic or subject.

Select a Particular Book to Review

After your plan for writing a review, you should select a particular book. You may come on over to a library, bookstore, or Islamic website with e-books. Then search for a book about your interested subject. It may be a book of Tafsir, Islamic history, Islamic finance, ethical issues, Spiritual beliefs, Islamic science, etc. read the table of content. If it is nice for pick up, you may select the book for your writing.

Start Reading Your Selected Book

An experienced writer is a proficient reader indeed. Especially in writing an Islamic book review, reading is the must-needed and most important thing. Because you will get the overall idea and elements through reading. Reading is also a part of your research.

To write an Islamic book review you must have a lot of knowledge about the particular subject. Because, like any story, novel, or fictional drama book, you cannot refute an Islamic book with your own opinion. So, for this, you need to be quite diligent and study a lot.

Research for Extra Elements

Although you have finished reading your selected book, there is again some lacking in your content. So, you will now feel the importance of research. You may research the writer or author, publisher, acceptance of readers, the central theme of the selected book, characters inside the content, etc. Related research will make you proficient in presenting a clear view of your review.

Start Your Writing

To be honest, you can write an Islamic book review as you wish. It has no structural model, no specific grammar to begin with, and no special rules to end. After your research about all elements, you only need to organize your content in a good way. Although there are no hard and fast rules for reviewing books, you have to organize them properly so that your audiences can get the most out of them. Here, we have organized our idea of writing an Islamic book review in a smooth method. In your review, you can come through the following arrangement indeed.

1. Basic Information in the Beginning

At the beginning of writing an Islamic book review, provide some basic and background information about a book. For example, the name of the book, the translator (if it is translated), author, publication date, publishing company, number of pages, price, in which context it was written, etc. should be included at the beginning.

2. Attractive Introduction

An introduction is the key point of any article. Try to add an attractive introduction about the selected topic. Keep your words as short and catchy as possible here. Tell the readers about the genre of the book like Tafsir, History, Poetry, Biography, spiritual, etc. Also, mention the age group of readers the book is suitable for.

3. Description

This part is the main body of your writing. In this part, you will thoroughly dissect the book with your intelligence. Discuss the summary of the content of the book. appreciate the text from the author’s point of view. Give a brief idea of the main theme, characters, plot, hype, Thrill, Excitement, etc. but in this case, you must be careful about giving the whole story or an exhaustive explanation of the subject matter here. Because of it, the readers will lose their reading interest in the book. As this is an Islamic book review, avoid the irrelevant discussion as much as possible. If you want you can quote two or three quotes from the certain book and briefly explain them in your words. By doing this, readers will be interested in the book. Finally, this section will bring up the complete summary of your desired topic.

4. Your Opinion

After your relevant and brief explanation, your valuable opinion about the book is very important. How much the book seems acceptable to you, how much the author has made the book easy to understand, how much the basic context has been brought out, which issues are important to you, which issues you have doubts about, etc. can be presented in front of the readers with a brief reason. Also mention, if any other books you have read are similar to this, and where you find inconsistencies. Indeed, tell readers if the content of the book grabs you, or if any history is mispresented in this book.

5. Your Recommendation

Since you are providing an Islamic book review, you can recommend the book to the readers keeping in mind its quality and requirements. You may advise readers to stay away from the book if it is unnecessary and contrary to Islamic values, or if there is concern that the book may cause extremism or disorder. Not much recommendation is needed in this case. Leave it up to the reader’s will.

6.Your Rating

You may add a rating on the overall acceptance and contents of the book. For example: How much do you think the book would get out of ten? Remember, your accurate rating will help other readers get an initial impression of the book.

7. Conclusion

Keep your last words interesting. Try to end the review with some positive sentences. That doesn’t mean you should praise the writing even if the book doesn’t seem like a good read. So, Be honest and neutral in this regard.

Remember the Following Things

Pay attention while reading the book. One should try to understand the book with an open mind, excluding preconceived notions of good or bad. While reading the necessary points, you should note or marke them. You should be able to capture the intention of the way the book is intended to be understood by the author. It will be unfair to the author to criticize him without understanding or under-understanding. Lastly, remember, you have to be humble and unbiased. You have to be honest. Do not praise unduly, nor condemn in vain while writing an Islamic book review.

Since you are trying to tell people about the book then the book will be known. That is, what kind of book is it – History or Poetry, Spiritual or Informative, Islamic ethics or science, economic or political? Who is the author of the book? If there is any special identity of the author, it can be mentioned. Which is the publisher of the book, and in what year the book was published – such information will also be beneficial for the reader.

What kind of reader is the book suitable for? That is, whether a certain age or qualification is required to understand the book. What can they benefit from reading the book? In what cases can the knowledge of this book be useful? Not all books will be knowledgeable. So, whether there will be entertainment, whether you will have fun, whether you will have a good time!

The content of the book can be summarized so that the reader gets a little idea. By knowing the summary, the reader can decide whether to read the book or not.

The writer’s skill is context. That is, how much he has been able to express the subject he has written about. How much expert has been introduced by the author, how deep he has been able to go, how much he has been able to say, how much he has been able to teach something new? You can tell whether the book is his original work or a copy-paste brand.

While writing an Islamic book review, keep in mind that you are not writing the whole story, but the gist of the story. So, the shorter and more informative it is, the better it will appeal to the reader. Write with enough mystery to make readers interested in the book. If reading the review does not create interest in the mind of the reader, then you should understand that the review is not proper.

You can tell the commendable aspects of the book in your review. You can write about what makes the writer pleased, and what makes you happy. How much has the writer been able to stir the reader, how much has he been able to provoke thoughts, and how much has he been able to get emotional?

Talk about how much you liked reading the book, how bad it was, and how it affected you. If you have any quote-dialogue character that you like very much, you can also mention it in your Islamic book review.

You can point out the inconsistencies in the book. If there is any informational error, contextual discrepancy, or presentation error, please inform the reader. If something seems strange to you, if it seems crazy, if you see the author’s objective dishonesty, you can also point out the evidence

Which is the Best Review?

As mentioned earlier there is no fixed model for writing an Islamic book review. So, which is the best review? The answer is how many points you can bring up in your review. There may be more than what I mentioned above. The data has no serial or continuity. You can present the information however you see fit. Now you will see the question of your skill in discussion-criticism of the book or author. How constructively you have expressed this opinion, how beautifully you have presented your review! Readers reading your review will also review how well they’ve learned!

Conclusion

As compared to conventional books, some special care and caution should be taken in writing an Islamic book review. In this case, you have to be more precise also. So, your competence, honesty, research, study, and impartiality are essential when writing an acceptable and meaningful book review. Book reviews include the book’s acceptability, value, and author’s value to the readers. It also creates demand for the book among readers. Therefore, it is very important to consider the above-mentioned points for presenting your overview, opinion, and recommendation through a proper book review.