A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam

I.A. Ibrahim — full name Abu Harb Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim — is the author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, one of the most widely distributed introductory English-language da'wah books of the past three decades. First published by Darussalam in 1997, the seventy-four-page illustrated booklet has been printed in millions of copies and translated into more than thirty languages, becoming a default selection at da'wah tables, mosque outreach events, Islamic information centers, and comparative religion courses worldwide.

The book's distinctive structure — three chapters on the evidence for Islam, the benefits of Islam, and general information about Islamic beliefs and practices — combines accessible prose with forty-three full-color illustrations and substantial scientific appendices on topics including embryology, oceanography, meteorology, and geology. Ibrahim assembled an unusually extensive editorial team for a work of its size, including general editors Dr. William Daoud Peachy, Michael Abdul-Hakim Thomas, Tony Abu-Khaliyl Sylvester, Idris Palmer, and Jamaal Zarabozo, alongside science editors drawn from senior academic specialists. The book's careful editorial review, high production quality, and practical brevity have made it uniquely suited to da'wah distribution.

Specific biographical details about Ibrahim's life — birth date, education, current institutional affiliation — have remained deliberately understated; the book's emphasis has consistently been on the content and editorial review process rather than the author's personal profile. The work continues to be reprinted in case-of-fifty bulk dawah editions and remains one of the most consistently stocked English-language introductory Islamic titles in Islamic bookstores worldwide.