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Here are items I have found most helpful in my study of Islam. -- S. Smith
Editions of the Quran: I like the relative dryness of the Dawood translation (Penguin), which also has a useful index. The new Haleem translation (Oxford) is sound and has a good index as well. At times you will want to consult a fully annotated Muslim version like The Holy Quran translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, partly for explanations of the original context of the Quran's various parts. Michael Sells' Approaching the Qur'an contains great recordings and analyses of actual recitation. A good online Quran resource is http://www.quranexplorer.com
Hadiths: the authoritative Bukhari and Muslim collections are available online:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/
I've found A Manual of Hadith by Maulana Muhammad Ali (considered a modernist Muslim) very useful. Each topical section begins with relevant verses from the Quran and proceeds to the most relevant items amongst the authoritative hadiths.
For a general introduction to Islamic history and the practices of Islamic communities, Frederick Denny's Islam and the Muslim Community is well-informed, intelligent, sympathetic, and readable. For a more critical approach see Andrew Rippin, Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. John Esposito's Islam: The Straight Path is especially good for an overview of Islamic renewal movements in the last several centuries.
A wonderful anthology of historic primary material relating to various vital issues of faith and practice is Frank Peters' Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in three volumes.
For the history and theology of Sufism, see Anne-Marie Schimmel's Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Schimmel also has one of the best books on the famous Rumi, The Triumphal Sun. Amazing Sufis other than Rumi include Rabi'a--see Doorkeeper of the Heart, trans. Charles Upton; al-Hallaj--see Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr by Louis Massignon; and Ibn al-'Arabi--see The Sufi Path of Knowledge and subsequent works by William Chittick.
My favorite Muslim classic in philosophical theology/philosophy of religion is al-Ghazali's short autobiography, of which the best translation is The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali by W. Montgomery Watt.
For the feel of Muslim life as different Muslims live it differently, I've found two Egyptian perspectives especially illuminating: Palace Walk, the first novel in Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy, and Leila Ahmed's memoir A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--A Woman's Journey. V. S. Naipaul's Beyond Belief is somewhat obstreperous but absorbing and important on how Muslims relate to the contemporary world.
To see what faithful Muslim feminism can look like, and for some up-to-date exegesis of the Quran, I recommend Amina Wadud's Quran and Woman. Very controversial among Muslims.
Finally, Naguib Mahfouz's Children of Gebelaawi, an allegorical novel dealing with the roles of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and modern science in human history, is extremely thought-provoking and will make it harder for you to see the Abrahamic faiths as simply fixed and separate. The Philip Stewart translation published by Passeggiata Press is better than the later Anchor release called Children of the Alley.
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