Had I been able to devote myself entirely to this task, it should not have taken more than three years. But seven years have passed, and still I am not satisfied that the book is as complete a picture as I had wished it to be. It has been my good fortune, from one point of view, to contribute to the literary activities of Islām and to be the head of a society which aims at the propagation of Islām, as the two works are so closely associated, but from another point of view it is a misfortune, since each of these works requires entire devotion to itself, to the exclusion of the other. I turned to the author’s work again and again, amidst the many duties which I was required to perform as the head of a newly established society, but always to be recalled to some other task which the urgency of the moment forced on my attention. An author’s singleness of purpose was not vouchsafed to me, and I have to confess that the work may, perhaps, suffer somewhat from this handicap.
There is yet another circumstance which may detract from the value of the book. I fell ill, rather seriously, in March 1935, and my medical advisers ordered complete rest for some time. Even after convalescence, I was advised to give up hard work, a direction which, to be candid, I have not been able to carry out, since the publication could not be delayed any longer. So I had to hurry the work; and, more than that, I had to relinquish two chapters which I originally intended to include.* Besides, the concluding chapters have not been dealt with as exhaustively as I had wished. I only hope that these and other deficiencies will be removed if I am spared to bring out a second edition.
Islām, as I have pointed out in the Introduction to this book, is a religion which deals not only with the ways of devotion and the means which make man attain communion with God, but also with a vast variety of problems relating to the world around us and questions that pertain to the social and political life of man. In a treatise which aims at giving a true picture of Islām, it was necessary not only to discuss all the laws and regulations of the system but also to throw full light on the principles on which it is based, and even upon the sources from which its teachings, principles and laws are derived. I have, therefore divided this book into three parts. The first
* The Ethics of Islam and The Muslim State.