Islam And the World the Rise and Decline of Muslims and Its Effect on Mankind pdf

Islam And the World the Rise and Decline of Muslims and Its Effect on Mankind Sayyed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi

ISLAM AND THE WORLD THE RISE AND DECLINE OF MUSLIMS AND ITS EFFECT ON MANKIND

This faith requires the Muslim to shoulder the responsibility of humanity at large and enjoins on him the trusteeship of the entire human race. It is the duty of Muslims to guide to the right path those who have gone astray, and lead men, with the help of the light and guidance given by God, from darkness into light.

This book succeeds in stimulating awareness of this responsibility in its readers and in bringing home to them its validity. In its style and treatment, however, it does not pander to mere sentiment or excite passions of dogmatism.

The claims that the book makes are sustained by solid scholarship and objective research in a manner that appeals to both the mind and the heart.

The enlightened and unprejudiced approach of the author is clearly revealed by the scrupulous care and deep concern for truth with which historical events and their sequences are recorded and environmental effects and ramifications analyzed. Decisions are left to the discernment of enlightened minds and to consciences that are sensitive to the truth.

Topics have been discussed, arranged, and interfused in such a manner that no conclusion is ever forced on the reader.

What was the condition of the world before the advent of Islam and the state of affairs in the East and the West, the North and the South?

What was the intellectual temper of man from China to India, from Persia to Rome?

What was the color and texture of contemporary society? In what state were those religions of the world that are based on Heavenly sanction, such as Judaism and Christianity, and those that preach idol and fire-worship, such as Hinduism and Magianism? These questions with which the book begins are dealt with in a concise but comprehensive manner. The picture presented of that age is clear-cut and delineates its features with accuracy and insight.

In preparing the picture, the author never gives the impression that he is self­ opinionated or bigoted. He quotes non-Muslim authors, particularly those who have been notorious for their enmity toward Islam and for their persistent efforts to belittle Islam and the achievements of age associated with Muslim glory. The age before Islam was steeped in ignorance in which the mind and the spirit of man had become benighted and high standards and values of life debased.

It was an age of tyranny and slavery in which the very roots of humanity were corroded by a criminally luxurious and wasteful life on the one hand and hopelessness and frustration and despair on the other.

In addition, clouds of skepticism, agnosticism, and infidelity hovered overhead and the religions of the world were helpless to dispel them. Religions that