PREFACE

The essays between these covers have been written with the fervent conviction that modern cultural values not only differ but conflict with the teachings of Islam and that any attempt to compromise the latter with the former will end in the destruction of the way of life Muslims have always cherished. The author is a recent convert of American origin who in 1961, after many years of deep thought and study, embraced Islam while still living in her native New York. Like every true Muslim, she is convinced beyond doubt that Islam alone offers the most satisfying answers to all the great questions of life, being the most comprehensive and vigorous faith which can resist and ultimately triumph over the evil of secularism and materialism. The depth of the writer’s faith in Islam is demonstrated by this one of the significant events of her life that when she grew certain that her future as a Muslim in America was hopelessly bleak, three and a half years ago, she migrated to Pakistan under the personal responsibility of Sayyid Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi where she has now taken up permanent residence at the home of her husband’s family in Lahore. Her husband is the publisher of this book. In the essays which follow, she attempts to prove that Muslims have no alternative but to reject all un-Islamic modes of life such as modernism, and strive to practice the faith exactly as the Holy Prophet and his Companions understood it, interpret the Holy Quran and Sunnah in their strict literal sense, cease to submit Islam to foreign criteria and abandon every trace of apologetics. Islam needs no apology.

vi The author has successfully argued that if the Muslims are to grow strong and vigorous, they must possess supreme confidence in the absolute superiority of their faith over man-made philosophies. They must put Islam first and all else afterwards. Truth must never be compromised with falsehood for compromise is too often the result of defeat.

Muslims must be fearless in combating the forces against them and recognize them for what they are. This is no time to hedge and haw.

This is no time to mince words. The truth must be spoken and fearlessly translated into action.

TUFAIL MUHAMMAD, Ameer, Jama’at-e-Islami, West Pakistan. ICHHRA, LAHORE December 17, 1965