THE PREACHING OF ISLAM A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith BY T. W. ARNOLD M.A. C.I.E. PROFESSOR OF ARABIC, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 1913 TO SIR THEODORE MORISON, K.C.I.E. TO WHOM THE FIRST EDITION OWES ITS EXISTENCE THIS SECOND EDITION IS DEDICATED IN TOKEN OF LONG FRIENDSHIP PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION It is with considerable diffidence that I publish these pages; the subject with which they deal is so vast, and I have had to prosecute it under circumstances so disadvantageous, that I can hope but for small measure of success. When I may be better equipped for the task, and after further study has enabled me to fill up the gaps [1] left in the present work, I hope to make it a more worthy contribution to this neglected department of Muhammadan history; and to this end I shall be deeply grateful for the criticisms and corrections of any scholars who may deign to notice the book. To such I would say in the words of St. Augustine: “Qui hæc legens dicit, intelligo quidem quid dictum sit, sed non vere dictum est; asserat ut placet sententiam suam, et redarguat meam, si potest. Quod si cum caritate et veritate fecerit, mihique etiam (si in hac vita maneo) cognoscendum facere curaverit, uberrimum fructum laboris huius mei cepero.” [2] As I can neither claim to be an authority nor a specialist on any of the periods of history dealt with in this book, and as many of the events referred to therein have become matter for controversy, I have given full references to the sources consulted; and here I have thought it better to err on the side of excess rather than that of defect. I have myself suffered so much inconvenience and wasted so much time in hunting up references to books indicated in some obscure or unintelligible manner, that I would desire to spare others a similar annoyance; and while to the general reader I may appear guilty of pedantry, I may perchance save trouble to some scholar who wishes to test the accuracy of a statement or pursue any part of the subject further. The scheme adopted in this book for the transliteration of Arabic words is that laid down by the Transliteration Committee of the Tenth International Congress of Orientalists, held at Geneva in 1894, with the exception that the last letter of the article is assimilated to the so-called solar letters. In the case of geographical names this scheme has not been so rigidly applied—in many instances because I could not discover the original Arabic form of the word, in others (e.g. Mecca, Medina), because usage has almost created for them a prescriptive title.