Publisher's Preface

عرض ناشر

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

عرض ناشر — Publisher's Preface

The book before you is the text and translation of one part, *Kitāb al-Islām*, of *Al-Dīn* (in the Arabic language), the work of Baḥr al-ʿUlūm Ḥaḍrat al-ʿAllāma Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qadīr Ṣiddīqī Ḥasrat (may Allah have mercy on him), former Professor of Ḥadīth and Head of the Department of Theology, Jāmiʿa ʿUthmāniyya, Hyderabad Deccan, which was included in the syllabus of Osmania University. Just as the Ḥadīth of Jibrīl (peace be upon him) sets out the mention and explanation of īmān (faith), islām (submission) and iḥsān (spiritual excellence), Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (may Allah have mercy on him) composed this book on that same pattern: in it, first *Kitāb al-ʿIlm* (the Book of Knowledge), and then, by presenting Qurʾān and aḥādīth on īmān, islām and iḥsān, he proved that the Ḥanafī school rests entirely on the Qurʾān and the Sunna. In *Kitāb al-Islām*, the verses of the Qurʾān and the aḥādīth concerning the acts of worship (ʿibādāt) are set out. On some questions the disagreement of the imāms has been explained in a very beautiful manner. The readers of this book also become acquainted with fiqh. The book *Al-Dīn*, with translation and explanations, was being published in Baḥr al-ʿUlūm's lifetime in the monthly *Al-Qadīr*. Janāb Abu'l-Mujāhid Sayyid Aḥmad Khayr al-Dīn Qādirī Ṣāḥib gathered all of its material and provided it to us, for which the institution, Hasrat Academy, is grateful to him. May Allah grant him a good reward. Āmīn.

We pray to Allah Most High that this book of Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (may Allah have mercy on him) gain acceptance among the elite and the common people, and that the ranks of Baḥr al-ʿUlūm be raised in the presence of Allah. Āmīn, then āmīn, by the rank of the Master of the Messengers.

The humblest of servants, Muḥammad ʿAbbās ʿAlamburdār Ṣiddīqī Director (Muhtamim), Hasrat Academy and Kutub-khāna Baḥr al-ʿUlūm

Siddiq Gulshan, Hyderabad Ṣafar 1432 AH / January 2011 CE