Preface

The aim of this book is to present Islam as it is , drawing on the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and the life of the Companions .

We are living in the age of media. Today Islam is introduced to the people of the world through the media, which is interested in reporting only the negative practices of certain Muslims. For the media is interested only in “hot” news.  So much good news is available about the Muslim people , but that is no concern to the media. Good news therefore do not find any place in the media. It is said; “If a dog bites a man it is not news, but if a man bites a dog it is news.”
          
Let me narrate a story which illustrates this point very clearly. Once a cock was dancing in a park and one of its feathers fell down, a  crow who had seen the feathers falling down passed this information to a cat in these words, ‘A cock has lost ten of his feathers.’ The cat then conveyed this to the fox saying that all of the feathers of the cock had been lost. The fox passed this message on to a dog that the cock had died due to the loss of all of its feathers. The dog then rushed to the park to feast on the 'dead'cock. When he found a cock dancing in the park the dog asked, “Where is the dead cock?” This little anecdote illustrates how rumour spreads through the media.

Prophets teachings are to "Hide the bad and evil, and spread the good and truth". But the policy of the media is  to spread the bad and hide the truth and good (Most of the time).

Gone are the days when Islam used to be known for its Compassion, advancement of scientific knowledge, brotherhood and progress; now it has come to erroneously be identified with terrorism, hatred, and fundamentalism, owing to carefully orchestrated media fumed and patronage by vested interests.

Islam is the religion of nature. If it were to be presented in its original form people will certainly take great interest in it. It is, however, very unfortunate that a section of Muslims are engaged in violent activities in the name of Islam. These aggressive activities, reported by the media, creates serious misunderstandings among the people. People have naturally come to take Islam as a hostile religion. Since modern man is in search of peace, he finds no appeal in a religion which as presented by the media, is one of hatred and violence.

I have attempted to introduce Islam as it is. Islam has to be seen in the light of the Islamic scriptures instead of judging it by the conduct of some of its practitioners. We are  living in the age of the media. Before the advent of the modern media there were large numbers of people in the world who knew nothing of Islam. With the invention of the printing press and now the electronic media it is difficult to find today a single person who is unaware of it. People are now generally allergic to Islam rather than being interested in it.

This is the age of knowledge explosion. Today people want to know more and more about everything, including religion. But their information is mostly based on Muslim practices as flashed in the media. Their information thus is not derived from authentic sources.

The aim of this book is to present Islam as enshrined in its sacred scripture, so that it may be brought before the people in its true form. The authentic source of information about Islam is The Holy Qur’an. The Second source of knowledge about Islam is Hadees (sunnah) that is the words, deeds and sanctions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The life of the Companions of the Prophet provides another authentic source.

This book, however, does not claim to be a comprehensive introduction to Islam. That is something which can be had only by studying Islam directly through its basic scriptures, that is, the Qur’an and Sunnah. This book thus presents a basic introduction for those who want to understand Islam as it is.

I hope that this book will be useful for those who want to know about the original Islam as opposed to the "religion" introduced to us by the media.

                                                               
                                                                       
21, Sunday May 2007                                                               Mohammad Mohsin Ali.
New-Delhi