Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/14

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
ix

madanism," the author is fully conscious of their imperfections,[1] but he ventures to hope that they will contain information which may be suggestive to Missionaries and others interested in the study of Islám.

Upon a thoughtful study of the present work, the reader cannot fail to observe what an important place dogmatic teaching occupies in the system under consideration. There are those amongst English and Continental writers who regard all dogmatic teaching as antiquated, and who would recommend the Christian Missionary to keep dogma in the back-ground, when dealing with such a religious system as Muhammadanism. But Muslim divines would spurn such teaching as unworthy of theologians, whether of Islám or of Christianity. The trumpet must give no uncertain sound. It is a solemn thing for a Christian Missionary to be engaged day by day in unsettling the


  1. They are bonâ fide notes of a Dictionary of Islám, which the author has in course of compilation.