presenting Islam as peaceful, tolerant, rational, inspiring
|
Publisher’s PrefaceThis is an English translation of the Urdu booklet Fath-i Islam by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908) which he wrote and published in 1891. Although he had already published his famous work Barahin Ahmadiyya in the early 1880s, this was his first writing after his claim to be the Promised Messiah. In it he has described his Divinely-ordained mission of the defence and advancement of Islam, to be carried on till the final, prophesied triumph of Islam comes about. However, he explains that the hardest sacrifices must be made by Muslims to achieve that great goal, and for this he makes deeply heart-felt appeals to them. He also lays down the practical ways in which the Divine Movement established by him must work for spiritual reform of humankind. An English translation of Fath-i Islam by the learned writer and translator Mirza Masum Beg was published privately from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 1969 under the title Predominance of Islam. In producing this new translation we have found the earlier work to be of invaluable help. In this translation we have tried to be as close and faithful to the original as possible, while also adhering to the important requirement of using simple, clear and modern English idiom. In a few places where additional words were required in the translation to make clear the meaning of the original, these have been given within square brackets, thus: [...]. In some cases it was necessary to show the words of the original text as well as their translation, and here we have used parentheses, thus: (...), in this way that either the original text is within parentheses or the translation is within parentheses, as best in a particular case. Sub-headings have been inserted in this translation for the facility of the reader. These are not in the original Urdu book. The five footnotes by the author (three of these being of a considerable length) have been placed together in a separate section for the convenience of the reader. While the responsibility of this translation is mine, I have been
assisted in this work by young Sarah Ahmad of Lahore, Pakistan,
and her sister Dr. Zainib Ahmad. Zahid Aziz, Dr. Details of the printed versions: Internet publication: March 2000
|
Top