importance to them. Earlier authorities have also to be respected, but reports and comments contradicting the Qur-án itself cannot but be rejected. I have also kept before me the rule that the meaning to be adopted in any case should be that which suits the context best, and the only other limitation to which I have subjected myself is that the use of that word in that sense is allowed by the lexicons or by the Arabic literature. Existing translations have rendered me great help, but I have adopted an interpretation only after fully satisfying myself and having recourse to original authorities. Many of the stories generally accepted by the commentators find no place in my commentary, except in cases where there is either sufficient historical evidence or the corroborative testimony of some reliable saying of the Holy Prophet. Many of these stories were, I believe, incorporated into the Islamic literature by the flow of converts from Judaism and Christianity into Islam. Nor have I placed much reliance upon the stories of sha‘n-i-nazúl (i.e. the occasion on which a particular verse was revealed), accepting their evidence when necessary as affording an illustration of the significance underlying a verse. A full discussion as to the principles and rules of interpretation I reserve for a separate exposition. But I must add that the present tendency of the Muslim theologians to regard the commentaries of the Middle Ages as the final word on the interpretation of the Holy Qur-án is very injurious, and practically shuts out the great treasures of knowledge which an exposition of the Holy Book in the new light reveals. A study of the old commentators, to ignore whose great labours would indeed be a sin, also shows how freely they commented upon the Holy Book. The great service which they have done to the cause of truth would indeed have been lost to the world if they had looked upon their predecessors as uttering the final word on the exposition of the Holy Qur-án, as most theologians do today.
The laborious work which I now place before the public has kept me occupied for about seven years, and has had, in fact, to be hastened on account of the impatience of the public. I am conscious of the many defects which will be met with in the present volume, and only hope that when there is a demand for a second edition I shall be able to revise this work thoroughly. I cannot, however, bring this Preface to a close without acknowledging the heavy debt of gratitude I owe to my learned friend and brother, the Maulvi Sadr ud Din, B.A., B.T., at present Imam of the Mosque at Woking (England), who has, while pressed with heavy work in connection with the Woking Muslim Mission, helped me with untiring energy and zeal in bringing out this work. He has not only thoroughly revised and corrected the proofs, which work would have been impossible for me at such a distance, but he has, in fact, been solely responsible for getting this work through the press, looking carefully to the minutest details of the work. And lastly, all those gentlemen are to be thanked who have assisted the Ahmadiyya Anjuman-i-Isha’at-i-Islam, Lahore, with generous donations, and thus enabled it to bring out the first edition of this work. And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, who enabled us all to perform our share in this noble undertaking.
Ahmadiyya Buildings, Lahore,
August 25, 1916.
