PREFACE
A NEW work on Mohammed and Mohammedanism seems to require
some words of explanation to the reading public whose
attention it claims. There exists already a goodly number
of such works, both in the English language and in other
European languages. It stands to reason that any further
addition should be able to justify itself, either by
opening fresh sources of information, or by placing
old materials into a new and clearer light. Is this
possible ? Have the previous works, with the widely
diverging results of their investigations, wholly exhausted
the topic, or have they left room, if not for startling
discoveries, at least for the useful gleanings of earnest
and painstaking followers? One of my English predecessors
wrote, fifteen years ago, that the treatment of the
subject 'hardly now admits of originality.' Probably
many are of the same opinion. But I would in all modesty,
and yet with confidence, appeal to the judgment of any
qualified reader, whether the following work possesses
a degree of independence and originality sufficient
to vindicate its place amongst all the more or less
meritorious productions by which it has been preceded.
It is true, the historical data exist for all alike,
and we cannot multiply them at will; but in their investigation
and utilisation there remains a wide field for the play
of a variety of talents and of sundry measures of judgment.
As in nature, so in history, objects assume a different
aspect according to the standpoint from which they are
contemplated. In the suitability of the different standpoints
also there is a gradation from the worst to the best. |
