The religion preached by Muhammad (sws) – Islam – is the only means of salvation for mankind. God Almighty has unequivocally clarified in the Holy Qur’ān that whoever follows any other religion is liable to meet utter failure on the Day of Judgement. Given the overriding importance of this religion, Muslim scholars have always tried to present and explain Islamic tenets and edicts to help in their understanding and propagation. One such effort, which is marked by its distinct reliance on the text of the Holy Qur’ān and concrete practices enshrined in the Sunnah, has been made by Jāved Ahmad Ghāmidī (b. 1951) – a pupil of the celebrated commentator of the Holy Qur’ān, Amīn Ahsan Islāhī. Ghāmidī, on the basis of the Qur’ān, has categorized the contents of Islam into two parts: al-kitāb and al-hikmah. While al-kitāb deals with the legal structure of Islam, al-hikmah encompasses the articles of faith and the ethical framework of Islam. He has just completed his book Mīzān which comprises topics from both al-kitāb and al-hikmah. He has also recently completed an abridged version of Mīzān called al-Islām.
Presented in this issue is a translation of the al-kitāb portion of al-Islām. This includes injunctions on worship rituals, social directives, political directives, economic decrees and jihād etc.