Even during Mohammad's life, and in the very beginning, his doctrine asserted its stamp of universality. If suitable to all races, it is equally suitable to all intellects and to all degrees of civilisation. Of supreme simplicity, as in Mu'tazilitcism; desperately esoteric, as in Sufiism, bringing guidance and consolation to the European "savant"—leaving thought absolutely free and untrammelled—as well as to the negro of the Soudan, thereby delivered from the superstition of his fetishism. It exalts the soul of a practical English merchant, for whom 'time is money,' quite as much as that of a mystical philosopher; of a contemplative Oriental; or of a man of the West loving art and poetry. It will even allure a modern medical man, by the logic of its repeated ablutions and the rhythm of its bowing and prostration, just as salutary for physical well-being as for the health of the soul itself.
It is therefore not too foolhardy to think that when the fearful storm has passed and the respect due to all nationalities, as well as to all religions, shall have been enforced, Islam will be able to look upon a future brimming with real hope.
Thanks to the great share it has taken in the events causing the upheaval of European civilisation, it has entered therein and will appear at last in its true light. The different nations will vie with each other in seeking to be allied to it, for they will have put its value to the test and have recognised the inexhaustible resources it possesses.
The disciples of the Prophet, awakened from their momentary lethargy, will take their brilliant place in the world.
—"Insha'llah!"—If Allah be willing!
Allah will perhaps establish goodwill between yourselves and those of them with whom ye are at enmity, and Allah is Powerful: and Allah is Gracious, Merciful.
This book was finished at Bou-Sâada, on the Twenty-seventh day of the month of Ramadhan; in the Year 1334 of the Hegira—the 28th of July, A.D. 1916.