Foreword
Almost all philosophies, religious and secular, converge on the proposition that enlightenment of the mind and consciousness is the noblest end of human existence. Enlightenment promotes the moral values of goodness, justice, compassion and charity, and the intellectual values of rationality, logic, enquiry and understanding in human beings. For the promotion of enlightenment in contemporary society, a study of mere contemporary knowledge is inadequate, a critical and rational study of the classics of religion, philosophy, science and literature is imperative. This would restore a sense of balance and profundity in a world attuned to immediate material success at all costs, torn and alienated as it is from the great heritage of ancient wisdom, and fragmented in its vision and interest due to the narrow focus on professional excellence, and consumer-oriented lifestyle. At this point of world history, more than ever, when cataclysmic changes are transforming the global political system, economies and socio-cultural patterns, and when basic assumptions and fundamentals of the radical and liberal systems are being questioned, it is both necessary and desirable to rationally interpret, in scientific terms, the rich and varied religious traditions, especially the humanist content and ethical underpinnings, of the religious traditions and their permeation in folklore, folk-thought and folk culture, which anyhow continues to remain the primordial and traditional basis of much of our social life and norms should be rationally interpreted. We cannot wish our of existence, the legacy of various religions and belief systems, especially with their continuing impact on our individual and group life. We have to take cognisance of them with imagination, and with a sense of critical adaptability, in order to appropriate those components that are vital, relevant and sustaining while rejecting the obsolete, the archaic and the moribund. India is passing through a critical phase in its development as a federal nation. For a multiethnic and multi-religious plural society like India, it is imperative to promote mutual understanding and mutual appraisal of the varied religions and cultural traditions. Indeed the co-mingling of many streams of culture and traditions over the centuries, has produced the ethos of a composite culture in India, nurtured as it was in the medieval past by the humanist saints of the bhakti marg and the compassionate sufi tradition in Islam, and in modern times by the leaders of the national movement for independence. In India, as experience has shown, the 'religious mood' has been a dominant collective mood of our people.
Preface
My interest in and love for sacred writings dates back to the year 1930 when I, as a student, would read and recite the Japji, the great Sikh scripture, in the religious instruction class of my school. After passing the matriculation examination in 1934, I bought a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu epic, and read it several times to understand its message It was in 1940, that a friend of mine, knowing my religious leanings, presented me with a copy of Selections from the Holy Qur'an by Maulana Muhammad Ali. The book deals with the salient features of the life of Muhammad and the Qur'an. It created in me an urge to study the whole of the Qur'an. My next eight years were devoted to the teaching profession and family responsibilities. It was in 1948, after the partition of the country, that 1 found adequate leisure to indulge in extensive reading during my stay in Bombay. I bought a number of books including The Sacred Writings of the World's Great Religions, The Bible of the World and a few other books which explained in simple and concise language the writings and essence of different religions. The books were written in easy modern English and they whetted my appetite for reading the principal texts of the great religions. My first book. Unity in Diversity, with a foreword by Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, was a guide to the underlying principles of ethics and morala of the great religions of the world. The book created publishing history and has already been published in thirteen Indian and foreign languages including German, French, and Esperanto. The book has been hailed as positive contribution to the promotion of religious coexistence, national integration and international understanding. Encouraged by its success and the laudatory reviews it received from s and comments from the public, I began working on a project of the press simplifying the scriptures. Bhagavad Gita, with a foreword by M.P. Pandit, was highly acclaimed for its exposition which has a simplicity and clarity of its own. Japji, with a foreword by Dr. Jaswant Singh Neki, has been widely appreciated for its simplification of complex expressions to make them intelligible to the layman. Selections from the Qur'an, the present work, attempts to give in simple English, selections from the Qur'an for the benefit of those who do not have the time or facility to read its full text. The selections are based on my study of several complex texts about the Qur'an in English, with and without commentaries.
About The Book
The Qur'an is one of the most widely read books in the world. For more than fourteen hundred years the Qur'an has remained one of the major sources of inspiration for a good life for millions across the seven continents. The Selections from the Qur'on rendered by Mr. Ghai into clear intelligible English, is a bold and creative attempt to bring to the attention of the common people, the essence and wide range of the teachings of the Qur'an. It would undoubtedly be a source of knowledge, enlightenment and Inspiration. It would promote a better understanding of islam and of the message that Muhammad conveyed to all mankind.
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