Islam and its Prophet in the language of the modern age

Every era has its own language, style, and method of exchanging ideas. The fact that a society uses a single language for several centuries does not alter this reality. The stability of language, in terms of specific sounds spoken and specific written forms, does not mean that it remains unchanged over time. Language, as a phenomenon connected to living human beings, cannot be anything but a living entity subject to the laws of life, and the most distinctive characteristic of life is constant change. The truth is that nothing is more harmful to Islam, its teachings, and its Quran at a time when radio, television, newspapers, and books speak only of historical inevitability, dialectical materialism, the laws of nature, class struggle, socialism, and communism, a notion reinforced by spacecraft on their way to the moon and other planets than for those who speak on behalf of the religion, interpret its teachings, or lead the fight against atheism, to base their arguments solely on hearsay, or to forbid the mind from thinking, from hypothesizing, from comparing, or from questioning with skepticism under any circumstances. Anyone who undertakes to write about Islam today especially for the younger generation must not assume that their words will be accepted as fact simply because they are written. They must always bear in mind that doubts and a yearning for reassurance exist in people's minds. Therefore, they must strive to present their message, as much as possible, in contemporary language, using modern concepts and methods of argumentation, analogy, and proof. It is for this noble purpose and lofty goal that this humble book is presented. Our only hope is that it will be followed by other books in its style and approach, written by those more capable, knowledgeable, and well-informed than ourselves.