A Critique of Professor Arnold G. Toynbee’s Understanding — Page vii
v Preface Many years ago, I read a brief note in a newspaper on Arnold Toynbee’s A Study of History. The note commented that the famous British historian had presented a unique philosophy of history based on the analysis of the development and decline of many civili zations of the world. Toynbee’s critical and philosophical Study, a voluminous work, also contained his understanding of the historical role of the Holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (May peace and blessing of God be on him). Toynbee asserted that the Prophet of Islam discharged his sublime and purely prophetic duties in Makkah but after Hijra he abandoned his prophetic mission in Madinah and his spirit succumbed to secular temptation of becoming a political monarch, being an Arabian Caesar. That note pertaining to Toynbee’s unfounded and utterly false allegations against the noble person of the Holy Prophet of Islam got stuck in my mind a nd I decided to refute it whenever God granted me an opportunity. Over the years I remained busy in preaching and administrative activities Of the Jamaat, but Toynbee’s criticism did not leave my mind, and my determination to write a convincing rebuttal did not diminish – rather it continued to gain strength. For the las t four or five years, after retirement from Jamaat’s active duties I remained engaged in several religious assignments of my own: A translation in Swahili of the