Islamic history
is a science or art of permanent nature which has in its fold thousands of voluminous books written by highly experienced and esteemed writers. The Muslim historians have generally penned separately histories of a dynasty or country or any one nation or any one ruler or a king or an event of tremendous importance and value.
Some of them have compiled biographies simply of scholars of Islam or philosophers of Islam or saints of Islam and their number reaches up to thousands. This magnificent treasure and collection may be safely brought under the title of Islamic history or the art of Islamic history. And this treasure is multiplying with the passage of time.
The number of Islamic countries and kingdoms is also so large that even a book of history of each one of them, if selected, can not be put in a few shelves but in several rooms of a library. To produce an average book of history in the Urdu language is, in fact, to extract essence of books of Islamic history and to summarize the whole thing. It is easier to take a photograph of a very big scenery on a card or to put the photograph of a palatial building into the hole of a bead of rosary, but it is very difficult to produce a gist of the whole history of Islam in a volume containing merely two thousand pages. Hence, writer cannot convincingly say that I have achieved success in my attempt. I leave it to my readers to decide what place does this book occupy as a book of Islamic history and how could the Muslim Ummah (nation) be benefited by it.
As for the events and occurrences, for each and every event, Writer have tried his level best to judge its veracity in the authentic histories of the period when the event occurred. Writer have then tried to put the gist of the events in his own words. Wherever any sharp difference of opinion arose among the different historians and he found it difficult to decide about the authenticity thereof, he have translated the opinion of the historian exactly, and also expressed his personal opinion where the situation demanded it. He has written this book as a service to Islam and as a matter of religious duty and expect his recompense only from Allah the Almighty.
I admit my incapability to undertake such a gigantic task and if I, anyhow, come out with success, it is nothing short of wonders. And anyone who takes the course of constructive and sincere criticism exclusively for the sake of reforms, will be welcomed as a benefactor, while the one who does it out of jealousy and malice is to be consigned to Allah.
Akbar Shah Khan Najibabad, India Muharram-ul-Haram 1343AH
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