خلاصه ماشینی:
Slater observes in bis Foreword, the readers not previously familiar with their work will be enabled bv this study "to see the rich Muslim tradition in a new perspective.
" Avicenna, Suharwardi and Ibn "Arabi reflect three different stands of the great tradition, the first a philosopher• scientist who ruled undisputed for centuries in· the world of medicine, science and philosophy, the second an illuminationist who initiated a new fusion of Islamic ideas with foreign elements and the third the great Shaikh in whom generations of suns found spiritual nou• rishment and inspiration.
The Japanese scholar frankly confesses: " Islam represents undoubtedly one of the most radical social reforms that have ever appeared in the East, and the Koran, the earliest authentic record of this great event, describes in vividly concrete terms how in the period of crisis time• honoured tribal names come in to bloody con• flict with new ideals of life, begin to totter, and aitec desperate and futile efforts to resist, finallv find themselves forced to yield the hegemony to the rising power.
He is, therefore, convinced that to understand the value of words brought in vogue by Islam we have not to find deceptive equivalents in ot~er languages but undertake a study of the soc1~l context in which they have grown l!Jld especi• ally emphasize the reference to the s~tuati?ns in which they are applied.
But, in spite of the limitations which the Christian frame of reference involves, Miss Padwick's study of Muslim devotions is the most exhaustive yet undertaken and the selec• tions are made as a rule with remarkable discernment.