The Spirit of Islam

The Spirit of Islam
By Syed Ameer Ali

A sweeping history and defense of Islam by the pioneering Indian Muslim jurist and reformer Syed Ameer Ali, in this amplified and revised 1922 edition. Covering the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the ethics and spirit of Islamic law, and the intellectual and scientific achievements of Muslim civilization, it remains one of the most influential works of Islamic apologetics written for a Western audience.

A public-domain work — full unabridged text digitized from a library scan. Minor OCR artifacts from the original scan may remain, particularly in transliterated Arabic terms.

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Excerpt

In the following pages I have attempted to give the history of the evolution of Islam as a world-religion; of its rapid spread and the remarkable hold it obtained over the conscience and minds of millions of people within a short space of time. The impulse it gave to the intellectual development of the human race is generally recognised. But its great work in the uplifting of humanity is either ignored or not appreciated; nor are its rationale, its ideals and its aspirations properly understood. It has been my endeavour in the survey of Islam to elucidate its true place in the history of religions.