Notes on Islam

Notes on Islam
By Sir Ahmed Hussain

Notes on Islam collects informal notes written by Sir Ahmed Hussain (Nawab Amin Jung Bahadur) in letters to his sons and brother while they studied at British universities, later gathered and published in 1922 at the urging of a relative who felt they deserved a wider audience. Written as accessible answers to questions about Islamic belief and practice, the notes reflect the perspective of an educated Indian Muslim explaining his faith to a younger generation navigating life abroad.

Though modest in origin, the collection offers a personal, non-academic window into how Islam was understood and transmitted within an elite Indian Muslim family in the early 20th century.

A public-domain work, offered as a free digital edition by Nile Book Store.

Excerpt

Two of you—Lateef and Altaf—will recollect that more than a year ago you wrote to me saying that you were puzzled by certain questions which a Missionary had put to you. I remember that Amjud or Mahmood even went so far as to ask what was the good of Islam, when countries and people professing that faith had weak governments and were crumbling to pieces under the influence of Christian Powers. I answered your queries only in a general way as your University education had not then advanced far enough. But I think the time has now come when I should try to explain to you what I conceive to be the true spirit of the religion of our fore-fathers.