REVISER'S PREFACE

THIS is a revision rather than a translation of Dr. Pfander's well-known Miftahu'l-Asrar, though I have translated those passages without alteration which were capable of being retained in a new edition of the work. The general line of argument and the divisions of the subject have also been carefully preserved, and no change has been made except when required to remove difficulties or ambiguities, to correct errors, or to make the Christian faith clearer to the Muslim mind. It is hoped that as a consequence no passage will be found to cause offence to a Muslim reader, unless such as is inseparable from a faithful presentation of the Biblical teaching on the important doctrine dealt with in these pages, the doctrine of the Trinity. I have endeavoured to show that this doctrine, instead of being the weakest point in Christianity (as Muslims fancy), is in reality one of its strongest.

That learned and devout scholar, the late Sir William Muir, in his Mohammedan Controversy, (pp. 22-7) has carefully and sympathetically reviewed Pfander's Miftahu'l-Asrar. I have endeavoured to make full use of his criticisms in this revision.