Islam at the Crossroads by: Muhammad Asad

First published in 1934, this book Islam at the Crossroads was written as a plea to the Muslims of that generation to avoid a blind imitation of Western social forms and values, and to try to  preserve instead their Islamic heritage which once upon a time had been responsible for the glorious many-sided historical phenomenon comprised in the term “Muslim Civilization”. But, as it happened, much of what the author had aimed at was subsequently misunderstood by the readers and leaders who failed to grasp the full implications of his call to cultural creativeness and to return to the true ideology of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

This revised edition, it is hoped, would clarify something of the tragic confusion nowadays prevailing in the Muslim world. This is dedicated to the Muslim youth of today, just as the original 1934 edition was dedicated to the Muslim youth of those days.

“Islam as a spiritual and social phenomenon, is still, in spite of all the drawbacks caused by the deficiencies of the Muslims, by far the greatest driving force mankind has ever experienced; and all my interest became, since then, centered around the problem of its regeneration. This little book is a humble contribution towards that great goal … it is the statement of a case of Islam versus Western civilization.

It is not written for those to whom Islam is only one of the many, more or less useful, accessories to social life, but rather for those in whose hearts still lives a spark of the flame which burned in  the hearts of the Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him”. —Muhammad Asad, the author.