MOHAMMAD JAMIL-UR-REHMAN M. A.
Sir,
It was at your feet that I firstlearned to appreciate historical and literaryresearch, and the following pagesconstitute the earliest fruits of thatliterary labour of mine the impetus forwhich I am proud to have received fromyou. I crave your indulgence for mytaking the liberty of dedicating the sameto your revered name, with the hopethat it will not fail to attract the samegenerous sympathy from you as youhave always shown to your pupil.
It was as a Fellow of the Seminarfor the Comparative Study of Religionsat the College, Baroda, that the presentwork was begun. The subject was takenup in the first place as a parallel studyto that contained in a paper in theIndian Philosophical Review, Volume II,July 1918, pp. 24-32 entitled “Maimonidesand the Attainment of ReligiousTruth.” But as I proceeded with myinvestigation I thought it might be bestto let Averroes speak for himself. Forthis reason I have here translated certaintreatises of Averroes, as edited in theArabic text by D. H. Muller in “Philosophieund Theologie von Averroes.”Munich 1859. I am confident that thebook will prove an interesting one andwill explain itself to the reader withoutany introduction on my part.[10]Though owing to my appointmentat Hyderabad I resigned my position atBaroda soon after commencing this workI wish here to express my thanks toProfessor Alban G. Widgery of Barodafor his constant sympathy with andencouragement for my work in andout of the Seminar. He has also kindlyaccepted the book for inclusion in theGaekwad Studies in Religion and Philosophy.I am indebted to him for acomplete revision of the manuscript andfor the onerous work of seeing the bookthrough the press. I am also indebtedto my brother Mutazid Wali ur Rehman,B.A. for valuable help in rendering manyobscure passages.