TO
TRANSLATORS
BY the desire of the Committee of the C.M.S., and in accordance with
the recommendation of Missionaries of experience, this Revision of the Mizanu'l Haqq
has been drawn up in English, from which language it was held that it might be more
readily translated into various Oriental tongues than had it been composed in any one of
them.
In order to facilitate translation, though writing in English I have
endeavoured to preserve an Oriental tinge of style and argument. Oriental scholars will
notice this not least in the Introduction, and to them it will not be necessary to
apologise for the number of quotations from Eastern poets which the latter contains.
Dr. Pfander's Mizanu'l Haqq was composed in Persian and
published1 in 1835. Numerous reprints and versions into other languages have
since appeared, and some minor alterations have been made in the text, but this most
valuable work has never been fully revised until now, in spite of the large number of
attempted answers to it written by Muslims in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Turkish. Its
revision was urgently needed, partly to bring it thoroughly up to date in reference to
such matters as ancient MSS. of the Bible, partly to correct slight errors and ambiguities
of language, and partly to remove all apparent ground for the attacks
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