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Whoever wants to be properly informed about a religion would first do well to get hold of literature which is both self-descriptive and self-interpretative, which shows what the religion in question is and what its claims are according to its own teachings and history. This is a matter of course.. (2:1) He who wants information about Islam should start by reading works written by believers before he concentrates his attention on the premises of Western scholars of Islam, and can look at the religion only from their point of view. Obviously this is easier said than done, for the choice of literature is not very wide although the best material available is written in English. The works of non-religious European writers offer an abundance of interesting and useful facts and details. But as soon as these scholars start to evaluate their material-- and evaluation as well as classification are prerequisites to understanding-- the calamity begins: the results are determined by the scholar's attitude to this subject and the premises on which his research has been based..
(2:2)
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