Machine summary:
Our author believes that a critical in• vestigation of the internal and external causes of the Muslim conquest of India, and a true appreciation of the Muslim contribution to the spiritual and social welfare of this country is of practical value to-day; for "it will remove the pre• judice that makes the orthodox Hindu look upon his Muslim neighbour as an inferior being"-an attitude of mind, which not only insults history but is do• ing incalculable harm to the future of this country.
Even when the best sons of Europe are not ashamed to acknow• ledge the material and intellectual bene• fits which European civilisation has de- rived from the Arabs, the author cannot understand why the Hindus should shut their eyes to the legacy ofislamic culture in India; He regrets that India could not fully benefit by the heritage of Islam.
The personal contact made by the author with the modern repre• sentatives of the ancient Arab race during a period of fourteen years' resi• dence in Arab lands, and his careful and critical reading of the literary sources of information, eminently qualify him for the task; and by a judicious selection of the material at hand, he has admirably succeeded in setting forth a story of wide scope and varied interest within the comparatively small compass of a single volume of 350 pages.
The value of his book, in our opinion, lies in those chapters of his volume which he devotes to the contemporary history of the Arabs, where he writes with the author· ity and insight of his personal observa• tion and first-hand knowledge of things Arabian.