Character building is as vital and essential in our present day society as it has been in the past. It is of even greater importance today to ac-quire more content with the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and His Ahlul-Bayt in view of our decadent society with its ever increasing temptations all around us; since Islam is not a dogmatic religion, but a complete code of life and a guide in all aspects of our day to day activit-ies and behavior.

Maulana Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi, the Chief Missonary of the Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania, has been publishing small thought provok-ing articles in the “Sunday News”, Dar-es-salaam, on general Islamic Teachings and its role in our character building. This column has proved very popular among Muslims and Non-Muslims alike; and, now, its Swahili translation appears in the weekly “Baraza” (Nairobi). Also, the “East African Standard” (Nairobi) has published many of these articles in its Muslim Column.

I am, indeed grateful to Maulana for compiling these articles in this booklet and I hope they will serve the useful purpose as they were meant for.

The Mission commends the elders to give this booklet its widest pos-sible circulation.

Ahmed H. Shariff

President

Bilal Muslim Misson,

P.O.Box 313

MOSHI (Tanzania)

Preface of the Second Edition

This book was published in March 1969. Some time later, the column “Thought For the Week” of the “Sunday News” was discontinued. By that time, more articles were published, which has been added in this edition.

12th April 1975

Ahmed H. Shariff

Chairman Bilal Muslim Mission, Dar-es-Salaam