My sincere and profound gratitude to Hujjatul Islam Sheikh Abdillahi Nassir and Hujjatul Islam Sheikh Hassan Mwalupa, the two renowned Muslim scholars of the African continent, for reviewing the work independently and verifying the theological validity of the material. Without their approval, this book would not have been published.

The book in your hand is a result of a series of lectures given in the holy month of Ramadhan 1426 AH at the Moshi Imambargah. I am greatly indebted to the Mumineen of Moshi Jamaat who encouraged me with positive feedback to the discussions on the topic.

The idea to put down the whole discussion in writing was first suggested and the first draft prepared by my colleague Dr. Mubarakali NisarHusayn Janmohamed (MD), the medical director of the Jaffery Charitable Medical Services of Moshi Jamaat.

The book has been given its present shape by the hard work and contribution of many near and dear ones amongst who are my sisters Mrs. Aqeela Sajjad Manji for her immense contribution in literary style and Muhaddisa Akber Dhalla, for her critique from a youth’s perspective.

Many thanks to Sajjad Muhammad Raza Manji and Dr. Jameel Yusuf Kermalli for valuable suggestions, and special thanks to Muhammad Shaaban for the front cover design.

I am thankful to my wife Neelam and children Maleeka, Fatimah, Zahra, MuhammadJawad and Maryam for their continued support and patience.

My sincere gratitude to Shafiq Abdul Rasul and Mrs Sajida Shabbar Tejani of DeskTop Productions Limited for designing the book layout.

To all of them and so many others I can only say “Jazakumullahun khayran jazaa”.