M.A. Draz obtained his doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris, before returning to Cairo where he became Professor of Islamic Studies at Al Azhar University. At his death in 1958 he had established himself as one of the world's leading Islamic scholars. Preface by Muhammad Abdel Haleem Muhammad Abdel Haleem is Professor of Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Director of its Centre of Islamic Studies, at the University of London. He has previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge and Cairo and is the author of Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Styles (I.B.Tauris 1999).