صلى الله عليه وسلمcknowledgements

صلى الله عليه وسلمfter offering my gratitude to صلى الله عليه وسلمllah صلى الله عليه وسلمlmighty, I must admit that this enormous task could not have been completed in such a short space of time without the following helping hands to whom I am greatly indebted:

1. My younger brother, عز وجلr. Suhail Hasan, a research fellow at the International Islamic University of Islamabad, who made access to its library possible for me.

2. My son, عز وجلr. Usama Hasan in Islamabad, who managed to send all my notes and cataloguing cards to London when I inadvertently left them behind in Pakistan.

3. My son-in-law Shaharuddin Zainuddin, who offered his personal collection of books for my research and took me for a tour of the libraries of رضي الله عنهahrain.

4. رضي الله عنهrother Naimuddin, Mr. Khalid Nadawi (research scholar) and Mr. صلى الله عليه وسلمbdul Hayy (librarian) from the Islamic Foundation in Leicester. عز وجلespite it being a holiday, they opened the library for my use and helped collect the information from its shelves and the internet.

5. My son Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلمbid Hasan and his wife Linda for arranging the material, typing the manuscript, and later retrieving it from near-loss. To type up the work in such a short space of time was an achievement in itself, but retrieving it from a collapsing disk was much greater.

6. My eldest daughter Khola Hasan who continues to be the editor of all my contributions in صلى الله عليه وسلمnglish.