Towards Understanding Islam is a book written by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi which gained its author a reputation as a religious teacher and major thinker.[1] This book has been translated into a number of languages.[2] Jamaat-e-Islami claims that it has been translated into 13 languages. One English translation of this book is by Prof Khurshid Ahmad.
Under the subtitle Editor's Introduction in November 1979[3] Prof. Kurshid Ahmad tries to introduce the book: "Originally written in 1932 in Urdu, under the title Risala-e-Diniyat, the book was intended as a textbook for students of the higher classes and for the general public. It served an important need and became a popular Islamic reader. Most of the schools and colleges of the South Asia adopted it as a textbook in theology and made its study a part of their curricula. It has been translated into many of the world's languages, including: English, Arabic, Hindi (titled as इस्लाम धर्म) , Persian, German, French, Italian,[4] Turkish, Portuguese, Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Malayalam, Tamil, Pashto, Balochi, Bengali, Gujarati and Sindhi. It is also translated in Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Albanian.