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This book, by a sociologist specializing in Islamic studies, is written with the high ambition to be of service to intellectuals in the countries that belong to the Muslim faith and civilization, by helping them to understand their situation. It is not that I presume myself superior, by virtue of ‘being European’, to the best among them in learning or intelligence. I lay claim to no advantage of that sort. It is merely that circumstances have enabled me to escape sooner than them from certain social im pediments that obstruct their understanding of their own prob lems. I have had the good fortune to be given free access to the acquisition of a knowledge of their past that is clear of myths, and I have sought to rid myself of the myths that are hindrances to understanding their present. It must be added that I am in a position to speak out and say what they are often obliged to keep to themselves. This is a freedom that has to be paid for, like all freedoms, but the price, in my case, is not excessive; whereas they, generally speaking, have to pay a great deal more for it.