Moderation (wasatiyyah) is a mark of the Muslim Ummah and its Sharia — a distinction unique to it among the nations, an honour with which Allah the Exalted favoured it. A successful Ummah holds firmly to moderation by following the Prophetic Sunnah, which defined its fields. The life of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, shows clearly his concern for moderation in every part of life; his laws and character are the measures of justice and truth.
This book aims to explain moderation as the Messenger of Allah intended it, and to distinguish its sound interpretation from false ones. The author discusses the terms close to it — balance, fairness, steadiness, uprightness, temperance, rightness, approximation, ease and the Straight Path — and its opposites: extremism, excess, hair-splitting, radicalism, affectation, falling short, negligence and harshness.
It describes moderation in the Sunnah across thirteen fields: creed, morals, thought, worship, da'wah, health, environment, family, society, economy, criminal law, politics and the military. The author recommends spreading the thought of moderation through publishing and translation, and launching a world library of moderation translated from Arabic into other languages and back. The book offers the Muslim rich knowledge of its subject in simple language, combining thoroughness with brevity — a hallmark of the author's writing.
