MUSLIMS IN THE WEST is mainly a collection of Nadwi's speeches delivered in Europe in 1963, 1964, 1969, and in America in 1977. In his characteristic passionate and forceful style, he addresses the important themes of the relationship between Islam and the West, the plight of the West, and situation and role of Muslims living in the West. Nadwi sees no reason why the West and Islam should always remain at loggerheads. He acknowledges, ungrudgingly, the advances in science and technology and the material progress made by the West, and asks Muslims to learn what the West has to offer.

Yet Islam possesses treasures which the West does not: Treasures of the divine guidance which illumine man's inner recesses, nurture his spiritual resources, quicken his heart, sharpen his intellect and lift him to sublime heights of ability. He finds the role of religion in the West, especially that of Christianity, and the failure of Muslims themselves to live up to Islam and bring its message to the West as the main reasons for this situation.

The Muslims in the West, Nadwi insists, can justify their presence here only if they communicate the message of Islam to their fellow human beings, both by example and words.