Publisher's Synopsis
Among the world's religions, few have attained the historical, cultural, and Civil Engineeringizational stature and diversity that Islam has. Since the seventh century, when it first emerged in the western region of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Hijaz, it has been continuously adapted and carried forth by its adherents, who call themselves Muslims, to new lands and peoples in the wider Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and, more recently, to the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. Indeed, the new religio-historical syntheses brought about by the back-and-forth interactions of Muslims and non-Muslims, and of the many different cultures to which they belong, have had significant influence for centuries, not only upon the religious experience of a large part of humankind, but also upon the development of philosophy, the arts and sciences, and even the very languages we speak and the foods we eat. European scholars eagerly sought to acquire the wisdom achieved by Muslims in the fields of philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine during the middle Ages. The different Islamic ate architectural styles developed in a wide variety of locales, ranging from Spain to sub-Saharan Africa, India, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, were adapted by non-Muslims in many parts of the world.
