Development of Islamic Culture during the period of Holy Prophet (PBUH)

Understanding Islam and Muslim Traditions introduces readers to Islam through an examination of its religious observances, customs, holidays, calendar system, and folk beliefs. About two-thirds of the book is dedicated to these subjects. Thus, rather than approach Islam simply as a set of abstract religious beliefs, this book takes as its primary task the description of what Muslims do and the meaning they attribute to these practices. Nevertheless, in order to make some sense of these customs and observances, the reader needs to have a basic understanding of Islamic religious beliefs. It may also be helpful to know something of the history of Islam, as well as the ethnic identity and geographic distribution of today’s Muslim peoples. Therefore, these subjects are all covered in the first section of the book. Section one is broken down into three parts. The first of these parts — The Teachings of Islam (Chapters 1-2) —offers those readers with little knowledge of Islam an introduction to the religion’s basic beliefs and practices. The second part — The History of Islam (Chapters 3-6) — gives a brief history of Islam, concentrating on the founding of the religion and the major achievements of Islamic civilization. The third part looks at Muslims today (Chapters 7-9). It begins by examining commonly held stereotypes about Muslims and balancing them against profiles of accomplished and admirable Muslim men and women from around the world. It then includes a review of the geography of Islam, which explains the distribution of the world’s Muslim population and concludes with a list of Islam’s major holy sites.

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