Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the most honorable of messengers, our Master Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions. To proceed:
This is an academic publication intended for first-year Common Core (Humanities) students. It aims to provide a comprehensive and integrated vision of Islamic civilization through ten chapters covering various aspects of this venerable civilization: its nature, geography, sources, major urban centers, social systems, economy, rational sciences, arts, architecture, and its impact on Western civilization.
In preparing this publication, we have strived to combine authenticity with modernity by relying on major Islamic sources and verified academic references, documenting all information according to the APA system (author, year, page number). Electronic links to references available on digital libraries (al-Maktaba al-Waqfiyya, al-Maktaba al-Shāmila, Internet Archive) have also been included to facilitate research and access for students.
This publication is the result of diligent scholarly effort. We have aimed for it to be comprehensive without being verbose, and accessible without being superficial, adding illustrative images, maps, and tables to aid understanding and comprehension