Cultural Traditions of Islam : Its Nature and Growth

Contents: Introduction. 1. The profile of Muslim civilization. Growth: 2. The beginnings of culture consciousness in Islam. 3. Arab culture. Expressions: 4. The Koran. 5. The spirit of Islam as shown in its literature. 6. Muslim world view and Muslim science. 7. Government in Islam. 8. The structure of the Muslim town. Encounters: 9. Islam and Hellenism. 10. Firdausis concept of history. 11. Attempts at self interpretation in contemporary Islam. 12. Westernization in Islam and the theory of cultural borrowing. Index.

The study of civilizations is a field unevenly divided between humanists and social scientists. The former tend to look to the past of a civilization, usually to its classic period, the latter look to its present. The humanists interview texts monuments and paintings, the social scientists interview people. The humanists see the civilization through the works of its most reflective and creative minds, the social scientists characteristically attend to what is done and thought by the many plain people. (jacket)