Among the world’s religions, few have attained thehistorical, cultural, and civilizational stature anddiversity that Islam has. Since the seventh century, when it first emerged in the western region of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Hijaz, ithas been continuously adapted and carried forthby its adherents, who call themselves Muslims, tonew 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.