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 Islamicate 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.
Despite the record of some 14 centuries of such achievements, knowledge about Islam and Muslims has been very limited, especially in the Americas. The modern study of Islam was mostly relegated to a few elite universities until the 1980s, and it was hardly mentioned in social stud-ies textbooks used by secondary school students and teachers. What Americans knew of Muslims was largely confined to those who had lived or traveled in Muslim countries, met Muslim immi-grants, or heard about famous African-American Muslims like Malcolm X, the boxer Muhammad Ali, or Karim Abdul Jabbar.
Today there still exists, a widespread hunger in the United States and many other countries for even the most basic knowledge about Muslims-their religion, histories, cultures, and politics. One unfortunate consequence of the persistence of this knowledge "gap" is that some have exploited it to spread inac-curate, prejudiced views about Islam and Muslims by citing anecdotal evidence or weaving together scattered bits of factual information, heresay, and even falsehoods. At times this is done to serve some greater ideological objective, but at great cost to the public's ability to make wise judgments of their own, based on accurate information and scholarly expertise. The Great Encyclopedia of Islam is part of a much wider effort undertaken by many scholars and area studies experts to meet the demand for accurate information about Islam, particularly with regard to its place in the contemporary world. This undertaking is based on a growing body of research involving the contributions of people who not only have knowledge and fluency in the relevant languages but have spent extended periods of time in the Middle East and other parts of the world where Muslims live, work, and strive to achieve what we might call "the good life." The reader is encouraged to explore the variety of top-ics covered by this reference work.
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