The volumes of Project on the History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization aim at discovering the main aspects of India's heritage and present them in an interrelated way. In spite of their unitary look, these volumes recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers and writers who are methodologically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. The project is marked by what may be called 'methodological pluralism'. In spite of its primarily historical character, this project, both in its conceptualization and execution, has been shaped by scholars drawn from different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique and comprehensive character has been undertaken to study critically a major world civilization.
The present volume on Islam forms a part of the other volumes of the PHISPC under "The Religious Systems of India". The conceiving of this volume speaks of the thoughtfulness of the Centre for Studies in Civilizations as Islam is the religion of the largest minority in India. Islam's presence in India is practically as old as Islam itself. Naturally, it has undergone important changes and development in India. These developments are in the fields of commentaries of the Quran and Hadiths, Jurisprudence, Sufism, Philosophy and culture. Our efforts are directed to project and highlight these developments through the articles included in this volume. It is hoped that the volume will be of interest to those who want to know Islam and Muslims in India, rather closely. Most of these articles were obtained from the participants of the two national seminars held at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in June 2002 and 2003 under the auspices of the centre.
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