What exactly is the Qur'an? How does this extraordinary document -- literally ""recitation"" -- relate to the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad? And why did the religion of the Prophet, which came to be called ""Islam"" (or submission to God's will), at the center of which lies the Qur'an, give birth to a legacy so richly diverse in faith, law and civilization? This immaculately researched, but at the same time thoroughly accessible, book offers a journey into the full range of experience -- past and present, secular and sacred -- of the peoples and cultures that share in Islamic...