This book seeks to distinguish clearly between traditional Islam and both modernism and the fundamentalist or resurgent forms of Islam which are often confused with traditional Islam. The author who speaks from the traditional point of view delineates clearly how traditional Islam as rooted in the Quran and the prophetic Sunnah and as lived over the centuries by Muslims differs from both the modernist and the 'fundamentalist' schools in so many domains ranging from art and science to politics. He then discusses the encounter of traditional Islam with the challenges which face it in the modern world in general as well as in the specific realms of education, science, philosophy and architecture and urbanism which are of central concern to the contemporary Muslim world.