From its modest beginnings on the Arabian Peninsula nearly 1,400 years ago, Islam has grown into the world's second-largest religious faith, with more than 1.6 billion believers worldwide. Islamic civilization has a long and rich history characterized by magnificent achievements in the arts, science, and culture. Many individuals have played important roles in the development and spread of the Islamic faith and Islamic civilizations. This book provides brief biographies of a handful of those individuals, whose deeds have served as a powerful inspiration for other Muslims. This book also examines the places that Muslims consider sacred, explaining how those sites figure into Islamic history.
