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This handbook addresses the historical background of the Islamic world and reviews its basic past intellectual achievements. It studies social progress of these regions and sub-regions in comparison with other parts of the world. It uses large data sets and well established statistically weighted Indexes in order to assess the nature and pace of the multiple facets of social change in member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The handbook extensively discusses the main challenges confronting the Islamic nations in the social, economic, political, and ideological fields.
Though it is recognizable that social change in the Islamic World is generally positive, it remains highly variable in pace and there is room to speed it up to the benefit of millions of deprived Muslim people. Hence, the book studies the different propositions and programs of action, such as the United Nations´ Millennium Development Campaign and the OIC´s Ten-Year Programme of Action to present an integrated and comprehensive agenda of action to help improve the situation in the Islamic World.

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"It is a very welcome and very good addition to the series, providing an indispensable introduction to one of the most neglected areas in the field of research on the quality of life, social indicators or human well-being, namely, Islamic Societies. ... a treatise that should be on the shelf of every scholar and every politician with any interest in what has happened over many years of Islamic history and what has been happening in the last decade." (Alex C. Michalos, Applied Research Quality Life, Vol. 12, 2017)

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