This classic work deals with aspects of family, kinship and marriage in Muslim communities in different parts of India. Each contribution included here is based on data collected by the authors through fieldwork in specific communities. Each contributor also seeks to describe and analyse the social institutions in terms of social practices rather than the formal laws of Islam. Some contributors do refer to the formal Islamic principles and try to examine the correspondence between them and the social practices and behaviour they found in the areas of their study. The Islamic rules relating to kinship and marriage are not their primary concern.