The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World (Cambridge Illustrated Histories)

Islamic peoples account for one fifth of the world's population and yet there is widespread misunderstanding in the West of what Islam really is. Francis Robinson and his team set out to address this, revealing the complex and sometimes contrary nature of Muslim culture. As well as taking on the issues uppermost in everyone's minds, such as the role of religious and political fundamentalism, they demonstrate the importance of commerce; literacy and learning; Islamic art; the effects of immigration, exodus, and conquest; and the roots of current crises in the Middle East, Bosnia, and the Gulf. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the interaction between Islam and the West, from the first Latin translations of the Quran to the fatwa on Salman Rushdie. This elegant book deliberately sets out to dismantle the Western impression of Islam as a monolithic world and replace it with a balanced view, from current issues of fundamentalism to its dynamic culture and art. Francis Robinson is the editor of two outstanding reference works: Atlas of the Islamic World Since 1500 (Cambridge, 1982) and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India (1989). Islamic peoples account for one fifth of the world's population and yet there is widespread misunderstanding in the West of Islam really. Robinson sets out to address this, revealing the complex and sometimes contrary nature of Muslim culture. Special emphasis is given to economy, society, knowledge, art, and architecture. 200 photos, 120 in color. 14 maps. "For most of the period from the eighth to the eighteenth centuries, the Muslim world was dominant in terms both of geographical spread and creativity. Today Muslims account for one fifth of the world's population. Yet there is widespread misunderstanding in the West of what Islam really is." "Francis Robinson and his team set out to address this paradox. Dismantling the western perception of Islam as a monolithic culture, they examine the economic basis of Muslim societies - their social ordering, their forms of knowledge and its transmission, and their expression in art, architecture and in the courtly arts and their modern developments." "Particular emphasis is placed on the interrelationship between the Islamic world and the West - both share many of the same religious, intellectual and cultural roots. The book demonstrates that it is only recently that western ways came to dominate. Both civilizations owe much to one another."--BOOK JACKET. The rise of Islam in the world / Patricia Crone The emergence of the Islamic world system 1000-1500 / Robert Irwin The Islamic world in the age of European expansion 1500-1800 / Stephen F. Dale The Islamic world in the era of western domination : 1800 to the present / Sarah Ansari The economy in Muslim societies / K. N. Chaudhuri The ordering of Muslim societies / Basim Musallam Knowledge, its transmission, and the making of Muslim societies / Francis Robinson Artistic expressions of Muslim societies / Stephen Vernoit. Of the Middle East in about AD 600 one thing can be said for certain: its chances of being conquered by Arab tribesmen in the name of a new religion were so remote that nobody had even speculated that it might happen.