This illustrated introduction to the history of the Islamic world offers a fresh approach to the subject. Told in six chapters, arranged both chronologically and thematically, it sheds light on Islamic culture from West Africa to Southeast Asia through art and artefacts, people and places, from its origins to the present day. From pre-Islamic works that provided a foundation for the arts of Islam, to masterpieces produced under the great empires,...

A history of the rich and diverse civilizations over fifteen centuries of Islam seen through its greatest cities.

Many of the inventions and discoveries that we use in our lives today were created centuries ago -- during the golden age of Muslim empires and beyond. Art, music, astronomy, physics, mathematics, medicine, and so many other files of knowledge we shared and created and discussed in Arabia, Persia, Iraq, and India a very, very long time ago.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a pioneering community of Christian scholars laid the groundwork for the modern Western understanding of Islamic civilization. These men produced the first accurate translation of the Qur'an into a European language, mapped the branches of the Islamic arts and sciences, and wrote Muslim history using Arabic sources. The Republic of Arabic Letters reconstructs this process, revealing the influence of Catholic...