The World of Islam – Contents
Foreword
Outline of Islamic History
Introduction
The nature of the Islamic state • The Arabs relinquish power • Iran: the
exception • Crusaders and Mongols • After the Mongols
Chapter 1 The Faith and the Faithful The lands and peoples of Islam
The five pillars of Islam • Belief, opinion and toleration • The rule of
law • Free men, freedmen and 'people of the pact' • Who owned the land?
Chapter 2 The Man-made Setting Islamic art and architecture
The forces of unity • Arabic script • the rejection of sculpture •
The mosque : origins and meaning • Colour: the response to environment •
Dust, heat and gardens • The Islamic interior
Chapter 3 Cities and Citizens The growth and culture of urban Islam
Time, place and status • The quarters • The religious community •
Wealth • The 'state' • Taste • The Islamic city: tension and resilience
Chapter 4 The Mystic Path The Sufi tradition
Classical Sufism • Textbooks and transition • The orders • The mystical
cult of Muhammad • Sufism and the state • Marginal groups • Sufism and
literature
Chapter 5 Jewellers with Words The heritage of Islamic literature
Above literature: The Qur'an • Poetry of the desert • Poetry of wine and
love • Creation and convention • Challenge from Persia • Literature
the people • Neo-Persian • Arabic prose
Chapter 6 The Dimension of Sound Islamic music – philosophy,
theory and practice
Folk music • Art music • Technique and expression: the modes • Religion
and music • Theory and practice • Six periods of Islamic music
Chapter 7 The Scientific Enterprise Islamic contributions to the development
of science
The appropriation of ancient learning • The opposition • Innovation
and tradition: mathematics • Astronomy: theory and observation •
Light and vision • Al-Andalus versus the East
Chapter 8 Armies of the Prophet Strategy, tactics and weapons in
Islamic warfare
The Arab eruption • Consolidating the conquests • The make-up of
the armies • Tactics of battle • The Siege • Slave systems • A revolution
in warfare: firearms • War at sea
Chapter 9 Moorish Spain The Golden Age of Cordoba and Granada
The conquests and the people • The Umayyads • A multi-racial culture •
Almanzor and civil war • Three writers of the civil war • Ibn Quzman,
poet of Muslim Spain • The kingdom of Granada
Chapter 10 Land of the Lion and the Sun The flowering of Iranian civilization
The rebirth of Iran • The Safavids • The mystique of the monarchy •
The land and the people • Religion and philosophy • Literature, science
and art • Iran and the West • Modern Iran
Chapter 11 The Ottoman Empire The rise and fall of Turkish domination
The Seljuqs of Rum • A new wave: The Ottomans • Mehmed the Conqueror •
Structure of the Ottoman state • At the court of the sultan •
The long decline
Chapter 12 Muslim India From the coing of Islam to Independence
Before the Mughuls • Flowering and decline • Kings and the court •
The social classes • The legacy of architecture • The art of the
miniature • A golden age of Islamic science • The impact of the West
Chapter 13 Islam Today Problems and prospects of the 19th and 20th centuries
Threa and resistance • 'Necessary reforms' • Enlightenment versus
tradition • Islam and Communist Russia • India: partition and paradox •
Islam – faith or social order?
Epilogue
Chronological Chart of Islam
Select Bibliography
Index