A Guide to the Islamic World

For more than 30 years the tiny Hippocrene publishing house has dished out the world in neat, no-frills volumes, ranging from dictionaries and phrasebooks in obscure languages, such as Beginner's Basque, to ethnic cookbooks and compact, illustrated histories. Their most recent offering is a brief historical examination of the Umma, or worldwide Islamic community, and, like similar Hippocrene titles, this one serves as a useful introduction to a complex and largely foreign subject. As a resource, the book is well organized; it spans the Muslim world's immensely diverse geography, from Spain to China to Indonesia, but is broken down into coherent and easy-to-search chapters that briskly move from the religion's origins to the September 11 attacks. To their credit, Hill and Awde find a tone that is measured and neutral. Much like a standard encyclopedia entry, each chapter eschews controversy for consensus, maintaining an even-handedness that quickly earns the reader's trust. If there is any hint of bias here, it is a positive one: the authors accept that the Islamic world has""had centuries-old disagreements"" with the West, and they duly note where there have been flashpoints, but they reject the notion that a clash of civilizations is inevitable and, whenever there is an opportunity, they underscore""the parallel reality of peaceful and constructive co-existence."" In light of this, one is bound to enjoy the numerous ironies of history--whether, for instance, it is the fact that the prophet Muhammad kept a Jewish concubine, or that a medieval Arab chronicler named Osama observed how some Christian Crusaders could respect, and even adopt, the ways of the Islam.