Islam emerged amid flourishing Christian and Jewish cultures, yet students of Antiquity and the Middle Ages mostly ignore it, leading readers to conclude that Islam did not mature sufficiently to compare with Christianity or rabbinic Judaism until the tenth century. This volume suggests a new way of thinking about the historical relationship between the scriptural monotheisms, integrating Islam into European and West Asian history.

This introduction to Muslim Spain covers the period from 711 to1502, giving readers a substantial overview of what it was that made it a unique and successful society, and of its powerful legacy in the formation of modern Spain. The author keeps in view the shifting social patterns caused by the changing balance between town and country, major and minor dynasties, foreign groupings and repeated invasions from North Africa.

Using evidence from contemporary printed images, Smith examines the attitudes of Christian Europe to the Ottoman Empire and to Islam. Conflicting feelings of fascination and fear among individuals reflect wider societal issues within the changing social, political and religious climate of Central Europe. Smith also considers the relationship between text and image, placing it in the cultural context of the Reformation and beyond.

This book examines the complex sphere of Islam, including articles that explore Islamic law, the role of women in the Muslim world, and the religion's relationships with democracy and the Western world.