This volume constitutes a comprehensive history and analysis of Islam - its history, its conflicts, its legacy - and its prospects. It traces the development of Islam as a religion and as an intellectual tradition, offering an introduction to the faith and an argument for its future direction.

A new foreword, by John E. Woods, offers a reappraisal of Rahman's life and thought after the events of fall 2001.

This incisive, surprisingly comprehensive volume is both a history and an analysis of Islam: from Mohammed's time to the late twentieth century, Rahman traces the development of Islam as a religion and as an intellectual tradition, offering both an easily understood introduction to the faith and an impassioned argument for its future direction.