Includes bibliographical references (p. 697-707) and index.

Ch. 1. Muhammad and the Caliphate: Political History of the Islamic Empire up to the Mongol Conquest / Fred M. Donner -- Ch. 2. Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge: The Relationship Between Faith and Practice in Islam / Vincent J. Cornell -- Ch. 3. Law and Society: The Interplay of Revelation and Reason in the Shariah / Mohammad Hashim Kamali -- Ch. 4. Science, Medicine, and Technology: The Making of a Scientific Culture / Ahmad Dallal -- Ch. 5. Art and Architecture: Themes and Variations / Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom -- Ch. 6. Philosophy and Theology: From the Eighth Century C.E. to the Present / Majid Fakhry -- Ch. 7. Islam and Christendom: Historical, Cultural, and Religious Interaction from the Seventh to the Fifteenth Centuries / Jane I. Smith -- Ch. 8. Sultanates and Gunpowder Empires: The Middle East / Ira M. Lapidus -- Ch. 9. The Eastward Journey of Muslim Kingship: Islam in South and Southeast Asia / Bruce B. Lawrence.

Ch. 10. Central Asia and China: Transnationalization, Islamization, and Ethnicization / Dru C. Gladney -- Ch. 11. Islam in Africa to 1800: Merchants, Chiefs, and Saints / Nehemia Levtzion -- Ch. 12. Foundations for Renewal and Reform: Islamic Movements in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries / John Obert Voll -- Ch. 13. European Colonialism and the Emergence of Modern Muslim States / S. V. R. Nasr -- Ch. 14. The Globalization of Islam: The Return of Muslims to the West / Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad -- Ch. 15. Contemporary Islam: Reformation or Revolution? / John I. Esposito.

"John L. Esposito, editor of the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, has gathered together sixteen leading scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to examine the origins and historical development of Islam - its faith, community, institutions, sciences, and arts."--BOOK JACKET. "Written for the general reader but also appealing to specialists, The Oxford History of Islam offers the best of that recent scholarship, presented in a readable style and complemented by a rich variety of illustrations."--BOOK JACKET.