Includes bibliographical references (p. 884-940) and index.

Pt. I. The Origins of Islamic Civilization: the Middle East from c. 600 to c. 1200 -- Introduction: Middle Eastern societies before the advent of Islam -- Ancient empires -- Religion and society before Islam -- The Preaching of Islam -- 1. Arabia -- Clans and kingdoms -- Poetry and the gods -- 2. The life of the Prophet -- Muhammad in Mecca -- The Medina years -- Triumph and the return to Mecca -- The old world and the new religion -- The Arab-Muslim Imperium (632-945) -- 3. The Arab conquests and the socio-economic bases of empire -- The Arab conquests -- The administration of the new empire -- Economic change and the new urban societies -- Clients, converts, and communities -- 4. The Caliphate -- From nomadic kingdom to Syrian monarchy -- The Àbbasid empire: social revolution and political reaction -- 5. Cosmopolitan Islam: the Islam of the imperial elite -- Art, architecture, and the concept of the Caliphate -- The Arabic humanities -- Persian literature -- Hellenism -- 6. Urban Islam: the Islam of the religious elites -- Sunni scripturalism -- Theology -- Mystics and Sufism -- Shiì Islam -- 7. Islamic culture and the separation of state and religion -- 8. The fall of the Àbbasid empire -- The decline of the central government -- Provincial autonomy and disintegration -- From Islamic Culture to Islamic Society: Iran and Iraq, 945-c. 1200 -- 9. The post-Àbbasid Middle Eastern state system -- Iraq, Iran, and the eastern provinces -- The Saljuq empire -- The slave states and administration -- The iqta ̀system and Middle Eastern feudalism -- Local courts and regional cultures: Islam in Persian garb -- 10. Muslim communities and Middle Eastern societies -- The Shiì communities -- The schools of law and Sunni sectarianism -- Sufi brotherhoods -- Muslim religious movements and the state -- Islamic institutions and a mass Islamic society -- 11. The collective ideal -- The juristic theory -- Mirrors for princes -- The philosopher-king -- 12. The Personal Ethic -- Normative Islam: scripture, Sufism, and theology -- Sufism in the post-Àbbasid era -- Al-Ghazzali: his life -- Al-Ghazzali: his vision -- Rationality and theology -- Alternative Islam: philosophy, gnostic and popular Sufism -- The dialogues within Islam -- Conclusion: The Middle Eastern Islamic paradigm -- The formation of imperial Islamic society -- States and communities in a fragmented Middle East -- Coping with the limits of worldly life -- State and religion in the Islamic paradigm Pt. II. The Worldwide Diffusion of Islamic Societies from the Tenth to the Nineteenth Centuries -- Introduction: the Islamic world and the rise of Europe -- Conversion to Islam -- Muslim elites and Islamic communities -- The social structure of Islam -- Muslim states -- Confrontation with Europe -- The Middle Eastern Islamic Societies -- 13. Iran: the Mongol, Timurid, and Safavid empires -- The Mongols -- The Timurids -- Iranian society and Sufi movements -- Safavid Iran -- The conversion of Iran to Shiìsm -- The dissolution of the Safavid empire -- 14. The Turkish migrations and the Ottoman empire -- The migrations and Turkish-Islamic states in Anatolia (1071-1243) -- The rise of the Ottomans (c. 1280-1453) -- The Ottoman world empire -- The Ottoman state -- Rulers and subjects -- The Ottoman economy -- Provincial administration -- The Ottoman empire in disarray -- 15. The Arab Middle East -- Egypt and Syria in the "Caliphal" age -- The Saljuq model: state and religion -- The Ottoman era -- 16. Islamic North Africa and Spain to the nineteenth century -- State formation in the "Caliphal" phase -- Spanish-Islamic civilization -- The tripartite regime: Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries -- States and Islam: North African variations -- Islam in Central and Southern Asia -- 17. Inner Asia from the Mongol conquests to the nineteenth century -- The western and northern steppes -- Turkestan (Transoxania, Khwarizm, and Farghana) -- Eastern Turkestan and China -- 18. The Indian subcontinent: the Delhi Sultanates and the Mughal empire -- The Muslim conquests and the Delhi Sultanates -- Conversion and the Muslim communities -- The varieties of Indian Islam -- Muslim holy men and political authority -- The Mughal empire -- The decline of the Mughal empire -- 19. The formation of Islamic societies in Southeast Asia -- The diffusion of Islam -- The Portuguese, the Dutch, and the Muslim states -- Islamic societies in Southeast Asia -- The new imperialism -- Islam in Africa -- 20. Islam in Sudanic, savannah, and forest West Africa -- The kingdoms of western and central Sudan -- Merchants and missionaries in the desert, forest, and coastal regions -- The West African jihads -- 21. Islam in East Africa and the rise of European colonial empires. Conclusion: the varieties of Islamic society -- Pt. III. The Modern Transformation: Muslim Peoples in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries -- Introduction: modernity and the transformation of Muslim societies -- 22. Iran: state and religion in the modern era -- 23. The dissolution of the Ottoman empire and the modernization of Turkey -- 24. Egypt: secularism and Islamic modernity -- 25. The Arab Middle East: Arabism, military states, and Islam -- 26. North Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- 27. The Indian subcontinent: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh -- 28. Islam in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines -- 29. Inner Asia under Russian and Chinese rule; the Caucasus and Afghanistan -- 30. Islam in West Africa -- 31. Islam in East Africa -- 32. Muslims in Europe and America. Conclusion: secularized Islam and Islamic revival. -- Conclusion: The Middle Eastern Islamic paradigm.