Reviewed by Lisa Anderson, November/December 2023. Published on October 24, 2023. Foreign Affairs.
"In this dazzlingly creative and thought-provoking digital book, Bashir argues that Islam needs to be understood not as a monolithic, unchanging faith but as an accumulation of beliefs and practices that people have labeled “Islam” over time and across regions. In Bashir's view, both Muslims and non-Muslims have contributed to this process. Bashir abandons the constraints of the conventionally linear printed book for an online, open-access format. Linking texts from a dizzying array of sources, including poetry, novels, art, architecture, trinkets, graffiti, and films, the book invites immersion. Readers enter this inventive and fascinating electronic work at various times and places—from contemporary Isfahan to fourteenth-century Samarkand, from the skyline of modern Istanbul to the expanse of the Arabian desert—and can make unexpected connections, experiencing Bashir's vivid elaboration of the breadth of Islam with each click."