Christian Monastic Life in Early Islam

Abstract

several years. Much can be said in praise of the collection: there are a few articles that are perhaps of lesser value, but the vast majority are major contributions by scholars who have dedicated their time to the study of these topics and are changing our understanding of occult sciences. The articles are mostly thorough, and their bibliographies are extensive and useful tools for anyone interested in these topics. The research is based on a very good use of primary sources, which are not always easy to understand. The only criticism one could voice is that the volume still remains a collection of individual articles, without offering a unified, holistic view of the state of the art in studies on Islamic occult sciences, as might be expected from a book appearing in Brill’s famous series Handbook of Oriental Studies. Even the ‘Introduction’ fails to give unity to these studies, though it endeavours to do so. The articles, it is true, represent a very wide selection of topics and do give a variegated view of occult sciences, and the reader learns much. Although we still await a proper handbook of Islamic occult sciences, this volume is a must for scholars working in the field, and it makes major steps forward in our understanding of Islamic occult sciences.