Introduction to This Edition

My aim with this project is to build on the excellent starting points provided by the original edition with several issues in mind. First, I wanted to tackle the thorny issue of transliteration throughout the text by imposing a bit of consistency based on Library of Congress romanization schemes and, in the case of modern Turkish, using modern Turkish script. The reason I decided to focus on transliteration is that I have found that many students over the years have struggled with terminology and proper names from the Middle East and with reference to Islamic law and practice.  Having a consistent approach (while explaining departures from it) should be of use to students aiming for more precise and nuanced understandings of the region.   I have undoubtedly failed in this endeavor at consistency and will need to make updates.   That is fine because I intend to update the content as well with an eye towards fleshing things out a bit more more.  In the November 2021 update, I have added more on languages in the Middle East, more on Islamic sects and more on the history that preceded the modern period.  Each of these addition are concise in may be expanded in the future.

Camron Michael Amin, Professor of History, The University of Michigan-Dearborn