Review Essay Religion and the Arts in Islamic Studies

RELIGION and the ARTS Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 297–317 brill.nl/rart

John Renard Saint Louis University

Babaie, Sussan. Isfahan and Its Palaces: Statecraft, Shiʾism, and the Architec- ture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran. Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art, ed. Robert Hillenbrand. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. Pp. xviii + 302 + 84 illustrations + maps + tables. $150.00 cloth.

Bloom, Jonathan and Sheila Blair. The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. 1656 + 520 illustrations. $395.00 cloth.

Dodds, Jerrilynn D. et al. The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Mus- lims in the Making of Castilian Culture. New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 2008. Pp. xiv + 395 + 210 illustrations. $40.00 cloth.

Halevi, Leor. Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Pp. xvi + 400 + 6 illustrations + 1 map. $38.00 cloth.

Hamza, Feras et al., eds. An Anthology of Qur’anic Commentaries. Volume I: On the Nature of the Divine. The Institute of Ismaili Studies Qur’anic Studies Series, No. 5. Oxford and London: Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2008. Pp. xviii + 670. $95.00 cloth.

Nouryeh, Christopher. The Art of the Holy Qur’an: A Literary Appreciation of a Sacred Text. Foreword Hayat Alvi-Aziz. Lewiston NY and Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008. Pp. v + 405. No price listed.

Roxburgh, David. Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur’an. New Haven CT and Houston TX: Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2008. Pp. viii + 55 + 31 illustrations. $14.95 paper.

Rustomji, Nerina. The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Pp. xxii + 201 + 13 illustrations. $45.00 cloth.

Shihadeh, Ayman, ed. Suﬁsm and Theology. Edinburgh and New York: University of Edinburgh Press, 2007. Pp. vi + 201 + 10 maps. $100.00 cloth.

Singer, Lynette, ed. The Minbar of Saladin: Reconstructing a Jewel of Islamic Art. Forewords HRH the Prince of Wales and HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan. London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 2008. Pp. 208 + 213 illustrations. $60.00 cloth.

Suleman, Fahmida, ed. Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and Its Cre- ative Expression. Intro. H.H. the Agha Khan. Institute of Ismaili Studies Qur’anic Studies Series, No. 4. Oxford and London: Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007. Pp. xxii + 330 + 115 illustrations. No price listed.

Thomas, David.Christian Doctrines in Islamic Theology. Vol. 10 of The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, ed. David Thomas et al. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2008. Pp. viii + 392. €135.00 cloth.

Tolan, John V. Sons of Ishmael: Muslims through European Eyes in the Mid- dle Ages. Gainesville FL: University Press of Florida, 2008. Pp. xviii + 231. $65.00 cloth.

Trix, Frances. The Suﬁ Journey of Baba Rexheb. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archae- ology and Anthropology, 2009. Pp. xiv + 226 + 31 illustrations. $55.00 cloth.