Adapted from a series of lectures delivered at the University of London in 1913, this is a strikingly clearheaded and articulate discussion of one of the great faiths of the world from a historical and sociological perspective. Discover... . the Koran as the basis of Islam . the Koran as legal code . the status cults in the Islamic faith . the development of Islamic ethics . asceticism and pantheism in Islam . Islamic philosophy . and more... Author David S. Margoliouth (1858-1940), a professor of Arabic at Oxford University, worked from primary Arabic texts and omitted "all anecdotes that are obviously or most probably fabulous," resulting in a clear-headed history of a highly contentious moment in time.