n>Islamic civilisation got off to a rocky start. Its first city, which lay in an arid Arabian desert, excluded non-Muslims and sentenced apostates to death. That inauspicious beginning makes the subsequent fecundity all the more startling. Within decades, its great metropolises aspired to reproduce paradise on Earth. In “Islamic Empires” Justin Marozzi, an Arabic-speaking writer, encounters 15 of them, one for each century of Islam’s history. His book is a relief from the often downbeat tone of literature about the region. Read Full Article »