... the European or western one. These studies are grouped according to three main topics: encounters, perceptions and responses. The "encounters" part begins with a historical survey of the interaction in war and peace, in commerce and culture between Europe and its Islamic neighbors to the east and to the south. Then, it continues with a discussion of a specific and new issue: "the emergence, mainly through immigration, of large Muslim minorities in western countries". However, in the study of that aspect this collection of essays was a bit new since it looked at the issue from an Islamic perspective rather than a European one. The second section deals with the perceptions that surfaced after the clashes between the European and Islamic civilizations. The five studies included in the book are mainly concerned with the western views of Islam. They treat the problems of translation from Arabic into a ...

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