LAUSR

Islam did not emerge from thin air; it had roots deep in a particular topography and geography: an inhabited southern and northern rim enclosing a desert that pitted settled communities (hidara) against nomadic tribes (badw). It is a recurrent theme of this story. The Arabic language, which developed in the highlands of southern Arabia, was ripe for Muhammad in the way 16 century English was for Shakespeare, except Muhammad was prophet and politician as well as bard. Language spearheaded the Islamic mission, and in the rhetorical power of the Qu’ran, writes Mackintosh-Smith, it packed a message that would “fuel the greatest of all wheels of fire, a cycle of unity and fragmentation that is still in motion today”.