«What is Islam?» by W. Montgomery Watt [William Montgomery Watt] (First published 1968 by Longman Group Limited and Librairie du Liban)

ARAB BACKGROUND SERIES (LONGMAN / LIBRAIRIE DU LIBAN)
Series Note:
«The Arab World has, for some time, been attracting the attention of a growing public throughout the world. The strategic position of the Arab countries, the oil they produce, their sudden emancipation and emergence as independent states, their revolutions and coups d'état, have been the special concern of statesmen, politicians, businessmen, scholars and journalists, and of equal interest to the general public.

An appreciation of the present-day problems of Arab countries and of their immediate neighbours demands a certain knowledge of their geographical and social background; and a knowledge of the main trends of their history -- political, cultural and religious -- is essential for an understanding of current issues. Arabs had existed long before the advent of Islam in the seventh century AD, but it was with Islam that they became a world power. Arab civilization, which resulted from the contacts the Arabs had of this world power, and which reached its height in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries, was, for a few centuries that followed, the guiding light of a large part of the world. Its role cannot, thus, be ignored.

The Arab Background Series provides the English-speaking, educated reader with a series of books which attempt to clarify the historical past of the Arabs and to analyse their present problems. The contributors to the series, who come from many parts of the world, are all specialists in their own fields. This variety of approach and attitude creates for the English-speaking reader a unique picture of the Arab World.»

Source:
«Editor's Preface» (by N. A. Ziadieh), in: «Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade», London and New York: Longman; and Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1981 (Arab World Series), p. ix.