Michael Philip Penn is Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. He is author of Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press, and editor of When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam.

• Introduction 1Chapter 1. When Good Things Happened to Other People: Syriac Memories of the Islamic ConquestsChapter 2. A Different Type of Difference-Making: Syriac Narratives of Religious IdentityChapter 3. Using Muslims to Think With: Narratives of Islamic RulersChapter 4. Blurring Boundaries: The Continuum Between Early Christianity and Early IslamConclusionNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgments

"Penn's book is a mighty achievement. In Envisioning Islam, scholars at last have a one-stop survey of some of the richest but most poorly understood Syriac sources for the early Islamic period, paired with clear-headed analysis and sober conclusions. . . . Penn's book succeeds in defamiliarizing the early history of Muslim-Christian relations and will undoubtedly set the stage for future research on the topic." (The Medieval Review) "A sophisticated and well-conceived study of the evolving depictions of Muslims in Syriac texts that will shed new light on the socially complicated history of early Islam." (Sydney H. Griffith, The Catholic University of America)

Michael Philip Penn is Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. He is author of Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press, and editor of When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam.

• Introduction 1Chapter 1. When Good Things Happened to Other People: Syriac Memories of the Islamic ConquestsChapter 2. A Different Type of Difference-Making: Syriac Narratives of Religious IdentityChapter 3. Using Muslims to Think With: Narratives of Islamic RulersChapter 4. Blurring Boundaries: The Continuum Between Early Christianity and Early IslamConclusionNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgments

"Penn's book is a mighty achievement. In Envisioning Islam, scholars at last have a one-stop survey of some of the richest but most poorly understood Syriac sources for the early Islamic period, paired with clear-headed analysis and sober conclusions. . . . Penn's book succeeds in defamiliarizing the early history of Muslim-Christian relations and will undoubtedly set the stage for future research on the topic." (The Medieval Review) "A sophisticated and well-conceived study of the evolving depictions of Muslims in Syriac texts that will shed new light on the socially complicated history of early Islam." (Sydney H. Griffith, The Catholic University of America)

Michael Philip Penn is Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. He is author of Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press, and editor of When Christians First Met Muslims: A Sourcebook of the Earliest Syriac Writings on Islam.

• Introduction 1Chapter 1. When Good Things Happened to Other People: Syriac Memories of the Islamic ConquestsChapter 2. A Different Type of Difference-Making: Syriac Narratives of Religious IdentityChapter 3. Using Muslims to Think With: Narratives of Islamic RulersChapter 4. Blurring Boundaries: The Continuum Between Early Christianity and Early IslamConclusionNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgments

"Penn's book is a mighty achievement. In Envisioning Islam, scholars at last have a one-stop survey of some of the richest but most poorly understood Syriac sources for the early Islamic period, paired with clear-headed analysis and sober conclusions. . . . Penn's book succeeds in defamiliarizing the early history of Muslim-Christian relations and will undoubtedly set the stage for future research on the topic." (The Medieval Review) "A sophisticated and well-conceived study of the evolving depictions of Muslims in Syriac texts that will shed new light on the socially complicated history of early Islam." (Sydney H. Griffith, The Catholic University of America)