Meetings with Remarkable Muslims

This is a collection of travel writing celebrating friendship and the chance encounters that unexpectedly enrich our lives, which shows the diversity of the Islamic world and the way in which it continues to inspire, bemuse and enrich the western imagination. It includes portraits of scholars and religious leaders, pop stars, writers, sultans, smugglers, fishermen, tear away drivers and medieval scholars, from a wide variety of voices - well-known travel writers, sculptors, film-makers, art historians, aid workers, diplomats and translators. It is dedicated to the millions who marched against the war in Iraq, and who wish that Britain's other voice be heard. Serialised in "The Independent", it evokes interest from review sections of broadsheets and editorial interest in the charitable aspect of book. Royalties from the sale of this title are being donated to buy school books for the children of Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, whose education has been so interrupted by recent wars and violence.