Even Unto China

Unlike the travelogues written by Europeans since the dawn of the modern world to facilitate the development of geography, history, international trade, and business, much of the ancient Muslim interest in the Chinese Kingdom emanated from the curiosity to study, even in China, as the Prophet is reputed to have recommended.When Muslim communities composed of merchants started to settle permanently in China in the 11th century, Muslim interest veered toward the growth of the universal Muslim Umma, and the evolution of the large local Muslim community having its own special characteristics.This history book, Even Unto China: The Muslim Probe into the Middle Kingdom, was inspired by author Raphael Israeli reading Bernard Lewis’s The Muslim Discovery of Europe. Israeli wanted to produce something similar on China, on which the Muslim influence is far less known. At a time when Europe was still in the Dark Ages, and even well before the 11th century, Muslims were a great civilization with outposts around the world.(About the Author)Raphael Israeli has taught Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A graduate of Hebrew University in history and Arabic literature, he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese and Islamic history from the University of California, Berkeley. Now retired, he has been a Fellow of the Harry Truman Research Institute at Hebrew University and the Jerusalem Center since the1970s. He is the author of 115 books and 100 articles.