Firs Paragraph: A question it is always interesting to pose is what makes a textbook successful. This book by Andrew Rippin is much used as an introductory text on Islam and Muslims, my students certainly think highly of it, and yet the market is full of such books, guides to the material that one would expect to find in such a book. What we get with Rippin though is no “Islam for Dummies.” Much of the discus-sion takes place at a pretty high level of scholarship and the student is introduced to the sorts of arguments and issues that confront an-yone interested in Islam, not a watered-down version. That is what makes this book useful, it treats its readers with respect and they return the compliment.