Curating Lived Islam in the Muslim World: British Scholars, Sojourners and Sleuths

If ever there were a book written to elicit excitement at the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, it is Iftikhar H. Malik’s Curating lived Islam in the Muslim world. The book’s subtitle “British scholars, sojourners, and sleuths” describes many of the Society’s founders, and the names of many past members, lecturers, and contributors to Asian Affairs pepper the pages. In the cases of Gertrude Bell (1868–1926) and Freya Stark (1893–1993), they are the focus of entire chapters, and rightly so. The history of the RSAA is intimately entwined with the history of the British Empire, of travel writing, and the study of religion and ethnography. Although Malik does not reference the Society directly, its raison d’etre and influence permeates what is, from every angle, a fascinating read.