Arabia and the Arabs is a pleasurable read for experts. The Foreign names and places make it sometimes difficult for Western readers to capture the depth of Hoyland's research. The mixture of primary evidence with archaeological findings is invaluable and the outcome is original. Here is a scholar that goes to the bottom of the questions rather than swimming with the consensus. It is a must read for students of Islam, the Middle East and the Arab Peninsula.

It is beyond the grasp of the author, however, how his findings fit into the big picture. This is a fundamental flaw in the science of history, not Hoyland's. Lacking the context, the findings can mean anything. Yet, without his findings, the context would have revealed little for my own writings.

Students will need to take Hoyland and read nothing more into the evidence than exactly what it says (leaving out everything that derives from traditions). Only then can it be placed into its proper context. This approach will open an entirely new world in the Arab Peninsula.

A.J. Deus, author of The Great Leap-Fraud - Social Economics of Religious Terrorism. ( )