The book breaks fresh ground in historical research. Based on acritical and empathic understanding of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persianand Kashmiri sources, it provides a critique of Orientalistscholarship against the background of an historical enquiryconducted into the processes of Islamisation and its dynamics inrelation to the role of Muslim Rishis (Kashmiri Sufis). ProfessorIshaq Khan has brought together a number of perspectives -- thehistorical, the sociological, and the religious. The crux of hisargument is that Islam is not merely a matter of theologicalpropositions, but also a historical realisation: realising theOneness of Allah by total surrender, dedication, service and aboveall self-sacrifice for the good of humankind. The Rishi movement isan integral component of the process of Islamisation that startedin the picturesque Valley in the wake of the introduction of Sufiorders from Central Asia and Persia in the fourteenth century. Theauthor particularly focuses on the paradox and tension that theKashmiri Brahmanic society experienced as a result of the Rishisadvocacy of virtues such as self-imposed poverty, identificationwith the poor and the down-trodden, and above all opposition to thecaste system. A significant feature of the book is a perceptiveanalysis of legends and miracles associated with Muslim Rishis. Theauthor advocates the idea of looking at history from a fresh pointof view, and argues in favour of studying the history of humancivilisation in its totality, involving an interaction betweenreligion and society. The author has shown that the history ofhuman civilisation cannot be studied in watertight compartments ofmatter and faith. The present work is therefore worthy of attentionand should be of interest to a wide range of readers, rather thanmerely to specialists.