NAMES AND DATES
Some writers are scrupulous about the system they use for transliterating
Islamic names and words into English, insisting that one or another system
is correct. I have to confess I am not among them. I have seen my own
name spelled too many different ways in English to be picky. (People often
ask me, which is correct, Ansari or Ansary-is it y or z? Well, neither, re-
ally: it's the letter yaw.) Given the arbitrary nature of transliteration, my
guiding principle in this book has been to go for the simplest spellings and
the most recognizable reductions.
Also many Arabic names include a series of patronymics preceded by
Ibn, meaning "son of." Usually, I use the shortest form of the name by
which a person is most commonly known. The profusion of unfamiliar
names (and words) in this book will challenge many English-speaking
readers; I wish to minimize such difficulties, so if a familiar form of a word
or name exists in English, that's what I go with. Also, following a prece-
dent set by Albert Hourani in A History of the Arab Peoples, I use the pre-
fixal-the first time an Arabic name is used but drop it after that: al-Ghazali
becomes Ghazali.
As for dates, two calendars apply to these events, the Islamic one and
the so-called "common era'' dating system, which actually derives from the
Christian calendar. In the early decades after the birth of the Muslim com-
munity, I generally give the Islamic date (the number of years followed by
AH which stands ''After the Hijra''). I do so because I think that in this
early period it's useful to convey a feel for how many years have passed
since the crucial events oflslam. Later in time, I slide over to the "common
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