Schulze's large, rambling, and highly original study of Islamic internationalism in the twentieth century focuses on intellectuals and learning in their historical context. His prism is the World Muslim League, a Saudi-sponsored organization founded in 1962 to fund mosques, publishing houses, cultural centers, schools, and other Islamic institutions. Whether it be attitudes toward tradition or responses to the West, Schulze sees Islamic intellectual life in this century as an elaboration of themes first developed in the eighteenth century by such groups as the Wahhabis, the Salafis, and the Neo-Salafis.
Schulze has brought together a treasure of information to which he has added a great many of his own insights. Trouble is, his book lacks almost any logic of presentation, so that the reader finds himself bouncing about between centuries, countries, and topics. The effort pays off, but his book demands great diligence and stamina just to plow through the jumbled presentation.
