The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In
By Hugh Kennedy
Weidenfeld & Nicolson £25, 448 pages
FT bookshop price: £20

Last September, Pope Benedict XVI ignited furore across the Islamic world when he repeated a statement made by a Byzantine emperor in the 14th century: “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”