Perhaps the most accurate description of the present state of knowledge on the economic history of the Near East is the schoolboy’s definition of a net as “a bunch of holes tied together with string.” The trouble is that, here, the holes are so wide that rather large fish can easily slip through, while the string is so weak that one cannot be sure of keeping what one thinks one holds. Add to this the fact that the present fisherman is a newcomer to the field, and has not yet had the time to make much of the necessary studies, and it will be seen that this paper must be regarded as only a preliminary and very tentative introduction, which makes no claim to thoroughness or completeness.

Cultural studies in the West are trying more and more to present a truly individualized portrait of the alien cultures with which they deal. Refinements in observation may be credited with some of our advance but true progress is mostly due to a refinement in analytical method. This in turn hinges on our ability to enter into the intimacy of alien thinking and feeling by selecting key concepts and key experiences which allow us to obtain documented insights into the less accessible ideas and attitudes. Certain theological concepts as crystallization points of reflections and emotions and, on a different level, the examination of dreams lend themselves as divining rods when it comes to probing the more recondite layers of Muslim mentality in the classical age.

This paper does not purport to deal with western language publications about the Middle East, and the reason for excluding them from our analysis is because they are bibliographically well identifiable and controllable and physically both available and easily accessible. By contrast, publications in Arabic, Persian and Turkish are on the whole relatively unknown even to the scholars, let alone the students, and, when available, are not easily accessible. Thus, a differentiating characteristic of western language materials on the Middle East is their “knowability.” They are known to us through a variety of bibliographical sources, national and otherwise, as well as through library catalogs. Furthermore, they are not only well organized but also easily organizable. Bibliographers and other librarians who can work with them and process them are available, and more are being trained every year.

The XXVII International Congress of Orientalists was held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, from August 13 through August 19, 1967. This was the first time the Congress was held in the United States or, for that matter, in the Western Hemisphere. Before the Congress convened, fears were expressed that the distance of Ann Arbor from the East Coast of the United States, and that of the United States from the older centers of Oriental studies, would appreciably reduce attendance. In fact, however, more than 2500 scholars attended, a considerable increase over the previous Congress, demonstrating the tremendous development of Oriental studies in the United States during the previous two decades, and also the effectiveness of the Organizing Committee’s effort to assist the transportation of foreign scholars by means of subsidized airplane flights from Tokyo as well as principal centers in Europe.

Like most other fields, the study of Islamic art is both the beneficiary and the victim of its own past. Like many fields, it is affected in various more or less successful ways by developments and needs in related areas of learning. Like all fields, it is tied to the quality and idiosyncrasies of the men who practice it. Inasmuch as bibliographical surveys according to traditional lines of techniques and periods are available (Pearson, Index Islamicus with supplements, London, 1958, 1962, 1968; especially K.A.C. Creswell, A Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam, Cairo, 1961) and current works are listed with a fair degree of completeness in the yearly Abstracta Islamica published by the Revue des Etudes Islamiques, my concern in this paper will be to review the state of the field, the ways in which one can find out about it, and the work being done according to three major categories: traditional techniques and documentation; new problems and solutions; light and dark areas of research.