The Shade of Swords is a discursive history of the concept of jihad, or holy war, within Islam by a distinguished Indian journalist, M. J. Akbar. The subtitle of his book, 'Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity', will distract potential readers from what is likely to interest them most - an excellent analysis of the antagonism between India and Pakistan which, in recent weeks, has brought the two countries close to war.

M. J. Akbar, although an Indian, is one of many million Muslims who remained in the predominantly Hindu nation after the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. He also has experience of Western modes of thought and writes, I suspect, largely with an American or European reader in mind. He therefore comes to his subject with insights and sympathies that are slightly at variance with one another, the journalist's impartiality wrestling with the Muslim's commitment to his faith.

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