In this unique compilation, Bostom examines Muslim theological and juridical texts, along with essays by preeminent scholars, to analyze jihad war and the ruling conditions imposed upon the non-Muslim peoples conquered by jihad campaigns.

Extensive primary and secondary source materials, many translated here for the first time, are presented, making clear that jihad conquests were brutal, imperialist advances, which spurred waves of Muslims to expropriate a vast expanse of lands and subdue millions of indigenous peoples.