Quote:Wiki is your authoritative source?The Cambridge History of Islam sounds to me like it would give a pretty accurate impression of the state of the scholarship - certainly the Cambridge History of Latin America does for my field. I would think carefully before dismissing it as just what a couple guys scrawled down 40 years ago.
(...)
So, the sum total of "the generally accepted point of view" is that Watt and Bell said it was so in their 40 year old book?
What's your authoritative source, your own opinion? You haven't given us anything else, best I can tell.
-Jester
Edit: Ah, I see the other citation to Watt's own book. Still, anyone who's writing chapters for a Cambridge History would certainly have impressive credentials.