21 AUGUST 1926, Page 24

ISLAM AND THE DIVINE COMEDY. By Miguel Asin. (John Murray.

12s.)—Unusual interest attaches to this work, offspring of the union of Arabic and Romance scholarship. Persuasive and delightful in translation, the chapters proceed from argument to argument with an effect cumulative and convincing. That many of the unexplained ideas in Dante's work were perforce attributed to the towering genius of the man is well known : that they took their origin in Islamic models, as Dr. Asin maintains, merely renders the veneration due to Dante more reasonable,' and in no way detracts from his greatness. The numerous Mohammedan legends will doubtless come as a new and fascinating bypath of literature for the majority of readers.