Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- About Musk and Its Terminology -- Commodities of Further Asia and the Islamic World -- History of Musk and the Musk Trade: From Further Asia to the Near East -- Islamicate Knowledge of Musk and Musk Producing Lands -- The Merchant World and the Musk Trade -- Musk in Daily Life in the Early Medieval Islamic World -- The Symbolic Importance of Musk in Islamic Culture -- Conclusion: Worldly and Otherworldly -- Bibliography -- Indices.

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Since antiquity, musk has been a valued perfume and medicine. Because the musk deer only lives in Central Eurasia, people in other locations had to trade for its musk. For medieval Islamic civilization, musk became the most important of all aromatics. The musk trade thus illuminates the nature of medieval Asian trade and musk's cultural effects on the Islamic world. Scent from the Garden of Paradise: Musk and the Medieval Islamic World examines the history of musk from its origins in Asia to its uses in the medieval Middle East, surveys the Islamic literature on musk, and discusses the roles of musk in perfumery and medicine, as well as the symbolic importance of musk in Islam.

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