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In this deftly argued and neatly written book, Ronit Ricci offersfresh insights and tools for the study of various locally producedIslamic texts and their reception in South and Southeast Asia.Following the well-discussed paradigm of the "Sanskrit Cosmopolis,"which was introduced by the Sanskrit scholar Sheldon Pollock, Riccidevelops the idea of the "Arabic Cosmopolis." Her valuablecontribution lies in its potential to generate a debate about thetrans-local Islamic literary sphere that is constituted and definedby language, literature, and religion at a broad level, and in SouthAsian Islam in particular. According to Ricci, the paradigm of the"Arabic cosmopolis" includes a large geographic area through Southand Southeast Asia. Focusing specifically on local translations andtransmissions of an Arabic text, _The Book of One Thousand Questions_(printed in Arabic in 1920), into local languages, such as Javanese,Tamil, and Malay, Ricci explores the processes of  translation andconversion in South and Southeast Asia. Although this study isrestricted to specific local languages, her observations andanalytical paths provide tools to comprehend the contours of thistext beyond the limits of the Arabic language or various languagesthat she discusses in the book.The book begins with an introduction that theorizes the concept ofthe "Arabic cosmopolis." Connecting to various discussions onliterary transmission, translation, and religious conversions, Riccisituates the local languages in a theoretical framework thatcircumscribes diverse historical phases, literary networks, andIslamization in South and Southeast Asia. The comparative study ofIndia and Indonesia lifts this work to an extremely advantageousstatus. In the next key section of the introduction, Ricci expandsthis discussion of the literary networks further in theorizing thesetextual dynamics, and explains the concept of the "Arabic cosmopolis"of South and Southeast Asia. She argues that the comprehension of theprocesses of conversion and translation remain incomplete if we failto consider seriously the role of Arabic. According to the author,"Arabic's incorporation--at many levels--into local vernaculars hasbrought about profound and long-lasting transformations" (p. 12).This book has three parts: part 1 discusses translation focusing onthe idea of untranslatability, part 2 examines the intriguing aspectof conversions, and part 3 offers concluding remarks. In the firstpart, Ricci uses three literary texts: _The_ _Book of Samud_ fromJavanese; _Ayira Macala _(A thousand questions_ _[printed 1984]) fromTamil; and finally _Seribu Masalah _(A thousand questions), the Malayversion of _The Book of One Thousand Questions_. Her explorationbegins with a basic premise that the word "translation" itself isuntranslatable (p. 32). While this idea is intriguing, Ricci expandsthe definition of "translation" by examining various translations ofthe Arabic texts in local languages. The author discovers a shift inthe approaches toward translation in locally produced texts thatsimultaneously effaced the individual translator but boldy andcreatively reworked the text. Beginning with the wide-rangingtransmission of the Arabic language Ricci discusses how the dynamicsof conversion were reflected in_The Book of One Thousand Questions_in Javanese, Malay, and Tamil texts. In the third part, theconclusion, Ricci offers fresh insights on her idea of the Arabiccosmopolis by looking at the role of local communities in "theformation of a new literary and religious repository that was richlyinterconnected both with a distant past and with a local present" (p.245).Current research on the production and transmission of premodernSouth Asian literature focuses heavily on Sanskrit texts orSanskrit-related materials. Although we have a few studies concernedwith non-Sanskrit languages and literature, they too mostly focus onnon-Islamic writing. Studies on Islamic literary materials remainunexplored. Undoubtedly, Ricci's book fills this void whilesuccessfully analyzing an Islamic narrative that blends local andglobal Islamic cultural and social aspects. In this case, this workis more about the literary networks of South and Southeast Muslimcommunities than South and Southeast Asia as such. Ricci uses theterm "literary networks" in a specific way as it represents "sharedtexts, including stories, poems, genealogies, histories, andtreatises on a broad range of topics, as well as the readers,listeners, authors, patrons, translators, and scribes  who created,translated, supported, and transmitted them" (p. 2). For a student ofliterary and cultural studies, this idea of literary networks opensup a wide array of research options and provides a wealth ofmaterials and their uses in the literary cultures of South IndianIslam. This entire discussion on literary networks takes on afascinating turn when Ricci uses the concept of "prior texts" asproposed by A. L. Becker about the uses of old texts and theirreformulations in modern times. This observation parallels neatly thedebate on various Muslim texts now being circulated in South Asia ingeneral, and South India in particular.Ricci's work prioritizes the uses of diverse genres of literary textsboth in manuscript and printed  books, mainly shaped by the influx ofArabic. The examples she presents clearly demonstrate that they wereshaped by an Arabic model, which fits comfortably into herproposition about the Arabic cosmopolis. However, the use of Arabicas a religious language and its vocabulary has a certain hierarchy,which in some contexts equals a "normative" Islam. Although manytextual materials within the religious sphere of Islam remain fixedto an Arabic paradigm, it is imperative to recognize the popularityof Sufi materials that borrow heavily from Persian-language sources.In the realm of popular Islam and Sufi devotional materials, eitheroral or written, we find an equally significant network that isequivalent to the Arabic cosmopolis. Although Ricci refers to a fewaspects of the Persian narrative in her book, she does so in relationto the Arabic cosmopolis. How could we make use of her valuable toolsin the context of Persianate Islamic literary networks? Even in thecase of the conversions that occupied a significant place in Ricci'sanalysis, the networks of Persian literary texts have a crucial roleas many Sufi schools in South Asia adapted and appropriated PersianSufi texts to "convert" non-Muslims into Muslims. Ricci's work opensup the possibility for developing a different study using Persiannarratives.Citation: Afsar Mohammad. Review of Ricci, Ronit, _Islam Translated:Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South andSoutheast Asia_. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. November, 2012.URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=34595Ronit Ricci.  Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and theArabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia.  Chicago  Universityof Chicago Press, 2011.  336 pp.  $45.00 (cloth), ISBN978-0-226-71088-4.