Islam: A Short History (Universal History)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The picture of Islam as a violent, backward, and insular tradition should be laid to rest, says Karen Armstrong, bestselling author of Muhammad and A History of God. Delving deep into Islamic history, Armstrong sketches the arc of a story that begins with the stirring of revelation in an Arab businessman named Muhammad. His concern with the poor who were being left behind in the blush of his society's new prosperity sets the tone for the tale of a culture that values community as a manifestation of God. Muhammad's ideas catch fire, quickly blossoming into a political empire. As the empire expands and the once fractured Arabs subdue and overtake the vast Persian domain, the story of a community becomes a panoramic drama. With great dexterity, Armstrong narrates the Sunni-Shi'ite schism, the rise of Persian influence, the clashes with Western crusaders and Mongolian conquerors, and the spiritual explorations that traced the route to God. Armstrong brings us through the debacle of European colonialism right up to the present day, putting Islamic fundamentalism into context as part of a worldwide phenomenon. Islam: A Short History, like Bruce Lawrence's Shattering the Myth and Mark Huband's Warriors of the Prophet, introduces us to a faith that beckons like a minaret to those who dare to venture beyond the headlines. --Brian Bruya
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
In the public mind, Islam is a religion of extremes: it is the world's fastest growing faith; more than three-quarters of the world's refugees are Islamic; it has produced government by authoritarian monarchies in Saudi Arabia and ultra-republicans in Iran. Whether we are reading about civil war in Algeria or Afghanistan, the struggle for the soul of Turkey, or political turmoil in Pakistan or Malaysia, the Islamic context permeates all these situations. Karen Armstrong's elegant and concise book traces how Islam grew from the other religions of the book, Judaism and Christianity; introduces us to the character of Muhammed; and demonstrates that for much of its history, the religion has been a force for enlightenment that promoted liberties for women and allowed the arts and sciences to flourish. Islam shows how this progressive legacy is today often set aside as the faith struggles to come to terms with the economic and political weakness of most of its believers and with the forces of modernity itself.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very readable book which I highly recomend to anyone who is intrested in but has little knowledge of the islamic world and its history. With its pleasant style and useful glosary of araboc terms is a very enjoyable and intresting read. However while Armstrong deals excellently with the early history of islam her section on modern islamic politics tends to lose objectivity and presents evidence to support her ideas ignoring other factors and explanations. I found it also a little hard to follow the sucession of the various monarchs discussed as there is no list to aid the reader.
Despite these problems this a deeply well written and informative book. I took this book out of the library and Iam considering buying a copy, Its just that good.
Despite these problems this a deeply well written and informative book. I took this book out of the library and Iam considering buying a copy, Its just that good.
52 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Perfect Paperback
Islam is a religion of many cultures and traditions spread over more then 1400 years in time. And for an out sider (as I assume Karen to be), she seems to have a vast amount of knowledge on the subject.
The book is written in a very approachable manner and would be understandable to even the beginners. But having said that, there are so many details covered in this one book (even if as brief references) that I couldn't help but admire the effort put into her work. I started off not expecting too much (thinking I know it all any way), but ended up finding so much new stuff and refreshing what I knew before to be true. And the best thing was that it gives us a different prospective of things. It makes us think about things we usually take as a given (either for religious or social reasons), hence closing our minds to them. Also makes us think logically about historical facts we believe to be true but usually tend to look at them just from a religious view point and hence not being able to appreciate them to the full.
So all in all, I very much recommend this book to any one who would like to study the fastest growing religion in the world. It takes away a lot of stereo types about Islam (and made me want to further study a lot of personalities and events mentioned in this book.) and brings things into prospective.
Enjoy!!!
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am doing an Open University religious studies course and wanted something to supplement the set text on Islam. This is a good run through the history of Islam but really spends most of its time in "history book" mode rather than "religious studies book" mode. As such, it is more a history of Arab conquest and defeat than a detailed examination of the religion that most of those Arabs followed. Also, Ms Armstrong tells the story of the prophet, and others, in quite a "cosy" way, speaking of them as if she knew exactly what he was thinking and why he did things, which is using a little too much artistic license - just something to be wary of.
However, it IS very well written, easy to read, and excellently laid out, with a very detailed timeline and glossaries of people and terminology for reference. Buy it as a high quality starter text (in fact buy it at this low price just for the reference pages alone), but if it is Islam (the religion, not the "state") you particularly want to know about, dont expect more than the basics.
However, it IS very well written, easy to read, and excellently laid out, with a very detailed timeline and glossaries of people and terminology for reference. Buy it as a high quality starter text (in fact buy it at this low price just for the reference pages alone), but if it is Islam (the religion, not the "state") you particularly want to know about, dont expect more than the basics.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent introduction to the history of Islam
As other people have highlighted, this book is an excellent introduction to the history of the religion. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Miss L. Ridgway
Fear of Islam or appeasement?
I had high hopes for this work by reknowned religious writer Karen Armstrong. I can only briefly say that I was intensely dissapointed by the book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. C. Napier-Kristiansson
Tried to keep everybody happy
Along with creating awareness of the history of Islam, it also propagates certain wrong notions about the religion like 'Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) never asked the Jews or the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ali Shahi
Unbalanced and uncritical.
This book would have been better titled a Defence of the History of Islam.
The two attributes any historian needs are Perspective and Balance. Read more
The two attributes any historian needs are Perspective and Balance. Read more
Published 13 months ago by J Sawyer
Reviewed by Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly, September 2001
I apologize as this is not my own review by rather that of Daniel Pipes, but I believed that it conveys an important message to any who would consider buying this book for... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Bledd
Great book
Just finished reading this book a few days ago. Personally I found it an intriguing read and was gripped by this book from beginning to end. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Colm N. Grogan
history islam
after reading the koran and having read the jewish history i wanted to know a bit more about history. Read more
Published 24 months ago
how to begin to understand the islamic faith
I found the book informative, easy reading with gems of knowledge. Really glad I purchased the book.
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by Gabe
Superb overview
This slim and easily read book gave me exactly what I wanted: a concise overview of the development of Islam. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2009 by Elginson
An antidote to prejudice or a justification of it?
I tend to the latter. As a summary of the history of Islam this is probably as good and as detailed as most people can digest. Read more
Published on 15 April 2009 by Daphne
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