Islam: A Short History

By Karen Armstrong

Book Overview

No religion in the modern world is as feared and misunderstood as Islam. It haunts the popular imagination as an extreme faith that promotes terrorism, authoritarian government, female oppression, and civil war. In a vital revision of this narrow view of Islam and a distillation of years of thinking and writing about the subject, Karen Armstrong s short history demonstrates that the world s fastest-growing faith is a much more complex phenomenon than its modern fundamentalist strain might suggest."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081296618X
• ISBN13: 9780812966183
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Modern Library
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A necessary read.

Every professing Christian, legislator, teacher, parent, and student should at least know about this book so they can independently choose to learn from it. Armstrong has gifted us with a potent tool for lessening ignorance driven hostility. Readers are uniformly thankful that it was available to them. Islam approved it. If you are tired of fear and violence, try reading it. You will be glad you did.

Exactly What The Title Promises

I liked this book better than the other reviewer. In conjunction with a Sunday School class in which I participated, I read four books on Islam. Two of them were biased, one in each direction. Armstrong's book is an unbiased, scholarly review of almost 1400 years of Moslem history. While there is some material on beliefs, it is incidental to the emphasis on history. A book of modest length covering 1400 years of history may seem tedious to one who does not like history. If one wants some in-depth discussion of beliefs, this is probably not the right book.

Amazing

As a Muslim, I was amazed by the deep analysis and the thorough knowledge of Armstrong. It like when someone understands you more than yourself. It inspires me and it's no doubt one of the greatest books I've ever read. Thanks to Kiran Armstrong. I recommend this book to everybody

A small door into a vast new world...

It's a pity this book isn't a standard text for secondary school students. The history of Islam is something all Westerners should learn in their teens - and don't. Robinson's book is both a revelation and an indictment of our collective ignorance."Islam, A Short History" is densely written, and sympathetically describes the evolution not only of the Islamic world, but also of the practices and tenets of this major monotheistic religion. Armstrong's tome not only dwells on the history of Islam, but also traces most major currents of thought within Dar al-Islam. She examines the evolution of Sharia (Islamic law), Sufism, the Ismailis, Twelver Shiism, and Wahhabism, just to mention a few of the streams that comprise this river. Best of all, this volume is written in plain English, simply written, incisive when need be, concise if not. Ten maps show the ebb and flow of Islam: The illustrate the early conquests, the growth of the Umayyad Empire, the disintegration of the Abbasid Empire, the extent of the Seljuk Empire, the geography of the Middle Eastern Crusader states (in the 12th century), the threatening Mongol world in the 13th century, The Safavid Empire, the Moghul Empire in India, and the Ottoman Empire. The amirs, caliphs, ulamas, qadis (judges), and a host of other political, military, administrative, and religious figures are examined and put into their historical contexts. "Islam, A Short History" contains a first-class 275-entry (!) chronology, a listing of 118 historical figures (!) from the history of Islam, a VERY exhaustive listing of additional readings (bibliography), and a good index. (The only weak point is a somewhat truncated glossary of Arabic terms.) Of the many books I have read about Islam, this is the one I would recommend as the first to read - it is a the perfect introduction to a fascinating (and almost unknown) new world.