Karen Armstrong

Traces the history of Islam, from the flight of Muhammad and the founding of the first mosques to the development of the modern Muslim state, and examines its present beliefs and practices.

A Short History

Islam

Andy Sporring

Jay Carter

I wrote this in 2002...

Islam: A Short History -- a better title there never was. In 200 short pages, Karen Armstrong succintly but seemingly comprehensively explains the impact of the Muslim faith on world history. Through this telling she tears down many of the misconceptions we Westerners have about Islam, and she emphasizes those persons and events most influential to the religion and to the current political situation (as of 2000 when the book was first published). Some highlights include:

• a short biography of the Prophet Muhammad (based on another Karen Armstrong book) -- Salla Allahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam
• the story of the Rashidun, followers of Muhammad who grew the faith after the Prophet's death
• how Islamic life has always been intertwined with politics 
• the consequences of the Crusades and the Mongol invasion on Muslim civilization
• two eras of Islamic supremacy as embodied by (a) Islamic civilization during the Middle Ages and (b) the Safavid, Moghul, and Ottoman Empires of 1500-1700
• the influence of Western expansion on Islamic society

This last section was the most interesting to me and the most relevant to our current conflict with terrorism. It's fascinating to read how some people have subverted the words and tradition of the Quran, and how in some ways terrorism is just a reaction to the Islamic world's inability to modernize. This is not the fault of Islam. The Western world had centuries to become modern, by developing and exploiting technology gradually. The rest of the world had to modernize suddenly or be left behind. Many Islamic nations had the bad luck of being near the West and were colonized. Contrast this with Japan, which has accepted Western culture and has become a technology superpower, in part because the country was never coerced to do so. Add all this to some 20th Century rulers (some sponsored by the West) in Islamic countries with some anti-religious policies, and it's easy to see how some might believe that violence was the only way to create the kind of world they want to live in.

Islam A Short History

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