Customer Reviews

Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

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The predominantly Islamic lands and cultures have gained a lot of prominence in public consciousness in the West over the last ten years. Consequently there have been an untold number of books and articles published with the aim to explain Islamic history and hopefully elucidate how that history bears on the recent geopolitical events. Even thought this very short introduction also addresses those concerns, it does so in a very limited way in the last brief chapter. The primary purpose of the book, however, is to present Islamic History in its own right as a very fascinating and vast subject in its own right.

Islam is a religion that originated in 7th century Arabian Peninsula. In many respects Islam is unique in that it very closely intertwines the politics and religion, and hence it makes much more sense to talk about Islamic History than for instance Buddhist history or even Christian history. The author of this book does not endorse the idea that there is no "separation of church and state" in Islam, and he provides ample historical evidence to support that view. However, it is hard to argue that Islam is not an all-encompassing religious system that aims to shape the society in all of its aspects. For centuries caliphs/imams have served as both heads of state and the principle religious authorities. In fact most of the divisions in Islam can be traced to various historic divisions based on who was thought to poses the rightful claims to this religious/political authority. There are hardly any doctrinal differences between Sunnis and Shias for instance.

The book strikes the right tone between being unduly politically correct at one extreme, and having a completely uncritical negative knee-jerk reaction to everything that has to do with Islam. Unfortunately these two extreme viewpoints have been dominant in the media, and in the case of the former have even entered the academic discussions of Islam. Silverstein rejects this notion that Islam and Islamic history should be viewed uncritically, and succeeds in providing a highly plausible and interesting view of this subject. Some of the ideas presented in the book are very intriguing (like the observation that the use of camels was crucial for the early Islamic expansion) and will probably make you think. In the end, whether you are interested in Islam, history or are just a generally curious person, you will enjoy reading this very well written short book.

This book is valuable not only for a historical overview of Islamic tradition, but for the insightful last chapter on current Islam and world perception of it. This book is respectful of the religion while being forthright about some of the less pretty parts of its history. The style of the book is very accessible... some scholars may say it is too broad and not deep enough, but it met my needs... I may want to read a multi-volume work in Islam in the future, but not this weekend.

This book covers a lot of ground in relatively few pages, but could use a clearer definitions of terms like Shia, Sunni, Caliphate, etc. I found myself repeatedly backtracking to remind myself of specifically who and what was being spoken of, and when they were introduced. I didn't expect a great deal of detail due to brevity, but more concise language would benefit the reader in defining terms.