Customer Reviews

Islamic Imperialism: A History

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Professor and Head of Mediterranean Studies at King's College, University of London has here provided a fascinating insight into what he sees as the deep undercurrents permeating both the prevailing situation in the Middle East, and indeed many sections of the International community at this time.

While analysing the different mind-sets and conflicting interpretations as to the root cause behind the 9/11 attacks, the book scrutinises the contention that Islam has allegedly nurtured dreams of world conquest since it's outset in the 7th century AD.

The eminently readable & well written study, that is replete with references/maps, begins with a quotation from the farewell address of the Prophet Muhammad dated March 632AD; - "I was ordered to fight all men until they say `There is no God but Allah' ".

Defining the conquering of foreign lands and the subsequent subjugation of their populations as "imperialism", the investigation then proceeds to expound how this is what the Prophet Muhammad specifically asked of his followers after having fled from his hometown of Mecca in 622AD to Medina, where he is described as then becoming a political and military leader.

Through a detailed historical commentary, the reader is confronted with how Islam then allegedly began to strive towards the creation of what is cited as a new universal order, in which the whole of humanity would embrace Islam or live under it's domination. The book elaborating as to how Islam expanded into what is described as a "universal religion that knew or recognised no territorial or national boundaries".

The vehicle for this growth being what the book cites as the call to "Jihad", with the reader being shown how the latter became a rallying call for worldwide domination that still consumes Islamic and Middle Eastern politics to this very day.

At the closure of this excellent study it is alleged that Osama bin Laden, in what is cited as the historical imagination of many Arabs and Muslims, is nothing short of the new "incarnation" of Saladin.

A statement clarified in the text with the assertion that the House of Islam's "war for world mastery" is far from over.

I would personally recommend this timely and detailed book to anyone with an interest in the history of Islam, the Middle East and the ongoing situation in the region. It is an excellent addition to anyone's library.

Also recommended "The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims" by Andrew G Bostom and "Jihad in the West; Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries" by Paul Fregosi.

Thank you.

For the last 100 years Academics have weaved a web of distortion regarding the role of political and temporal Islam in world history. We have been told that the `bad' West invented slavery, racism and imperialism and that because of these terrors the world's problems must all be blamed on western colonialism. This startlingly original book dares to turns the tables on this interpretation. In fact it was Islam that first colonized the West, it was Islamic armies, of African slaves, who invaded France in the 8th century, and Islam then colonized southern Italy and Spain where it created societies where the majority ethnically indigenous Christian population was discriminated against and enslaved. Then Islam colonized eastern Europe where it enslaved Slavs, then it was on to colonize central Asia and India in the 11th century. Then it was eastern Africa and areas near the west coast of Africa where Islamic empires and `sultanates' invaded Africa in order to export slaves.

By 1700 the Islamic empire in Africa and India, eastern Europe and the Middle East merely mirrored what the European empire of 1900 would look like. It was Islamic empire that first deported 11 million Africans for sexual and military slavery. When one blames American `imperialism' for Bin Laden's terrorism, one should recall that it was first Islam that colonized Europe, it was the minaret and mosque that were first symbols of oppression, not the cross and the sword. Many will find this book unsettling because it dares to challenge the traditional interpretation of history where the West is `evil' and Islam is portrayed as the victim.

Seth J. Frantzman

Professor Karsh's book is significant because the author questions the traditional assumption that Western Imperialism or Colonialism created the serious scourge of Islamic extremism which now plagues various diverse countries in the world stretching from Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia amongst others. Instead, the author observes that the primary causes of Islamic extremism is not simply a response to Western meddling in their nations but rather a deep rooted impulse in the traditional Islamic belief system where Muslims are directed to expand Islamic power and religion throughout the world. Karsh notes that many "Arabs and Muslims [still] unabashedly pine for the restoration of Spain" under Muslim control even though Spain has been lost to the Islamic world for centuries since the Fall of Granada in 1492. Similiarly, Osama bin Laden himself wistfully referred to "the tragedy of Andalusia" (ie: Granada) after the September 11, 2001 attacks as if to suggest that Muslims were still the rightful owners of Spain in the 21st Century rather than mere colonial occupiers here.

The wish to renew Islam's past medieval imperial glories and proselytise the world pervades the mindset of a significant portion of Muslims. This development is not surprising since the prophet Muhammad himself molded the new religion of Islam with Arab Imperialism when he asked his followers "to strive for a new universal order in which the whole of humanity would embrace Islam or live under its domination." Muhammad's vision was realised after his death with the expansion of Islamic power from Arabia into North Africa, Turkey, parts of the Balkans, the Crimea and Central Asia under succeeding Muslim Empires such as the Ummayads (who conquered Spain), the Abbasids and, finally, the Ottomans. This desire to expand Islam's global reach and recreate a global Islamic caliphate under Muslim rule helps to explain the mass terrorism of 9/11, according to the author. In Karsh's view, September 11 was neither a punishment for previous US interference in the Middle East nor an expression of hatred toward American culture or political freedoms but rather a reaction to the basic reality that America's position as a great power essentially hindered all "Arab and Islamic imperalist aspirations [to eliminate Israel, expand Islamic power into Europe/Africa, etc]. As such, it is a natural target for [Islamic] aggression." Karsh, hence, views Muslims as active participants on the world stage, rather than powerless pawns, as some commentators assume. The current grouping of Islamic fundamentalist movements such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood or Al-Qaeda have one common feature: the desire to create a global Muslim caliphate. Hence, they are legitimate heirs to Islam's imperial aspirations.

This book meticulously examines conventional Muslim beliefs and perceptions rather than merely blaming the Western powers for past errors and misdeeds in order to explain the current causes of Islamic terrorism. Karsh believes that the Muslim world's deep rooted yearning for the glories of the old Islamic Empires (like 14th Century Granada or 17th Century Crimea) effectively hobbles their economic and democratic growth prospects and makes them especially succeptible to the control of a whole host of local dictators or autocrats--such as Nasser, Ghaddafi, Saddam Hussein, etc--who constantly invoke the idea of a revival of past Islamic greatness. Karsh notes certain pan-Arab projects--such as the United Arab Republic (from 1958 to 1961) between Egypt and Syria which eventually collapsed when the Syrians realized that Nasser wanted to centralise all government decision making in Cairo and pulled out of this Union--reflected this broad desire to enhance the Muslim world's political influence. In his view, until Muslims decisively turn their backs on this past pan-Islamic global vision and make Islam a matter of personal faith rather than one of politics, they will never fully prosper in the modern world or be tolerant of others.

Karsh starts out by explaining that there are two quite different hypotheses that are popular about why we see such opposition to the West from many Muslims. One is that there is a "clash of civilizations," in which Islam, frustrated by its recent poor performance compared to the Christian West, is fighting back. Karsh explains that he thinks this idea, while plausible and sincere, assigns too much significance to Western success. A second idea is that Muslims are actually very tame, and the West is the villain. This idea is plausible as well, but it is rarely sincere, as most of those who promote it are Muslim apologists who know full well that Islam is far from tame and who applaud Muslim aggression.

Karsh instead asks us to consider the long and continuing record of Muslim imperialism as an explanation for what we see today. And this book shows us quite a bit of that record.

I found myself wondering what I would say to those who think that Muslim imperialism is simply a good idea for everyone. Well, I think that imperialism is generally counterproductive in the long run.

First of all, it is a crime to murder, evict, or oppress others. Occasionally, folks may get away with such crimes. But typically the result is a society that has less overall freedom, less happiness, and less prosperity, even for those criminals.

Secondly, use of force tends to result in more and more wars, and that dramatically increases the chance of getting into a losing war (some of the history in this book appears to confirm this). Those who lose a war tend to wind up less prosperous and less happy. In addition, an Imperial Empire tends to have more to lose (because it controls so much territory) and it often has less means with which to defend its stolen territory than a coherent non-Imperial nation.

Finally, I think the lack of rights in an Imperial society generally extends to property rights. Those who are confident of their rights to land will try to improve that land. Those who doubt that they can keep their land (especially once they make it appear to be worth stealing) won't bother to improve it. And those who simply steal land often treat such land carelessly. That contributes to running down the region and rendering it less prosperous.

I think we often see aspects of these problems in Islamic Empires, with lack of freedom, intolerance of minorities, and plentiful deserts. Perhaps Israel is an example of what can happen, by contrast, in a non-Imperial society. We see more freedom there. And we see great respect for land and improvement of the environment: deserts now bloom, swamps have been drained, and trees have actually increased in numbers over the past century. Yes, Israel is threatened by an Imperial enemy, but since it is so small, it has relatively little to lose.

I think this puts some of Islam's imperial history in a better perspective, and I think this may help us see not only what Karsh shows (namely, that Islam's history is strikingly Imperial) but why this aspect of Islam has proved to be counterproductive in the long run.

There is one very minor point that Karsh makes which I feel is easy to misinterpret. Namely, he says that before making a historic decision to make peace with Israel, "Sadat felt compelled to go to war one more time, in October, 1973, in order to buttress his leadership credentials in the Arab world and to force Israel to take his proposals seriously."

There's no way I would put up with such a statement on even a high school essay. How would we like to see a claim that Germany, before making a historic decision to make peace with Russia, felt compelled to launch a surprise attack in June of 1941, in order to force the Soviets to take their proposals seriously? Or Japan attacking the United States in December of 1941, in order to force the United States to take their proposals seriously? What about a claim that Iraq really wanted peace, but launched a surprise attack on Kuwait to force folks to take Iraq seriously? Wars are risky. If you really want to make peace, you are taking a very big risk by launching a surprise attack on another nation! All kinds of things can go wrong, after which it is you who will have to be suing for peace, your "proposals" long forgotten. No, the way to get people to take your peace proposals seriously is to make those proposals and stand by them, not by launching a possibly perfidious attack!

Karsh does not portray Sadat as a total peace-loving advocate of human rights, so I won't deduct a star for this, but I think that such a line is easy to misinterpret.

I recommend this book. I think it presents a straightforward case, and I think everyone interested in the topic ought to read it.

As a Moslem, I learned a great deal of truth from this book. I understand better why the "other" sees Moslems differently from the way we see ourselves. As a child in Egypt, I learned that the Fetouhat are the greatest achievement on earth; I also learned that my religion is flawless, perfect, that the Koran is exactly the word of God, while other faiths were distorted. So Moslems can feel free to put down other religions, while no one should dare touch our faith. Our Prophet, we were told, is the last Prophet on earth; Moslems therefore have the last word on any subject. This attitude brought calamities on the Middle East, and the whole planet.

The Arab conquests, the Fetouhat, are a source of pride, we were told. Yet, they are nothing other than imperialism. It was very painful to read this book, because it challenges a lot of the assumptions I grew up with.

Professor Karsh, an Israeli, opened my eyes, and I believe every Moslem should start having doubt about our imperialism. This is particularly true today since we are very tempted to use our oil wealth and violence for the sake of becoming again an imperial power that replaces the West. Every Moslem should read this book; it will make him a better person.

"Islamic Imperialism: A History," by Efraim Karsh is an important work that effectively dispels several myths about Islam and statecraft. Karsh's central thesis is that, from the beginning, Islamic Middle Eastern powers have been driven more by a traditional urge to empire than by any higher fealty to religion.

Karsh chronicles empire after empire in the Middle East, showing how they played big power politics against competing Muslim empires as well as in alliance with Christian empires. Karsh shows that even Saladin the Great, the Kurdish, not Arab ruler, who retook Jerusalem from the Frankish Crusader kingdom, viewed the Christian Franks as just another power player. Today, of course, modern Muslim Arab mythology holds Saladin out as the great role model in the struggle to destroy Israel.

Karsh also details how the Ottoman and Persian empires deftly manipulated European powers to extract money and protection in an attempt to remain in power. Had they spent as much effort on internal reform and growth as opposed to foreign intrigue, they might have survived. This manipulation of European foreign policy continued right up into the 20th Century as Sharif Hussein and his sons (the Hashemite royal line) parlayed a close relationship with the British into imperial ambitions in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Far from being passive victims of European colonialism, Karsh shows Arab leaders as being quite adept at fighting for their personal interests.

After summarizing more than 1,300 years of Islamic imperial tradition Karsh comes to his most important conclusion for present policy makers: "...Arab and Muslim anti-Americanism, have little to do with US international behavior or its Middle Eastern policy. America's position as the pre-eminent world power blocks Arab and Islamic imperialist aspirations. As such, it is a natural target for aggression. Osama bin Laden and other Islamists's war is not against America per se, but is rather the most recent manifestation of the millenarian jihad for a universal Islamic empire (or umma). This is a vision by no means confined to an extremist fringe of Islam, as illustrated by the overwhelming support for the 9/11 attacks throughout the Arab and Islamic worlds."

Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, a California State Assemblyman, he served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and is the co-author of "China Attacks."

This opus magnum is a powerful antidote to decades of fraudulent post-modernist "scholarship" by people like inter alia Edward Said, that sought to demonise the West and exalt the so-called "Other."

Karsh chronicles the imperial ambitions of Islam from its 7th century beginning to its manifestations in the 21st century. The end of the Ottoman Empire after World War I halted imperialist designs by the established state. The struggle was then taken up by ideologues like Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, whence organizations like Hamas and Al-Qaeda draw their inspiration.

Besides terror tactics, other means of furthering the religion's expansionist aims are demographic increase through emigration to Europe and high birthrates, and using the West's self-destructive creed of multiculturalism to steadily erode our freedom and undermine our societies.

This may be witnessed today in Europe where the situation has become so alarming that even the Pope has noticed. The rapid unfolding of events is forming a pattern that cannot be ignored: The Madrid and London bombings, the murder of Theo van Gogh, the Danish cartoon uproar, the low-level French Intifada. These events are well-known, but most people are unaware of the constant outpouring of hatred for Christians and Jews on the Arab state-controlled media.

The first part of the book studies Islamic history up to the 20th century whilst the second part deals with the last 100 years. It includes discussions of the Ummayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Seljuks, Mameluks, Sassanids and Ottomans. It has been said: "It's not what we do, but what we are." The author reveals that the root cause of jihad is the tradition and teaching of Islam. Three expansionist thrusts down the ages were stopped by Charles Martel, Don John of Austria and Jan Sobieski.

Amongst the many clarifications in this valuable work are the persistent Islamic yearning for the reconquest of Spain, Nasser's Pan-Arabism as a phase of the imperial dream, why the entire non-Muslim world is called Dar al-Harb (The House of War), how the much maligned crusades were attempts to halt the imperial advance and liberate the holy places of Christendom and how little sympathy Arab regimes have for the Palestinians, and the fact that they view Israel as a colonial extension of the West.

The author concludes that conditions for ordinary Arabs and Muslims would only improve once their political elites abandon all Pan-Arab and Pan-Islamic aspirations and allow the religion to become a private faith. There are no indications of any such tendency. In fact it seems that Europe's homegrown but alienated immigrant communities are becoming more militant, fed on a stream of hatred by the imams and the state media of the Arab autocracies.

Although a scholarly work, the narrative of Islamic Imperialism is lucid and engaging. I also recommend Dream Palace of the Arabs by Fouad Ajami, Menace in Europe by Claire Berlinski, While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, Because They Hate by Brigitte Gabriel and Londonistan by Melanie Phillips.

The first amazing thing about this book is just how much is known of what happened in the very distant past. Efraim Karsh's scholarship is thorough and his interpretations compelling. The second thing is that Islam has evolved very little in a thousand years. From the start there was a "fusion of the sacred and the profitable," which was endorsed by Muhammad himself and by successive generations of Islamic leaders. The Prophet himself said, "Stick to jihad and you will be in good health and get sufficient means of livelihood." Jihad was invariably linked to booty. Islam has always been a religion of robbers, initially of camel caravans, and later of oil pipelines. It is easy to see why the umma (the Muslim world) wants to sack Israel and divide up its wealth. Karsh paints a very human picture of Saleh al Din (Saladin), depicting him as just another acquisitive warlord, with no trapping of holy war as justification. When holy war was invoked during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, it provided a gloss of legality to what amounted to ethnic cleansing (of indigenous Armenians).

I had always wondered how Islam's high water mark (the Ottoman Empire) had so swiftly retreated, and with it the last Caliphate. Certainly Muslims themselves still cannot understand it. Karsh explains with the historian's careful exegesis, why, despite its profound illogic, the Ottomans sided with the losing side in WW1, in the hope of divvying the spoils of victory. History repeated itself following the war, as Hashemite rule in Persia was driven exclusively by booty, corruption, extortion, and pillage. Islam provided the patina of imperial glory.

In the present era, it is remarkable how Saladin has become the nominal role model for Arab leaders. Simply invoking his name is to remind the faithful of his role in defeating the Crusaders. In fact, as Karsh points out, Arabs played no role whatsoever in expelling the Crusaders (it was exclusively accomplished by the Turks), and Saladin himself was a Kurd.

Karsh strays from his theme somewhat as he approaches the modern era, as Islam's materialism and its imperialist imperative becomes less and less his principal focus. He does a remarkable job, however, of linking modern jihadis, including Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden to their historical antecedents. He explains the continuity of jihad, showing the interrelatedness of the attacks on Americans in Khobar, Beruit, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, and 9/11. By the end, it should be clear to the most devout isolationist among us that even if we were to withdraw from Iraq, and even if we abandoned Israel, the jihadist onslaught against America, its values, and most particularly, it's assets would continue unabated.

The subtitle of this book is "A History," and it is first and foremost a book of history. It will appeal to the serious reader of history who understands that the study of the past provides a reference for the present. Karsh depicts Islam as appallingly cruel, devoid of ethics, and corrupt at its core, and he uses all 234 pages of text and 30 pages of footnotes in proving his case.

For the average reader looking to gain sagacity about Islam's long and brutal history, they're most likely skeptical of reading the "average Islamic history book" which are never critical and oscillate from telling the whole truth. Efraim Karsh's "Islamic Imperialism" is an alternative to the common Islam book which give Disney movie like stories by Muslim authors favoring the angle of portraying themselves as "victims" in every historical event since the days of the Prophet. Given the first lines of the "Introduction", which synopsizes the text, the reader can identify what tenor Karsh is taking. It reads as follows:

"I was ordered to fight all men until they say `There is no god but Allah`"
Prophet Muhammad's farewell address March 632
"I shall cross this sea to their islands to pursue them until there remains no one on the face of the earth who does not acknowledge Allah."
Saladin January 1189
"We will export our revolution throughout the world.... Until the calls `there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his the messenger of Allah' are echoed all over the world".
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
"I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad."
Osama Bin Laden

Karsh's book exemplifies how the roots and origins of Islam have swayed the actions of some zealously raving Muslims today. He presents the history of the religion without infecting his writing with whatever personal bias or illiberality he may have. Needless to say he most certainly doesn't have any; all of his claims and facts are traceable to indisputable sources.
"Islamic Imperialism" is a historical account, and therefore, you are presented with many names, facts, dates, and events which can in a way be overbearing to the reader at first. With reason though, the subject involves many complicated events and important figures all important to a reader's grasp on the cause and effect scenarios leading up to the news making stories of present-day. What makes "Islamic Imperialism" so unique and original is Karsh does not shy away from presenting the reader with the not so popular events in Islam's past. Such as the Massacre of the Quarish Jewish tribe (pg 13) in 627 or the numerous highway robber-like massacres on merchant caravans in Arabia led by Mohammad. Karsh spends the beginnings of the book recounting the birth of Islam and the land hungry empire that soon followed. In his view, unlike Christendom, Islam's imperialistic ambitiousness are retained to this day in many parts of the world. Dreams of world domination are still very much alive.
He believes the Anti-Americanism in the Muslim world is not in response to the US's foreign policy but as he puts it; "as the preeminent world power, it blocks the final realization of this same age-old dream of regaining the "lost glory" of the caliphate and establishing the worldwide community of believers (or umma)." Maybe Karsh's theorem is showing signs of a reality. Examples come about daily buttressing ideas set fourth in his book, such as Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that perfection is the entire world Muslim or his examples of "the overwhelming support for the 9/11 attacks throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds."
For any reader interested in an account of Islamic history without the sugarcoated and mitigated text common in other Islamic history books, you may very well want to read "Islamic Imperialism".

This book provides excellent background to the crisis the world is now facing. In tracing the development of Islamic Imperialism Karsh brings us to an understanding that Al Quaeda, Iran and its surrogates are not simply acting for small local interests but are part of a broad historical ideology of conquest.
The clash of Civilizations is given very specific and detailed meaning in this work.
A highly recommended work.