Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles) Paperback – August 6, 2002

A truer look at one of the world's major religions ...

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John Burt

December 13, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A truer look at one of the world's major religions than one tends to hear from the media. If you blame all of the Islamic world for the actions of a relative few, then consider how they must look at the entirety of the Jewish or Christian world. We have so much in common yet we look to create divisions.

4 people found this helpful

An excellent pre-9/11 and pre-terrorism historiography of Islam

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imaloserdude

June 17, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Before any Westerner gets all excited and jumps on the bandwagon of Islam-bashing, read several histories. Then, you just might be glad that you didn't say anything stupid. This book offers a brief history of Islam, one of the three monotheistic faiths of the world (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), wandering across time via numerous imams and Islamic leaders, telling their good points and bad points, explaining how each thought, what they believed, what they did that was good and what they did that was harmful or ill-thought or immoral. Armstrong repeats a mantra, trying to show that the basic tenets of Islam demand tolerance for other faiths, social justice to all, and the equality of all (male and female, rich and poor, Muslims and those who practice other faiths). I found it interesting how so many factions started out with good ideals, but ended up becoming harmful or elitist or untrue to the founder's ideals. She began with Muhammed and ends with the turn of the millennium (16 years ago and pre-9/11). It is nice to get a pre-9/11 fair explanation of Islam. There are other books out there now that will be clouded by the airplane hijackers and the beheadings and bombers and shooters of the modern era, but this one isn't clouded by their hijacking of Islam. Read it for yourself. Hi-light areas you find interesting. I did. Here are a few things I picked up (just a few). "Islam" in Arabic means "surrender." Islam does not encourage attempting to convert others (contra, Christianity), but teaches adherents that each person's particular faith will lead them to God. For over a thousand years, Muslims did NOT hate Jews; that grew after the state of Israel was created in 1948 (following WWII) and Arabs were kicked out of their land, and the world applauded. Islam has experienced divisions and disagreements for the entirety of its existence, often resulting in battles and assassinations. I want to add one final thing, something that seems to imbed much of this book. I must be careful NOT to equate Islam with the current violent expressions that a few of its members engage in, but look at the totality of its existence and how it has been able to help people live in a tough world with unfair things that happen each day. As soon as I choose to ignore this, then I must apply the same standard to Christianity, and remember that Christians invaded Jerusalem and killed 30,000 Muslims and Jews, because someone felt that it would be a good thing to do (the list of Christian injustices is very, very long). Read the book See what you think.

15 people found this helpful

This book is not worth the time.....read Nabeel Qureshi's discussion of what islam is really like

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d. rhodes

July 30, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This an attempt to whitewash and cover up the falsity that islam is a religion of peace. Her lack of references, citations and proofs of
her biased statements and her omissions offer a glaring proof that this is non-history at best.

One person found this helpful

5th chapter makes it worthwhile

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A. Anderson

March 5, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Thick, and I do mean THICK reading for the first 4 chapters. But then the 5th chapter made it all worthwhile. I read it in a book club, otherwise I might not have made it to the end. Now I'm glad I did.

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Jose F. Obregon-Plaza

Four Stars

June 4, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I do not have knowledge for understanding this.

Certainly outlines the complex history of the rise of Islam ...

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Fran

February 6, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Certainly outlines the complex history of the rise of Islam, from Mohamed to the present. It's a gory and varied history, and sometimes there's a sense of attempt at justification for some of it. However, it does place current events in a much more understandable context, which was my primary reason for reading it.

2 people found this helpful

A good chronogical history of Islam. Created probably for academic purposes. Does not dwell into the religious or social aspects

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An Academic outlook

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Still another...

...volume in the "Islam-is-a-great-religion-that-is-misunderstood-by-the-West" series. What matters to many (perhaps most) in the West is Islam as it is, and not as some...Read more

Must read for Muslims and Non–Muslims alike

Alam

It is clear that the book is written after extensive research and it's clearly far from any bias. This book will help Muslims understand their heritage and give a different...Read more

The book is written like a large op-ed from a secularist British person who ...

Danny C. Clark

No bibliography, no citations, nothing which tells of any honest study. The book is written like a large op-ed from a secularist British person who apologizes for Western culture.Read more

great historical review of the religion, very informative

Kathy Axsom

Great book!!