Islam : A Short History

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Modern Library Chronicles DAVID BERLINSKI on mathematics RICHARD BESSEL on Nazi Germany ALAN BRINKLEY on the Great Depression IA ...

ALSO BY KAREN ARMSTRONG Through the Narrow Gate Beginning the World The First Christian: St. Paul? I m p a c t o n Christianity ...

ISLAM ...

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KAREN ARMSTRONG ISLAM A Short History A M O D E R N LIBRARY C H R O N I C L E S BOOK T H E M O D E R N LIBRARY N E W YORK ...

2002 Modern Library Paperback Edition Copyright © 2000,2002 by Karen Armstrong Discussion questions and pronunciation guide copy ...

CONTENTS List of Maps vii Preface I X Chronology xiii 1 BEGINNINGS The Prophet (570-632) 3 The Rashidun (632-661) 23 The First F ...

vi. Contents The Moghul Empire The Ottoman Empire The Arrival of the West (1 750-2000) 5 ISLAM AGONISTES What is a Modern Musli ...

I MAPS Muhammad's world: Arabia c 610 C.E. 9 The Early Conquests 28 Expansion under the Umayyads 51 The Disintegration of the Ab ...

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PREFACE The external history of a religious tradition often seems di- vorced from the raison d'etre of faith. The spiritual ques ...

X • Preface Greece were concerned with the eternal laws underlying the flux of external events, which could be of no real intere ...

Preface • xi men and women. We never experience transcendence di- rectly: our ecstasy is always "earthed," enshrined in some- th ...

xii. Preface ated by apparently irreligious enemies, a Muslim could feel that his or her faith in life's ultimate purpose and va ...

CHRONOLOGY 610 The Prophet Muhammad receives the first revelations of the Quran in Mecca and, two years later, begins to preach. ...

xiv. Chronology 628 Muhammad's daring peace initiative results in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah between Mecca and Medina. He is now ...

Chronology. xv 656 The Battle of the Camel. Aisha, the Prophet's wife, Tal- hah and Zubayr lead a rebellion against Ali for not ...

xvi. Chronology 685-705 Caliphate of Abd al-Malik, who manages to restore Umayyad rule. 691 Umayyad forces defeat the Kharajite ...