Modern Library Chronicles DAVID BERLINSKI on HANS KUNGon the Catholic mathematics Church RICHARD BESSEL on Nazi BERNARD LEWIS on the Holy Land Germany FREDRIK LOGEVALL on the ALAN BRINKLEY on the Great Vietnam War Depression MARK MAZOWER on the Balkans IAN BURUMA on modern Japan JOHN MICKLETHWAIT AND JAMES DAVIDSON on the Golden ADRIAN WOOLDRIDGE on the Age of Athens company SEAMUS DEANE on the Irish PANKAJ MISHRA on the rise of FELIPE FERNANDEZ-ARMESTO on modern India the Americas ANTHONY PAGDEN on peoples and LAWRENCE M FRIEDMAN on law in empires America RICHARD PIPES on Communism PAUL FUSSELL on World War II in COLIN RENFREW on prehistory Europe JOHN RUSSELL on the museum JOHN LEWIS GADDIS on the Cold KEVIN STARR on California War ALEXANDER STILLE on fascist Italy MARTIN GILBERT on the Long CATHARINE R . STIMPSON on the War, 1914-1945 university PETER GREEN on the Hellenistic NORMAN STONE on World War I Age MICHAEL STURMER on the JAN T. GROSS on the fall of German Empire Communism STEVEN WEINBERG on science ALISTAIR HORNE on the age of BERNARD WILLIAMS on freedom Napoleon A. N. WILSON on London PAUL JOHNSON on the ROBERT S. WISTRICH on the Renaissance Holocaust FRANK KERMODE on the age of GORDON S. WOOD on the Shakespeare American Revolution JOEL KOTKIN on the city JAMES WOOD on the novel 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 Tongues of Fire: An Anthology of Religious and Poetic Experience The Gospel According to W o m a n : Christianity? Creation o f the Sex War in the West H o l y War The C r u s a d e s a n d Their I m p a c t o n Today's W o r l d The English Mystics of the Fourteenth Century Muhammad. A Biography of the Prophet A History o f G o d The 4,000-year guest o f Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths In the Beginning A New Interpretation of Genesis The Battle for God A History of Fundamentalism Buddha ISLAM 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 copyright © 2002 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. MODERN LIBRARY and the TORCHBEARER Design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. This work was published in hardcover and in slightly different form in the United Kingdom by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, a division of The Orion Publishing Group, Ltd. and in the United States by The Modern Library, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2000. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING — IN — PUBLICATION DATA IS AVAILABLE ISBN 0-8129-6618-X Modern Library website address: www.modernlibrary.com Printed in the United States of America 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 CONTENTS List of Maps vii Preface I X Chronology xiii 1 BEGINNINGS The Prophet (570-632) 3 The Rashidun (632-661) 23 The First Fitnah 3 3 2 DEVELOPMENT The Umayyads and the Second Fitnah 41 The Religious Movement 45 The Last Years of the Umayyads (705-750) 50 The Abbasids: The High Caliphal Period (750-935) 53 The Esoteric Movements 65 3 CULMINATION A New Order (935-1258) 81 The Crusades 93 Expansion 95 The Mongols (1 220-1 500) 96 4 ISLAM TRIUMPHANT Imperial Islam (1500-1 700) 115 The Safavid Empire 117 vi . Contents The Moghul Empire 124 The Ottoman Empire 1 30 5 ISLAM AGONISTES The Arrival of the West (1 750-2000) 141 What is a Modern Muslim State? 156 Fundamentalism 164 Muslims in a Minority 1 76 The Way Forward 1 78 Epilogue 189 Key Figures in the History of Islam 193 Glossary of Arabic Terms 203 Pronunciation Guide 207 Notes 209 Suggestions for Further Reading 211 Index 219 Discussion Questions 229
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