The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

568 Pages·2008·4.9 MB·English

by  Hugh Kennedy

Table of Contents

Praise
Title Page
Dedication
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Acknowledgements
PREFACE
Foreword
Chapter 1 - THE FOUNDATIONS OF CONQUEST
Chapter 2 - THE CONQUEST OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE
Chapter 3 - THE CONQUEST OF IRAQ
Chapter 4 - THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT
Chapter 5 - THE CONQUEST OF IRAN
Chapter 6 - INTO THE MAGHREB
Chapter 7 - CROSSING THE OXUS
Chapter 8 - THE ROAD TO SAMARQAND
THE ACHIEVEMENT OF QUTAYBA B. MUSLIM, 705-15
THE TURKISH COUNTER-STROKE, 715-37
ASAD B. ABD ALLĀH, NASR B. SAYYĀR AND THE TRIUMPH OF
ISLAM, 737-51
Chapter 9 - FURTHEST EAST AND FURTHEST WEST
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
Chapter 10 - THE WAR AT SEA
NAVAL ORGANIZATION
WARSHIPS
THE EVIDENCE OF THE EGYPTIAN PAPYRI
Chapter 11 - VOICES OF THE CONQUERED
Chapter 12 - CONCLUSION
THE DEFINING OF THE FRONTIERS
THE SUCCESS OF THE ARAB CONQUESTS
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Copyright Page
Praise for The Great Arab Conquests

“[The Great Arab Conquests] states historical truths most nonexperts, general
readers and politicians ignore.”—Philadelphia Inquirer

“Kennedy tells a remarkable tale with skill and authority.”

—The Economist

“Weighing the sources carefully, Kennedy has composed a vivid and plausible
narrative of events that continue to shape the daily news.”—Milwaukee
Shepherd Express

“The Great Arab Conquests does a splendid job of showing how the core
territories of early Christianity fell under Muslim power.”

—Books & Culture

“Brings to resonant life the dazzling achievements of the military machine
Muhammad created. . . . A major achievement of scholarship and
readability.”—ForeWord

“Will likely become a standard account of the conquests for many years to
come.”—First Things

“Kennedy here brings history to glowing life and, in the process, illuminates a
part of our present in rich and meaningful ways. Unforgettable.”—January

“An extremely valuable addition to the discipline. . . . Highly
recommended.”—Choice

“Kennedy vividly introduces the formative establishment of Islam.”—Booklist

“A welcome addition to Islamic studies and history shelves.”

—Midwest Book Review
for CJG
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The old Empires
1. Emperor Justinian I and his retinue; mosaic c. AD 547.
2. A dish depicting King Yazdgard III (632-51) hunting; Sasanian
school, seventh century.
3. Mushabbak Church, Syria.
4. A Zoroastrian fire-temple in Konur Siyah, Fars, Iran.
5. Taqi-kisrā, Iraq; the arch of the great palace at Ctesiphon.
6. The ruin of the Marib dam, Yemen.
7. A seventh-century Sasanian helmet.
8. A seventh-century Sasanian sword.
9. The arms and armour of Byzantine troops, as depicted on the ‘David
Plates’.
10. A swing-beam siege engine in operation, from an early eighth-
century wall-painting; tile fragment and modern sketch.

Landscapes and cities of the Conquests
c
11.Wadi Du ān.
12.The Syrian desert.
13.The ancient Roman walls of Damascus.
14.Jerusalem seen from the Mount of Olives.
15.The Zagros Mountains.
16.The walls of Bishapur.
17.Sistan.
18.Central Iranian landscape.
19.The ramparts of old Samarqand.
20.Old Bukhara seen from the walls of the citadel.
21.The Tashtakaracha Pass in the mountains south of Samarqand.
22.The view from the ancient walls of Balkh to the Hindu Kush.
23.Cordova, Spain.
24.Toledo, Spain.
25.The Ribat of Sousse, Tunisia.
26.A modern reconstruction of a Byzantine dromon.
27.Tyre, Lebanon.
28.The site of early Muslim Basra, Iraq.
29.The centre of old Kūfa, Iraq.

The Conquests remembered
30.The Prophet Muhammad preparing for his first battle against the
Quraysh of Mecca at Badr in 634; early fourteenth-century Persian
manuscript.
31.The assassination of Chosroes II in 628; fifteenth-century Persian
manuscript.
32.The battle of Qādisiya; fifteenth-century Persian book painting.
33.The Legend of the True Cross, by Piero della Francesca (c. 1415-
92).
LIST OF MAPS

1. The world on the eve of the Muslim conquests, x
2. Limit of Muslim rule in 750, xii
3. Syria and Palestine, xv
4. Iraq, xvi
5. Egypt, xvii
6. Iran, xviii
7. North Africa, xx
8. Transoxania, xxii
9. Spain, xxiii