Description
Historians have never found it easy to explain the astonishing series of conquests which marked the triumph of Muhammad and his successors, and which in less than a hundred years extended the frontiers of Islam from Samarkand to Toledo.
Equally unsure has been history's view, often distorted by prejudice, of the Prophet himself. To the first Byzantine chroniclers, he was the devilish instrument of schism; to the Latin Middle Ages a false prophet and licentious heretic - hence his place in Dante's Inferno. It was not until the eighteenth century with its translations of the Koran and the interest of the Enlightenment in non-Christian religions and ways of thought in general, that a rational view emerged. In the nineteenth century serious studies by Carlyle, Sprenger and others laid the foundations for the objective historical assessment which has now become possible.
It is tempting to point to the decline of Byzantium and Persia as chiefly responsible for the military successes. Another factor was certainly the ethnic melting-pot of the Near East, in which pan-Arab loyalties were apparent on both sides (as at the decisive defeat of Heraclius' Byzantine forces in 636). And again, there was the missionary zeal of Muhammad's disciples, which gave impetus to what may originally have been nomadic forays with no higher aims than bread and dates. Professor Gabrieli considers all these elements to produce his own assessment in the light of modern research.
Professor Gabrieli is Professor of Arabic at the Institute for Islamic Studies at Rome University.
The cover picture shows the Iron Warriors of Iskandar, reproduced by courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard
With 20 colour and 20 black and white photographs, and 5 colour maps
ISBN:MUHAMMADANDTH
