Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives by Chase F Robinson

Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives by Chase F Robinson

The religious thinkers, political leaders, law-makers, writers and philosophers of the early Muslim world helped to shape the 1,400-year-long development of today’s second- largest world religion. But who were these people? What do we know of their lives, and the ways in which they influenced their societies? Chase F. Robinson draws on the long tradition in Muslim scholarship of commemorating in writing the biographies of notable figures, but weaves these ambitious lives together to create a rich narrative of early Islamic civilization, from the Prophet Muhammad to fearsome Tamerlane. Beginning in Islam’s heartland, Mecca, we move across Arabia to follow Islam’s journey across North Africa, as far as Spain in the West, and eastwards through Central and East Asia; we see the rise and fall of Islamic states through the political and military leaders working to secure peace or expand their power, and, within this political climate, the development of Islamic law, scientific thought and literature through the words of the scholars who devoted themselves to these pursuits. Alongside the famous characters who coloured this landscape, including Muhammad’s controversial cousin, ’Ali; the first Sultan of Egypt, Saladin; and the poet Rumi, the reader will also meet less well- known figures, such as Shajar al-Durr, slave-turned-Sultana of Egypt, and Ibn Fadlan, whose travels in Eurasia brought first-hand accounts of the Volka Vikings to the Abbasid Caliph.

'A beautifully written, well-illustrated set of brief, vividly drawn portraits' - Times Higher Education
'Fascinating … offers a unique introduction to Islamic history … not to be missed' - Timeless Travels
'Vast in scope' - AramcoWorld
'An elegant digest of the many colourful, creative and technologically innovative manifestations that the Prophet Muhammad inspired from his seventh-century oases in the Arabian peninsula' - The Economist
'Fascinating' - The Yorkshire Post
'Accessible and readable … a good introduction' - Shiny New Books

Chase F. Robinson taught Islamic history for fourteen years at the University of Oxford before being appointed President of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and later Distinguished Professor of History. His extensive publications on pre-modern Islam include Islamic Historiography (2003), Empires and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia (2000) and The New Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1 (2010).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780500110300
ISBN 10	0500110301
Title	Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives
Author	Chase F Robinson
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Thames & Hudson Ltd
Year published	2016-10-27
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.