books
islam a short history
no religion in the modern world is as feared and misunderstood as islam . it haunts the popular western imagination as an extreme faith that promotes authoritarian government female oppression civil war and terrorism . karen armstrongs short history offers a vital corrective to this narrow view . the distillation of years of thinking and writing about islam it demonstrates that the worlds fastest growing faith is a much richer and more complex phenomenon than its modern fundamentalist strain might suggest . br islam a short history begins with the flight of muhammad and his family from medina in the seventh century and the subsequent founding of the first mosques . it recounts the origins of the split between shii and sunni muslims and the emergence of sufi mysticism ; the spread of islam throughout north africa the levant and asia ; the shattering effect on the muslim world of the crusades ; the flowering of imperial islam in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries into the worlds greatest and most sophisticated power ; and the origins and impact of revolutionary islam . it concludes with an assessment of islam today and its challenges . br with this brilliant book karen armstrong issues a forceful challenge to those who hold the view that the west and islam are civilizations set on a collision course . it is also a model of authority elegance and economy .
hardcover modern library 2000 isbn 0679640401
abridged n isbn 13 9780679640400 number of pages 222 publisher random house inc release date 966902400000 series title modern library chronicles