In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic EmpireIn just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far afield as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time. How this collection of Arabian tribes was able to engulf so many empires, states, and armies in such a short period of time is a question that has perplexed historians for centuries. Most recent popular accounts have been based almost solely on the early Muslim sources, which were composed centuries later for the purpose of demonstrating that God had chosen the Arabs as his vehicle for spreading Islam throughout the world. In this ground-breaking new history, distinguished Middle East expert Robert G. Hoyland assimilates not only the rich biographical and geographical information of the early Muslim sources but also the many non-Arabic sources, contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous with the conquests. The story of the conquests traditionally begins with the revelation of Islam to Muhammad. In God's Path, however, begins with a broad picture of the Late Antique world prior to the Prophet's arrival, a world dominated by the two superpowers of Byzantium and Sasanian Persia, "the two eyes of the world." In between these empires, in western (Saudi) Arabia, emerged a distinct Arab identity, which helped weld its members into a formidable fighting force. The Arabs are the principal actors in this drama yet, as Hoyland shows, the peoples along the edges of Byzantium and Persia - the Khazars, Bulgars, Avars, and Turks - also played important roles in the remaking of the old world order. The new faith propagated by Muhammad and his successors made it possible for many of the conquered peoples to join the Arabs in creating the first Islamic Empire.Well-paced and accessible, In God's Path presents a pioneering new narrative of one the great transformational periods in all of history. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Chapter One The Setting | 8 |
Chapter Two The First Battles 630640 | 31 |
Chapter Three Eastward and Westward 640652 | 66 |
Chapter Four The Push for Constantinople 652685 | 103 |
Chapter Five The Great Leap Forward 685715 | 138 |
Chapter Six Retrenchment and Revolt 715750 | 170 |
Chapter Seven The Making of Islamic Civilization | 207 |
Sources and Source Critical Remarks | 231 |
Timeline | 241 |
Dramatis Personae | 245 |
Genealogical Tables of Quraysh and the Umayyads | 249 |
Notes | 253 |
| 279 | |
| 287 | |
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In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire Robert G. Hoyland Limited preview - 2014 |
In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire Robert G. Hoyland Limited preview - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Abbasid Abd al-Malik Africa Arab armies Arab civil Arab conquests Arab Empire Arab rule Armenian attack authority Baladhuri battle Berber Byzantine and Persian Byzantium Byzantium and Persia caliph capital capture Caucasia Christian Chronicle commander conquered conquerors Constans Constantinople contemporary Damascus defeat desert dynasty Early Islamic eastern Egypt elite emperor example fight garrison governor Hajjaj Heraclius historians Hoyland Ibn Abd al-Hakam imperial inhabitants inscription Iran Iraq Islam Jazira John of Nikiu khagan Khazars Khurasan Khusrau king kingdom lands later leaders Maslama Medina Middle East military modern mountain Mu'awiya Muhammad Muslim sources Nikiu nobles nomads non-Arab non-Muslims northeast northern northwest Persian Empire political pre-Islamic prophet province Qur'an Quraysh raids region religion religious Roman rulers Rutbil Samarkand Sasanian scholars Sebeos seventh century siege slaves Sogdian soldiers southern steppe Syria Tabari Theophilus tion Transoxania troops Turgesh Turks Umar Umayyad Uthman west Arabia Yazdgird Yazid