Islam: A New Historical Introduction

Amidst the sea of books and reviews on Amazon, I think it's important to note that not all are necessarily equal. Many popular and well-reviewed books are actually written by ignorant crackpots who don't know what they're talking about, and are dismissed by academics and scholars. This book is different, and thus is actually worthwhile in reading.Rather than being some ignoramus, Carole Hillenbrand is an internationally renowned scholar. She's a fluent speaker of Arabic and Persian, and indeed initially taught them at Oxford. She currently serves as the Professor Emerita of Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh, as well Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews. In 2005 she was the first non-Muslim to be awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies. She was awarded an OBE in 2009. This book, in 2016, resulted in her being awarded the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding by the British Academy, the UK's national academy devoted to the humanities and social sciences. There is an awful lot more I could say about her career and accomplishments, but suffice to say that she is an expert in Islamic Studies, and someone eminently qualified on the subject. In short, she is a trustworthy, well-informed, and authoritative source on the subject.In terms of the book itself, it is fluently and clearly written. It covers both theological and historical aspects of Islam, and manages to do so in great depth and detail, whilst still remaining accessible. It is written in such a way as to provide clear answers to many popular contemporary concerns and questions that non-Muslims have about Islam, ranging from the nature of Jihad, to the role and status of women, as well as the differences between various Muslim denominations. It manages this in a way that is calm, clear, and well-researched, and a far cry from the hysterical rhetoric of many other commentators on Islam. If you don't know anything about Islam, and actually want to learn something, then this is the book for you.Of course, while Professor Hillenbrand has tried to distil the most essential information and insights about Islam into a clear and straightforward text, she has also tried to represent some of the more diverse scholarly opinions on a variety of issues. While this book does, in some ways, function as a 'cheat sheet' with which to answer questions about Islam, it also offers keen insights into complex matters of Islamic history and theology. Even if you're a Muslim yourself, or an expert in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, then this book is well worth your while. Certainly, to any students out there, this book is a far better resource than frantically skimming wikipedia before a tutorial or seminar.TL;DR - This book is both frank and erudite, and is written by an expert on Islam and the Middle East.

A great historical time line of Islam. The part that particular interested and what the majority of the book is actually is how Islam continued after the death of Muhammad (PBUH). How the religion continued how the communities continued. Being a British Muslim myself, I found it eye opening to how many different sects of Islam there actually are.There were two thing I particularly took away from reading this book. First was something I believed myself is how many things that Islam is actually criticised for come from the cultural region and are not actually from the Quran. The second, is point I think Carole Hillenbrand hit the nail right on the head, Islam has no real leadership, there are the idiot terrorist who are not Muslims but people try the further their personal agendas. They do not represent me or the majority of Muslims of the world. Neither do the head of the "Islamic countries". They might be the head by political means or the fact that they are Arabic does not make them any more Muslim then anyone born an any other part of the world. Most of the are politicians first.

This is a very interesting and well-written book. I am not at all academic, and know virtually nothing about Islam, but am interested in knowing more. This book is well laid out, chapters on all the major aspects of Islam, with a glossary for words that may not be familiar to the reader, with explanations, but not too much detail to distract. There are some beautiful illustrations too.

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