Book Review: Islam
In today’s hyper-tribalistic world, few topics generate as many heated and intense discussions as Islam. In my social circle, mostly comprising of Indian diaspora, it’s a recurring hot button topic, and unfortunately, no points for guessing what kind of tone is used abundantly in these discussions. My interest in Islam is a byproduct of my interest in Urdu Poetry and a necessity to understand Urdu Poetry better. I am very attracted to poetry that has Sufism deeply embedded in it, and have always tried to learn more about the frequent historical references. That’s how I stumbled onto this book looking for a way to educate myself, and also, hopefully, a book that I might be able to recommend to others.
Now, I am not sure about the claim “New History” as made in the title, but I admit, I am not qualified enough to judge the claim anyways. What I can say is, this is comprehensive and concise, akin to a bird’s eye view, of the history of the Islamic world since its inception.
The period spans centuries, from the time of Prophet Mohammed to the recent times. The empires and kingdoms cover a vast geographical area from Spain and Northern Africa to Far East Asia. Entire books have been written about much smaller slices of time and space. So it’s not a surprise that for such a large scope, a single book can offer only a high level summary. In doing that, the book succeeds really well.
What is even more admirable, is the book clearly conveys how complex the societies were, how paradoxical the alliances and conflicts were. It’s easy to accept, after reading such a history, that discussions around complex topics cannot be simplistic and have to be nuanced.
At the same time, the tone of the book, while discussing history, can be appealing or problematic, depending on the point of view of the reader. It’s not an opinionated editorial, and judgements are infrequent. Those readers, looking for a positive or negative narrative supported by history, will be disappointed. I liked it that way as I prefer forming my opinions myself.
That can make the tone dry and less engaging. And I think many history books have that disadvantage. One chapter though, about the travels of Ibn Battuta in the 14th century, stands out in its story telling. This was all new information to me, and surprisingly so. Ibn Battuta, a Berber Arab from Morocco, traveled over 70K miles, far more than any other, including famous travelers such as Marco Polo. He lived in India for six years, and then traveled to Indonesia, China to name a few countries. He chronicled his travels and they provide a first hand account of life in so many parts of the world. It’s a fascinating story, worthy of a movie.
Interestingly, the tone changes as the book starts discussing recent events that happened after the Second World War. From the effects of decolonization and the drawing of arbitrary boundaries, which gave rise to bloody regional conflicts, to the emergence of what the author calls “Political Islam” are discussed with candor. The author presents a multi-faceted picture. He highlights efforts of numerous liberal Muslim intellectuals, feminists and activists who risked it all for fighting for democratic freedoms, and separation of religion from state. And he also does not shy away from calling it naive to say that “Islam is a religion of peace”, as history has shown that the struggle between pacifist and militant factions of Islam has been playing out for centuries.
I highly recommend this book for a quick and nuanced overview of a vast and complicated history. It’s a well researched book with pages of references, and has been updated for events in the 2020s.
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