Lost Islamic History | Faris Alkhateeb

Lost Islamic History: Reclaiming Muslim Civilisation from the Past

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Islam has been one of the most powerful religious, social and political forces in history. Over the last 1400 years, from origins in Arabia, a succession of Muslim polities and later empires expanded to control territories and peoples that ultimately stretched from southern France to East Africa and South East Asia.
Yet many of the contributions of Muslim thinkers, scientists and theologians, not to mention rulers, statesmen and soldiers, have been occluded. This book rescues from oblivion and neglects some of these personalities and institutions while offering the reader a new narrative of this lost Islamic history. The Umayyads, Abbasids, and Ottomans feature in the story, as do Muslim Spain, the savannah kingdoms of West Africa and the Mughal Empire, along with the later European colonization of Muslim lands and the development of modern nation-states in the Muslim world. Throughout, the impact of Islamic belief on scientific advancement, social structures, and cultural development is given due prominence, and the text is complemented by portraits of key personalities, inventions and little-known historical nuggets. The history of Islam and of the world’s Muslims brings together diverse peoples, geographies and states, all interwoven into one narrative that begins with Muhammad and continues to this day.

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Review

Presenting 1,400 years of Islamic civilization in a comprehensive, easy to follow manner is no small feat . . . the book is valuable not only for its insights into lesser-known aspects of Islamic history but also as a general introduction to the subject.–AramcoWorld
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About the Author
Firas Alkhateeb is an American researcher, writer, and historian who specializes in the Islamic world. He completed his BA in History from the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 2010 and has since been teaching Islamic history at Universal School in Bridgeview, Illinois. He founded and writes the website Lost Islamic History.