Description
Most of our generation learned of the history of civilization from the perspective of “Western civilization”.
Muslim success or failure was defined by their clashes with the outposts of Christian civilization, but only as these conflicts influenced European history. We also learned how Islamic civilization preserved science and art in the Dark Ages, but not much else. To many of us the history of Muslim civilization was peripheral to world history.
The authors of our two core books: Destiny Disrupted, and No god but God, capture in colorful, understandable, and very readable language the rich story of world history from the perspective of the Muslim community. The authors introduce the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history from an Islamic perspective.
They clarify how these two great civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was ultimately affected by its slow recognition that Europe -a place it long properly perceived as primitive- had somehow hijacked its destiny.
The story they tell moves from before and during the lifetime of Mohammed, through a succession of far-flung empires, to the interaction with European colonialism and the revolt against European domination, to the modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11 and the current struggles within Islam.
This is a fascinating and enlightening story. Our two very readable core books, are available in inexpensive used editions. There will be about 70 pages of reading each week.
Please join us in looking at world history from the perspective of the one billion people who are Muslims.
Here's a transcript of our two minute pitch:
In the year 610, according to the Christian calendar-- in an obscure place in the Arabian Peninsula that probably no Europeans even knew existed-- a prosperous caravan trader meditating in an isolated cave- perceived he was hearing messages from an entity he knew as the archangel Gabriel.
The caravan trader was Mohammad --and he perceived Gabriel told him he was to spread the God’s message as God’s final prophet.
The message Mohammad took from that cave ultimately was spread by his followers and converts to encompass to ¼ of the World’s population today.
So, what is Islam? Is it A religion? A community? A way of life?. A prescription for a society? A state?
What made it so appealing?
How and why did it spread, and spread so quickly? What happened in its interactions with the West, from crusades, to colonialism, through two world wars, and afterwards?
Are its tenets compatible with the modern world?
Is what’s happening in the Islamic world today-- a clash between two civilizations, a conflict within Islam between competing philosophies, or a civil war within Islam.
What is its future?
We’ll examine all this and more—and try to understand world history from the perspective of the ¼ of the world’s population with a different perspective than our western eyes.
Along the way, we will also be reading selections from some of the finest Islamic writers –– and looking at examples of Islamic art and architecture.”
There is lots of reading --about 70 pages a week -- but our two core books are very well written and easy to follow.
Come Join Us …As We Try to See the World and its history Through Islamic Eyes
Weekly Topics
1. The Middle World, Muhammad's Revelations and the Hijra
2. Birth of the Khalifate and the Schism between Sunni and Shia
3. The Khalifates of the Umayyads and the Abassids
4. Scholars, Philosophers, and Sufis
5. Enter the Turks: The Seljuk Empire
6. Havoc--Crusaders and Mongolian Hordes
7. Rebirth of Order: Ottomans, Safavids, and Moghuls
8. Meanwhile in Europe: The Reformation and the Enlightenment
9. The West Comes East: European Powers Colonize the World
10. The Reform Movements in Islamic Governance
11. Industry, Constitutions, and Nationalism
12. The Rise of the Secular Modernists and the Crisis of Modernity
13. The Tide Turns (Wahabism)
14. The Islamic World Since 9/11
Bibliography
Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary, PublicAffairs, a member of the Perseus Book Group , N.Y., 2009
No god but God, The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Reza Aslan, Random House N.Y. 2005
The Qu'ran, Oxford or Penguin or other editions
