Syria under islam 634 - 1097
تاريخ النشر: 01/01/2009
الناشر: دار نلسن
نبذة الناشر:In 634, the nascent forces of Islam began the conquest of Syria – the Bilād al-Shām of the Arabs – from Byzantium. During the five centuries that followed, a succession of Moslem states from bases in Damascus, Baghded, Cario and Isphahan, made determined attempts to administer the land as part ...of the Moslem empire (in the first instance, as the Centre of that empire).
In each case, however, they were "confounded by the baffling intricacies of the Syrian question", and their efforts came to naught. Archaic social and political forces- urban, rural and tribal-were subdued in one guise, only to re-emerge as effectively in another, until the first, experimental era of Moslem rule in Syria ended in 1097 with the arrival of the First Crusade at Antioch.
Professor Salibi, drawing on his rich experience as a researcher in the field of Arab history, reviews the history of Syria during this confused period in the form of a continuous and uninterrupted narrative, emphasizing the parochial aspect of the subject while doing full justice to the broader context.
Internal developments- the rise and fall of regional and tribal uprisings and invasions, and movements of Christian and Moslem religious dissent- are projected against the background of the general history of Islam and Byzantium, and the economic history of the medieval world. the result is a story fully told for the first time, complete in local detail, and providing fresh insights into the general character of medieval Islam.
The facility of the narrative, and the unconstructive manner in which even the most complicated details are handled, recommends this book to the general reader, as well as to the student and specialist in the history of Islam and in medieval history in general. The text is highlighted with vignettes from the original sources, mostly translated from the Arabic for the first time.
Kamal Salibi, Emeritus Professor of History at the American University of Beirut, is well-known to western readers of Arab history and politics. إقرأ المزيد