A concise new narrative history of Islam that draws on the transformative insights of recent research to emphasize the diversity and dynamism of the tradition
Today's Muslim world is in upheaval: legalists and mystics engage in intense debates, radical groups invoke Sharia, Muslim immigrants in the West face prejudice and discrimination, and Muslim feminists advocate new interpretations of the Koran. At the same time, Islam is mischaracterized as unitary and unchanging by people ranging from right-wing Western politicians claiming that Islam is incompatible with democracy to conservative Muslims dreaming of returning to the golden age of the prophet. Against this contentious backdrop, this book provides an essential and timely new history of the religion in all its astonishing richness and diversity as it has been practiced by Muslims around the world, from seventh-century Mecca to today.
Most popular histories of Islam continue to repeat conventional pietistic accounts. In contrast, John Tolan draws on decades of new historical research that has transformed knowledge of the origins and development of the Muslim faith. He shows how the youngest of the three great monotheisms arose in close contact with Jewish, Christian, and other religious traditions in a mixture of cultures, including Arab, Greek, Persian, and Turkish; how Islam spread across an enormous territory encompassing hundreds of languages and cultures; how Muslims have forged widely different beliefs and practices over fourteen centuries; and how Islamic history provides crucial context for understanding contemporary debates in the Muslim world.
At a time when much talk about Islam is filled with misunderstanding, stereotypes, and bias, this book provides a fresh and lucid portrait of the continuous and ongoing transformations of a religion of tremendous variety and complexity. John Tolan is professor emeritus of history at the University of Nantes. His books include England's Jews, Faces of Muhammad (Princeton), Saint Francis and the Sultan, and Saracens. "World Islam, rather than a single religion, might be considered a family of religions whose branches and differences track closely its enormous geographical diffusion. How did this diffusion come about? John Tolan's Islam: A New History from Muhammad to the Present brings the staid historical atlas to animated narrative life in 300 brilliantly concise pages. One finishes this 'little book,' as the author calls it in his last sentence, with a new appreciation of how world Islam, all of it, came to be what it is."-Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of God in the Qur'an
"A fascinating synthesis of the history of Islamic civilization from its origins to the present day, highlighting its profound diversity and the intellectual debates that drive it."-Le Monde "[A] vibrant and sweeping survey. . . . Tolan's impressive geographic scope and fine-grained historical detail combine for a masterful portrait of Islam as a religion and culture. The result is the definitive history of a complex faith." "[A] compelling case for diversity, tolerance, and pluralism within Islam. . . . A recommended intro to the history of the Muslim world." "Well researched and objective."
