The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

448 Pages·2007·26.58 MB·english

by  Hugh Kennedy

Kennedy
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THE GREAT
The
Hugh Kennedy has taught in the Department From a leading expert in Arabic history,
ARAB CONQUESTS
of Mediaeval History at the University of St. a sweeping and engaging history of the
Andrews since 1972. He was elected Fellow of The success of the Muslim conquests was the product of a unique set of GREAT ARAB great Islamic expansion that carved out
the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2000. The circumstances and the preaching of a simple new monotheistic faith. There
an empire from Spain to China
author of When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim were many features of Islam that would have made it approachable to
World, Professor Kennedy lives in St. Andrews, Christians and Jews. It had a Prophet, a Holy Book, established forms of
In just over one hundred years following the
Scotland. prayer, dietary and family laws. Abraham and Jesus were both great prophets CONQUESTS death of Mohammed in 632, the Arab
in the Muslim tradition. From the very beginning Islam established itself as
followers of the Prophet had subjugated a
a new faith, but it was one that claimed to perfect rather than destroy the
territory with an east-west expanse greater than
older monotheistic ones. It had none of the strangeness of, say, Buddhism.
the Roman Empire, and they accomplished
These similarities, this common tradition, must have aided and encouraged
it in about half the time. By the mid-eighth
conversion.
century, Arab armies had conquered the
In the fi nal analysis, the success of the Muslim conquest was a result of
thousand-year-old Persian Empire, reduced
the unstable and impoverished nature of the whole post-Roman world into
the Byzantine Empire to little more than a
which they came, the hardiness and self-reliance of the Bedouin warriors and
city-state based around Constantinople, and
The
the inspiration and open quality of the new religion of Islam.
GREAT ARAB destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain.
CONQUESTS The cultural and linguistic effects of this early
Islamic expansion still reverberate today.
Praise for Hugh Kennedy’s
How The
WHEN BAGHDAD RULED THE MUSLIM WORLD
Spread of
Hugh Kennedy’s compelling new history,
“ In this beautifully written and defi nitive history of Baghdad, Kennedy weaves a Islam Changed
The Great Arab Conquests, tells the story of
luminous narrative rich in detail, opening the doors to the old city and letting The World
this astonishing remaking of the political
We Live
its secrets spill out.”—Library Journal
and religious map of the world. His sweeping
In
narrative reveals how the Arab armies were able
“[A] remarkably readable narrative.”—Washington Post
to overwhelm almost everything in their path,
and brings to light the unique characteristics of
“Rich in detail and most timely.”—Kirkus
Islamic settlement in new lands, the distinctive
governance over subjugated peoples, and
“Superb . . . an eminently entertaining book.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
the conversion to Islam of vast populations.
Da Capo Press How The Spread Of Islam Kennedy offers a fascinating mix of larger-
A Member of the Perseus Books Group than-life characters, fi erce battles, and the great
ISBN-10: 0-306-81585-0 Changed The World We Live In
www.dacapopress.com ISBN-13: 978-0-306-81585-0 clash of civilizations and religions.
Jacket design by Alex Camlin
Jacket illustration © Corbis With 16 pages of photographs and 9 detailed maps
Hugh Kennedy
THE
GREAT ARAB
CONQUESTS
How the Spread of Islam
Changed the World We Live In
HUGH KENNEDY
(cid:1)
DA CAPO PRESS
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
Copyright © 2007by Hugh Kennedy
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Printed in
the United States of America.
Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book
is available from the Library of Congress.
First Da Capo Press edition 2007
Reprinted by arrangement with Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, a division of The Orion Publishing Group
ISBN-13: 978-0-306-81585-0
ISBN-10: 0-306-81585-0
Published by Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.dacapopress.com
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forCJG

CONTENTS
(cid:1)
ListofIllustrationsandMaps vii
Acknowledgements xxv
Preface 1
Foreword:RemembranceofThingsPast 12
1. TheFoundationsofConquest 34
2. TheConquestofSyriaandPalestine 66
3. TheConquestofIraq 98
4. TheConquestofEgypt 139
5. TheConquestofIran 169
6. IntotheMaghreb 200
7. CrossingtheOxus 225
8. TheRoadtoSamarqand 255
9. FurthestEastandFurthestWest 296
10. TheWaratSea 324
11. VoicesoftheConquered 344
12. Conclusion 363
Notes 377
Bibliography 398
Index 409

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TheoldEmpires
1.EmperorJustinianIandhisretinue;mosaicc.ad547.
2.AdishdepictingKingYazdgardIII (632–51)hunting;Sasanian
school,seventhcentury.
3.MushabbakChurch,Syria.
4.AZoroastrianfire-templeinKonurSiyah,Fars,Iran.
5.Taqi-kisra¯,Iraq;thearchofthegreatpalaceatCtesiphon.
6.TheruinoftheMaribdam,Yemen.
7.Aseventh-centurySasanianhelmet.
8.Aseventh-centurySasaniansword.
9.ThearmsandarmourofByzantinetroops,asdepictedonthe
‘DavidPlates’.
10.Aswing-beamsiegeengineinoperation,fromanearlyeighth-
centurywall-painting;tilefragmentandmodernsketch.
LandscapesandcitiesoftheConquests
11.WadiDuca¯n.
12.TheSyriandesert.
13.TheancientRomanwallsofDamascus.
14.JerusalemseenfromtheMountofOlives.
15.TheZagrosMountains.
16.ThewallsofBishapur.
17.Sistan.
18.CentralIranianlandscape.
19.TherampartsofoldSamarqand.
20.OldBukharaseenfromthewallsofthecitadel.
21.TheTashtakarachaPassinthemountainssouthofSamarqand.
22.TheviewfromtheancientwallsofBalkhtotheHinduKush.
23.Cordova,Spain.
viii THE GREAT ARAB CONQUESTS
24.Toledo,Spain.
25.TheRibatofSousse,Tunisia.
26.AmodernreconstructionofaByzantinedromon.
27.Tyre,Lebanon.
28.ThesiteofearlyMuslimBasra,Iraq.
29.ThecentreofoldKu¯fa,Iraq.
TheConquestsremembered
30.TheProphetMuhammadpreparingforhisfirstbattleagainstthe
QurayshofMeccaatBadrin634;earlyfourteenth-century
Persianmanuscript.
31.TheassassinationofChosroesII in628;fifteenth-centuryPersian
manuscript.
32.ThebattleofQa¯disiya;fifteenth-centuryPersianbookpainting.
33.TheLegendoftheTrueCross,byPierodellaFrancesca(c.1415–
92).
list of maps
1. The world on the eve of the
Muslim conquests x
2. Limit of Muslim rule in 750 xii
3. Syria and Palestine xv
4. Iraq xvi
5. Egypt xvii
6. Iran xviii
7. North Africa xx
8. Transoxania xxii
9. Spain xxiii