The Prophet and the age of the Caliphates : the Islamic Near East from the sixth to the eleventh century
"The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates is an accessible guide to the history of the Near East from c.600-1050 A.D., the period in which Islamic society was formed. Beginning with the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islam, Kennedy goes on to explore the great Arab conquests of the seventh century and the golden age of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates when the world of Islam was politically and culturally far more developed than the West. A period of political fragmentation shattered this early unity, never to be recovered." "This book deals with issues of continuing and increasing relevance in the twenty-first century, when it is, perhaps, more important than ever to understand the early development of the Islamic world. General readers and scholars of early Islamic history will find Kennedy's book a clear, informative and readable introduction to the subject."--Jacket
Print Book, English, 2004
Pearson/Longman, Harlow, England, 2004
History
xiv, 419 pages : genealogical tables, maps ; 24 cm
9780582405257, 0582405254
55792252
The matrix of the Muslim world : the Near East in the early seventh century
The birth of the Islamic state
Conquest and division in the time of the Rāshidūn Caliphs
The Umayyad Caliphate
The early ʻAbbasid Caliphate
The middle ʻAbbasid Caliphate
The structure of politics in the Muslim Commonwealth
The Buyid Confederation
The Kurds
The Hamdanids
Bedouin political movements and dynasties
Early Islamic Egypt and the Fatimid Empire
The coming of the Seljuks
Principle sources for the history of the Near East, 600-1050
Previous edition: 1986