Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives (Pocket edition) /anglais

Religious thinkers, political leaders, lawmakers, writers, and philosophers have shaped the 1,400yearlong development of the worlds secondlargest religion. But who were these people? What do we know of their lives and the ways in which they influenced their societies? In Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives, the distinguished historian of Islam Chase F. Robinson draws on the long tradition in Muslim scholarship of commemorating in writing the biographies of notable figures, but he weaves these ambitious lives together to create a rich narrative of Islamic civilization, from the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century to the era of the world conquerer Timur and the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in the fifteenth. Beginning in Islams heartland, Mecca, and ranging from North Africa and Iberia in the west to Central and East Asia, Robinson not only traces the rise and fall of Islamic states through the biographies of political and military leaders who worked to secure peace or expand their power, but also discusses those who developed Islamic law, scientific thought, and literature. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of rich and diverse Islamic societies. Alongside the famous characters who colored this landscapeincluding Muhammads cousin Ali; the Crusaderera hero Saladin; and the poet Rumiare less wellknown figures, such as Ibn Fadlan, whose travels in Eurasia brought fascinating firsthand accounts of the Volga Vikings to the Abbasid Caliph; the eleventhcentury Karima alMarwaziyya, a woman scholar of Prophetic traditions; and Abu alQasim Ramisht, a twelfthcentury merchant millionaire. An illuminating read for anyone interested in learning more about this oftenmisunderstood civilization, this book creates a vivid picture of life in all arenas of the premodern Muslim world.