Islam in Global History By Nazeer Ahmed (Concord, California: American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, 2000. 861 pages.)

Abstract

Islam in Global History, written in two volumes covering the period from
the death of the Holy Prophet to the First World War, has the distinction of
being a book on history and the philosophy of history. This is because, as the
reader discovers, it is not merely a chronicle of events of the Muslim world
from the advent of Islam to the end of the World War I; it is a book which
provides insights into the causes of the victories and defeats of dynasties as
well as successes and failures of movements in Islamic history, and lays
down the laws for the rise and fall of civilizations.
Certainly, he is not the first in the field of the philosophy of history. The
two stalwarts who made original and remarkable contributions in this field
during the last two millennia are Ibn Khaldun and Arnold Toynbee. The
books in which they propounded their theories of the interpretation of history
are not books on history as such. Historical data were, no doubt, used
and analyzed to substantiate their theses. lbn Khaldun proved his concept
of asabiyah (social group cohesion) in the context of the history of the
Arabs and the Berbers, which he was to write subsequently. Toynbee used
the data from world history to prove his idea of "Challenge and Response"
to be the detennining factor in the strength and decay of civilizations and
societies. It is to the author's credit that such a comprehensive and coherent
work on Islamic history has been produced. At each critical stage he
diagnosed the causes of the major events that went into making watersheds
and turning points in Muslim history worldwide.
Dr. Ahmed is an eclectic writer who has partially benefited from the
concepts of the interpretation of history expounded by lbn Khaldun and
Toynbee. For example, he agrees with lbn Khaldun when he says:
The origins of the Ottoman Empire are to be found in a combination of
Turkish 'asabiyah, a term used by lbn Kha Idun to denote tribal cohesion,
the force that holds together tribes through bonds of blood, a characteristic
found in abundance among peoples of the desert and the nomads off
the steppes.
He concurs with Toynbee when he writes:
Great civilizations measure up to their challenges and grow more resili ent
with each crisis, turning adversity into opportunjty. Critical moments in ...