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In just over a hundred years--from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750--the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time. How this collection of Arabian tribes was able to engulf so many empires, states, and armies in such a short period has perplexed historians for centuries. Most accounts of the Arab invasions have been based almost solely on the early Muslim sources, which were composed centuries later to illustrate the divinely chosen status of the Arabs.
Robert Hoyland's groundbreaking new history assimilates not only the rich biographical information of the early Muslim sources but also the many non-Arabic sources, contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous with the conquests. In God's Path begins with a broad picture of the Late Antique world prior to the Prophet's arrival, a world dominated by two superpowers: Byzantium and Sasanian Persia. In between these empires, emerged a distinct Arabian identity, which helped forge the inhabitants of western Arabia into a formidable fighting force. The Arabs are the principal actors in this drama yet, as Hoyland shows, the peoples along the edges of Byzantium and Persia--the Khazars, Bulgars, Avars, and Turks--all played critical roles in the remaking of the old world order. The new faith propagated by Muhammad and his successors made it possible for many of the conquered peoples to join the Arabs in creating the first Islamic Empire. Well-paced, comprehensive, and eminently readable, In God's Path presents a sweeping narrative of a transformational period in world history.
- Sales Rank: #110531 in Books
- Published on: 2014-11-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.40" h x 1.10" w x 9.30" l, 1.41 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 320 pages
Review
"[A] splendid new history of the Arab conquests.... Hoyland...has performed an invaluable service. His book will surely serve as the definitive account of the Arab conquests for many years to come." --Tom Holland, Literary Review
"In God's Path is a thoughtful and nuanced guide to an age that was far more complex than we might imagine from older accounts." --Philip Jenkins, Books & Culture
"An illuminating, richly detailed, highly readable study of one of the crucial periods of history." --First Things
"This is perhaps the best introduction to the Arab-Islamic Conquests available. Never before has this story been told on the basis of such a wide range of sources, as Hoyland draws discerningly on the testimony of both contemporary non-Muslims and of the classical Islamic tradition. The author's elegant style, fascinating observations, and sharp analysis bring one of history's great moments to life, for the benefit of students, scholars, and the general public. This book is original, authoritative, and a joy to read--I cannot recommend it highly enough." --Adam Silverstein, author of Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction
"With its exceptional clarity, balanced judgment of both Muslim and non-Muslim sources, and a broad perspective that encompasses peripheral peoples, Robert Hoyland's new book provides an account of the rise of Islam that is as definitive as it is accessible." --G. W. Bowersock, author of The Throne of Adulis
About the Author
Professor of Late Antique and Early Islamic Middle Eastern History at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, Robert G. Hoyland is the author of Arabia and the Arabs.
Most helpful customer reviews
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
Historically intriguing
By SLIMJIM
I am glad that Oxford University Press published this book since works by Middle East historians on early Islamic conquest (seventh to ninth century AD) are rare as the author stated in the introduction and the end of the book. I thought this is a relevant book in light of the contemporary discussion about Islam, Islamic violence and the Middle East which lead some to ask the question of what the Islamic Arabic world was like shortly after Muhammad died. It is indirectly relevant to those discussions because this book touches on the early Islamic movement and warfare. The author has no intention of writing a book bashing Islam nor is he presenting an apologetics for Muslim. The book’ main thesis is to challenge the common assumption made by many people today including historians that the Islamic Arabic empire expanded rapidly at an unprecedented rate and that these military expansion are driven to convert people to Islam. Here the author points out that the Islamic expansion was at the same rate as those of other nomadic people such as the Mongols; the author also noted how few people converted to Islam during the military conquests during the early Caliphs as evidence that in the beginning the expansion was not about bringing about conversion of others to Islam per se. In fact, there were strong incentive in the beginning not to convert people into the Arabic community of faith, as that would mean the distinction between conqueror and conquered would be erased and the profit of invasion for the conqueror would disappear (in later period the issue of conversion was controversial because of what it would mean for the original Arabic party). I think the author’s citation of early Muslim political sources are solid in establishing this point. I really enjoyed how the book describe the context of the Arabic/Islamic expansion as during a time in which much of the known world was going through a population decrease due to diseases and also the weakening of empires that allowed the Islamic empires to rise and fill in the vacuum. Specifically those empires were the Byzantine, Persians and the Chinese. What made this book unique to other works on the Islamic military expansion (some of which are mentioned in the bibliography) is that this particular work didn’t just study the issue from 9th and 10th Century Arabic Sources (some centuries removed from the actual events) but instead it focused on the earlier sources and it also looked into non-Islamic sources. It is incredible to see the citation and footnotes of a wide array of cosmopolitan sources, from the Byzantines, Armenians, Christian monks, Persians, Chinese, Buddhist monks and travelers who wrote account, the author’s ability to cover such large and diverse sources make this a valuable work for decades to come. The appendix must not be missed in which the author summarizes some of the primary sources he employ, so that readers will get a better understanding of what it was that the author was citing. Excellent work and I recommend it for the history buffs, those interested in understanding the role of warfare and violence in Islam and those interested in the history of the Middle East.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Oxford University Press and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
Arabs - the Goths of the 7th century?
By Malleus Maleficarum
Robert Hoyland's book on the Arab conquests is a must read for anyone who is looking to gain insight into a 'blind spot' of world history, namely the emergence of the Arabs as a dominant force on the world scene in the 7th century. The traditional narrative describes the Arab upsurge as a religiously motivated zeal that made short work of 2 superpower empires. The author of this book, relying on a number of sources both Muslim, but primarily non-Muslim, all but proves that the truth was far more prosaic.
The popular historian Peter Heather wrote a throwaway sentence in his book 'The Restoration of Rome' where he characterizes Muhammad as an Arab Attila the Hun, a warlord who led nomadic raiders into a declining Byzantine empire in much the same way Attila and the Huns in general preyed on the declining Western Roman empire, moving progressively from the Caspian to the Danubian plains and launched raids to extort wealth from the Romans. Robert Hoyland uses the same lens of secondary state formation theory to explain the rise of the Arabs as a military power in the wake of 2 dying and declining empires. He makes the following key points:
1. The Arabs of 7th century Arabia were not all isolated or semi-civilized nomads who emerged from the desert but were client states and vassals of the Roman (Byzantine) and Persian empires and had deep cultural and commercial ties with their powerful neighbours, especially along the fringes of the desert. These contacts were firmly cemented when 2 tribes, the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids, were made client states by the Romans and Persians respectively in order to fight proxy wars on their behalf. This led to the flow of wealth and military arms and training into a number of Arab tribes which created the conditions for their future impetus into their former overlord empires. Culturally too, by the time of the 7th century, there is considerable evidence that Arab paganism had been substantially replaced if not altogether eliminated by variants of Christian and Judaic monotheism. The proliferation of non-Chalcedonian sects in the Near East and the oppression of non-orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism under Justinian led to a number of followers of these sects relocating in and around the Arabian desert, which accelerated the cultural and religious exchange that provided the roots of Islam
2. The early Arab raids were not a planned or coherent war of conquest against 'unbelievers' but were more opportunistic raids undertaken by a nomadic people to extract as much wealth as possible while the Romans and Persian empires entered a prolonged period of decline and central authority and control collapsed. The Arabs were thus similar to the various Gothic tribes that raided Roman territory away from the Imperial capital and subsequently took over entire provinces as the Western Roman empire entered a state of prolonged unrest and civil war. In this, the Arabs were not alone, for raiders like the Avars, Khazars, Turks also tried to raid these 2 empires but were undone by geography - the Arabs were coming from the South and entering territory that was less strongly controlled and with fewer natural barriers and so gained a large amount of territory without facing too many barriers.
3. The Arab raids might have remained raids if not for the fact that Rome and Persia had bankrupted and exhausted themselves through nearly a century of continuous fighting. The Persians had taken advantage of the turmoil in Constantinople after the overthrow of Maurice to take over Egypt, Syria and Jerusalem and the Romans under Heraclius in turn devastated the Persian capital of Selucia-Ctesiphon through an alliance with the Western Turks. To add to the woes of both, the region was hit by devastating plagues that depopulated the region and led to economic declines. The Arabs, whose sparsely populated land was spared much of the devastation, quickly moved in to capitalize on this weakness and collar as much wealth as they could in a world where it was increasingly scarce.
4. Muhammad was one of many Arab warlords of the time and creating a broadbased monotheistic coalition, he possibly led one group of Arabs out of the Hejaz to raid Palestine. Unlike traditional Islamic narratives that place his demise in 632 AD before the Arab conquest of Palestine, non-Muslim documents like the Doctrina Jacobi and even Sebeos seem to stat that he was alive and leading the conquests, certainly in the early stages, though he may have died before Palestine fell to the Arabs.
5. Another wave of Arabs attacked Persia and made deep inroads into the territory beyond modern Iraq and into the heartland of Iran, but it is likely they did so independent of Muhammad and were probably only later defeated into submission by Abu Bakr, through battles that Muslim tradition refers to as the Ridda (apostasy) wars where tribes that had formerly pledged allegiance to Muhammad reneged once he has died, but I agree with the author it is more likely that there was no pledge to Muhammad in the first place.
6. The Arab armies achieved great success due to a number of factors. Firstly, many cities had been left to fend for their own defence by the declining empires and exhausted by the Roman - Persian wars, they preferred to surrender, especially when it became clear that the Arabs were content to leave them alone as long as they received the tribute and booty for which they conducted these raids. Secondly, the few cities that did choose to defend themselves found it difficult to raise troops and could not depend on imperial armies for rescue and hence were defeated. However, as the author shows, the Arab conquests were not an uninterrupted sequence of victories, the Arabs hit a wall of determined opponents when they came up against the hardy tribes of Transoxiana or the Western Turks or the Khazars or even the coastal empires of Gujarat in India. The eventual borders of the Arab empire settled not because the conquerors ran out of steam for raiding but because they came up short against opponents beyond those boundaries.
Once the Arab Empire had reached its equilibrium, the raiders started settling into the business of governing and politics, which led to the creation of factional armies that engaged in long drawn civil wars that contributed to the weakening of the initial momentum. Muawiya, the Caliph who defeated the claims of Muhammad's descendant Hasan, established the Umayyad dynasty based in Damascus that first moved the Arab Empire towards becoming a multicultural, assimilative empire rather than the tribal dominion it had been under the Rashidun caliphs who ruled from Medina. The Umayyad's oversaw the codification of Islam and a number of conquered slaves and non-slaves started converting to Islam to avail the benefits of aligning with the elite and this process led to the eventual development of the Islamic civilization which soon covered and then went beyond the Arab Empire.
This book is an absolute gem and the author has clearly researched into a number of sources to finalize his conclusions so his arguments are quite compelling. The book tells this extraordinarily complex story in a very lucid manner without at anytime becoming dry or scholarly. My only disappointment with the book is that it focuses very little on the personality that is Muhammad, in particular, I would have been delighted if the author had weighed in with his thoughts on Muhammad's apocalyptic and messianic beliefs about the impending end of the world and how they influenced his military campaigns. On this point, I would be aligned with Stephen Shoemaker's view that Muhammad and his 'religion' was very much an 'end-times' focused world view and in some ways his push towards Jerusalem was prompted by the belief that the world was ending. However, hopefully the author will one day write a separate book on that, in the meantime, I have to say that no one can go wrong reading this one
25 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Piecing the puzzle
By David Wineberg
To counter the almost universal impression that Arab armies swept over the Mediterranean and out to central Asia like a cloud and virtually overnight created an Islamic empire, Robert Hoyland has done yeoman research and presents facts. Using clues from coinage to letters, he has assembled a history that he delivers in bite-sized sections, some military, some religious and some societal.
The first millennium AD was a time of trading religions. Yemen and parts of today’s Caucasus and steppes converted to Judaism. Eastern Romans (Byzantium) converted to Christianity. The Persian Manichean religion was establishing itself, and Buddhism was the religion of the Uighur Turks. The game of the era was to pressure the leader/emperor to convert, and the whole territory would follow. Religions had come and gone for centuries, so this was nothing bizarre.
The entire area was simply never free of war. Invaders and raiders came and went. For decades, parts of the Arab empire still thought this a passing phase like any other, and continued to use the coinage of Byzantium or Persia, as appropriate. Mohammed’s forces took advantage of constant wars between Persia and Byzantium to hive off border areas. He leveraged raiding parties by declaring God automatically granted the victors wealth and slaves. It was all about the money. Mohammed welcomed all comers. Christians and Jews participated as equals. They all believed in the same original God, so technically they were all on the same side. Mohammed’s concept was an inclusive community. It was not till 150 years later that his successors started to officially distinguish among the races and creeds.
Progress was not lightning quick. Battles raged, the Arabs were repulsed numerous times, but also found little real resistance (for example along the north coast of Africa). The empire peaked about 120 years after Mohammed. Governing and consolidation were not factors until later, when it was already decaying. It was really about bringing gold and hundreds of thousands of slaves back to the center. Developing a new civilization was not part of that agenda. Arab conquerors preferred inland cities nearer the deserts and Arabic speaking tribes, so coastal cities did not flourish as inland cities like Damascus, the first capital, and Baghdad, the second.
There seemed to be four main reasons for the empire’s halt and decline:
-Constant (at least three major) civil wars in the first 90 years by tribe, by ideology, plus numerous slave revolts everywhere. The Sunni/Shi’ite rift is just as fierce today.
-In some places, Arab warriors were out of their depth, unable to cope with winter or modern weapons and were not good sailors or swimmers.
-They stretched their limited numbers too far: out of range, unable to call on reinforcements and supplies. And they were the targets of local revolts that required support to be diverted.
-They expended tremendous resources and lost repeatedly, trying to capture Constantinople over a hundred year period. It was their Stalingrad.
Hoyland is scrupulously fair and evenhanded. He lets the evidence speak. This work gives definitive shape to an era known until now by legend and prejudice alone.
David Wineberg
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