Lost Islamic Histories: Book review

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” (MarcusGarvey)

Lost Islamic Histories by Firas Alkhateeb gives a simple holistic overview of the history of Islamic empires from the Prophet Muhammad’s time until the twentieth century.

I like how all Muslim history is put into context and Firas shows what else was happening in the world.

It’s a positive change as normally the global majority history is a footnote rather than a key part of the narrative.

When studying history especially in the UK – this holistic version of history is not taught, and you get the impression that the British Empire was a kind of lone wolf, and only had interaction with other European empires.

Obviously, we know this wasn’t the case, and that the world was always global - connected much more than we think. Trade and interaction was commonplace.

Firas starts with the context of Arabian society in which the Prophet Muhammad was born into, and shows how Islam spread all over the world.

He says: “Geography, culture, climate and politics together all led to the perfect environment in which Islam could rise to become a world power faster than any other movement, religion or empire in world history.”

Islamic history is one of multiculturalism and diversity. God clearly states that all humans are equal; the Prophet re-enforced this message - and Firas shows how the religion thus spread “assimilating diverse peoples.“ - from Spain to India by the early 700s.

There was a rapid spread of Islam, and Firas states: “All it took was the arrival of a man with a revolutionary message.“

And contrary to Orientalist and anti-Islamic rhetoric - the wide scale spread of Islam was not through the sword but through trade, intermarriage and Sufism amongst other things.

This book gives you the history of Islamic empires through time, in connection to other empires around the world. The history of the ‘other’ is often ignored in our classrooms, and this book presents a refreshing change.