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Reviews
| The Rise of Islam, by Matthew S. Gordon. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2005. 180 pages. $14.95, paper.
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| Gordon's manuscript offers an introduction to the early period of Islam and subsequent development and expansion of Islamic civilization, from the sixth through the eleventh century. Focusing on the social, cultural, and political events of this era, Gordon traces the urbanization of Islamic civilization. |
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Contributing the "Series Forward," Jane Chance states that this book and others in its series can be understood as a "library in a book" (p. xiv). Indeed, in this short manuscript, Gordon includes a timeline, three maps, six history chapters, five photos, fifteen primary documents, fifteen short biographies of prominent figures of that period, a glossary of terms, and an annotated bibliography which includes audio and video sources as well as relevant websites. Providing a multipurpose resource for students, the versatility of the text is its strongest point. A student might first read the history chapters to study the period highlighted, but would likely open the text again to refer to the timeline, the biographies, or another one of its features. Another welcome quality is this textbook's length and price. |
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This textbook can be assigned to seniors in high school or college students at the undergraduate level. It provides a quick resource for educators. The book's chapters are relatively short (between fifteen and twenty pages), and thus suitable for assigning to teenage students. The body of the history chapters is only ninety-five pages long. An educator could easily assign one chapter a week, covering the period in six weeks, although one might want to assign other texts in conjunction to heighten students' interest. The biographies and the primary documents provide a resource for term papers or other projects. |
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The author also routinely highlights epistemological issues within the scholarship, providing educators with valuable teaching points. He tells the reader how scholars know what they do about a given event or figure, and offers information regarding the biases of some early historians. For example, he informs the reader that many of the Arabic sources on early Islam come from the Abbasid era, when many Abbasid historians were concerned with favorably distinguishing the new rule from the previous Umayyad caliphate. Thus, Abbasid literature on the early Umayyad rule was rife with anti-Umayyad propaganda (p. 36). |
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Overall, I found this book to be a valuable resource, but have specific criticisms on three issues: style of writing, attention paid to women's lives, and an error found in the text. Firstly, Gordon's writing is a bit dry. For example, one of his subtitles reads blandly: "The Medinan Polity and the Arab-Islamic Conquests" (p. 23). However, what he lacks in lively prose, he makes up for in his clear and concise presentation of the facts. The primary documents, to which Gordon refers throughout his presentation of history, do supply engaging material to supplement his work. |
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Secondly, while Gordon does give some attention to women's lives in early Islam, I would have preferred he either dedicate a chapter to the women of this period, or weave women's history more equitably throughout. He does discuss the Prophet's wives, and he devotes a short passage to the ethical and practical treatment of women in the Qur'an and the impact of Qur'anic interpretation regarding gender in the creation of law by early Muslim scholars. Yet out of fifteen biographies, he includes only three women: two of the Prophet's wives, and a courtesan from the Abbasid era. Why not include a biography on the renowned mystic Rabi'ia al-'Adawiyya, or Zaynab, Muhammad's granddaughter, who was present at the Battle of Karbala? When he covers the Arab conquests and the cultural exchange that took place, why not offer more information on the impact on women's lives? This does not have to be a book on gender per se to focus greater attention on women. |
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Thirdly, there is an unfortunate factual error on page 11: the author states that Uthman was the "fourth of the Prophet's successors to the caliphate," when in fact Uthman was the third; this is an oversight that will no doubt be corrected in subsequent editions. Gordon also states that the Sunni community comprises "over 90 percent of Muslims in the modern Islamic world." Other scholars have cited the Shi'i population as around 15 percent (Esposito 2005; Aghaie 2005), which suggests Gordon's figure here might be inflated. |
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Despite any shortcomings, this book's strengths outweigh its weaknesses. Gordon gives us a versatile text that students can refer to again and again. |
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| California State University, Long Beach |
Sophia Pandya |
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