Reddit reviews Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)
We found 14 Reddit comments about Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Modern Library
Firstly, a caveat. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Muslim. I have, however, studied Islam at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
That being said, let me point out just a few huge blunders in this article:
>Mohammed was in Mecca preaching to any who would listen that he alone was the Divine Prophet of the One God, Allah
False. Mohammad claimed to be one in a line of many prophets. Islam also accepts Jesus, Moses, Adam, Noah and other as prophets.
>traveled to the Jewish city of Medina
Medina wasn't called Medina then. It was known as Yathrib. There were Jews living there, from the Jewish tribes of the Banu Nadir, Banu Qurayza and Banu Qaynuqah. But Arabs lived there as well. The name Medina is a contraction of the Arabic Medinat-ul-Nabi ( مدينة النبي ), meaning 'City of the Prophet'. It acquired this name only after Muhammad migrated there.
The author writes that, "Mohammed sneaked out of Mecca..." but also "Mohammed was consumed with rage over his being booted out of Mecca". Which is it? Did he sneak out or was he booted out? A serious contradiction.
>Even the Jews of Medina, who had shown him such kindness, were eventually driven from their homes while Mohammed's Muslim band pillaged the city
The three Jewish tribes I mentioned above were eventually driven out. This is usually based on betrayals of the conditions laid out in the Constitution of Medina, to which those tribes had agreed.
>In 630 A.D. Mohammed marched triumphantly into Mecca with 40,000 followers. His revenge was complete, but the horrors of Islam had only begun.
Inane. There were skirmishes between the Meccans and the Ummah (Muslim community) that culminated in the Battle of Badr, fought on March 13, 624 AD, when the Meccans attacked Medina. The Muslims won. A year later, in 625 AD, the Meccans attacked the Ummah in the Battle of Uhud, which the Muslims lost. In 627 AD the Meccans, allied with some of the Jewish tribes mentioned above, again attacked the Ummah in The Battle of the Trench. Ultimately the Muslims won the day and Mecca surrendered. To say all of this was 'revenge' for being driven out is simplistic, ignores the context of the event and shows no real understanding of the events leading up to the conquest of Mecca.
>In all, Mohammed had eleven wives, nine of them simultaneously, with the youngest being only ten years old. Eye-witness accounts claim that Aisha brought her toys with her when she was delivered to the Prophet of Allah.
Again, overly simplistic. Blood and family ties were--and are--central to Arab culture. We are familiar with marriage alliances in Europe, and in Arabia it was the same. Many of Muhammad's marriages were undertaken to cement alliances between tribes. Simply put, through this and other maneuvers, Muhammad united the Arabian peninsula in peace for the first time in its history. Yes, he married Aisha when she was young, but there is no real evidence to support sexual activity between them until she had reached the culturally-appropriate age for such according to Arab culture (this remains hotly debated...a debate beyond the scope of this post).
>Mohammed regarded women as nothing more than sexual toys and servants
Patently false. The Qur'an gives women rights they did not have before Islam. These included the right to initiate divorce; to inherit property; and to have their say in the governance of the Ummah. Additionally, the Qur'an forbade female infanticide, which was a common occurrence before Muhammad's prophetic career.
This entire article is full of invective, a lack of historical knowledge, and blatant fabrications designed to support an anti-Islamic agenda. It is fear and hate-mongering of the worst sort. It smacks of the kind of Bush-era paranoia and Islamophobia that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
You can find out more by following the links above. Also, the following books might be of interest:
Muhammad: his Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings
A History of Islamic Societies by Ira Lapidus
A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani
Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong.
Hope this helps.
Islam: A Short History - Karen Armstrong
Islam: The Straight Path - John Esposito
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley
More advanced (should have some understanding of Islam before reading):
The Great Theft - Khaled Abou El Fadl
The Story of the Qur'an - Ingrid Mattson
I recommend these books:
and Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time
Side note on Quran translation:
Stay away from
Try:
Misc:
Movie:
Martin lings: Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
Tariq ramadan: In the Footsteps of the Prophet
http://www.amazon.com/Muqaddimah-Introduction-History-Bollingen/dp/0691120544/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324898349&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity/dp/0345384563/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
http://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-Modern-Library-Chronicles/dp/081296618X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5
Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong
Muhammad by Martin Lings
Islam: Empire of Faith (documentary)
http://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-Modern-Library-Chronicles/dp/081296618X
As far as Islam goes I'd recommend Karen Armstrong's Islam or Muhammad, or Reza Aslan's No God but God. Slightly more academic is Carl Ernst's How to Read the Qur'an, Michael Sells' Approaching the Qur'an, and Fazlur Rahman's Major Themes of the Qur'an.
Basic: Islam by Karen Armstrong
Intermediate: A History of Islamic Societies by Ira Lapidus
Advanced: The Venture of Islam by Marshall G. S. Hodgson, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3.
You'd be best off focusing on one the particular periods that i_like_jam listed, but I can recommend as a broad popular overview to get you started both Ansary's Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes and Armstrong's Islam: A Short History.
Karen Armstrong's - Islam: A Short History
http://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-Modern-Library-Chronicles/dp/081296618X
Reddit is the meeting place for edgy first semester college students who have the world figured out. I misspoke when I called Mohammed a pedophile. Child rapist is more accurate. Read a book. http://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-Modern-Library-Chronicles/dp/081296618X
>Then why do all the mullahs and imams promote forcing Muslims and their children to pray like is mentioned here?
The man who created this site is a widely disliked wahhabi. In fact, wahhabis are pretty universally disliked... by many people in the muslim world. In fact, I could provide citations of this for days. But eventually you're just going to have to learn some things before you start drawing these dangerous conclusions that risk starting a deadly war of civilizations. Wahhabis are a minority, and their spread started only in 1932 when western powers propped up the dictatorial house of Saud in Saudi Arabia.
I would like to point out that this page you gave does not cite the Qur'an even once and does not use the Haadith even once
To say "all mullahs and imams" proves your profound ignorance of the history and diversity of Islam and the middle east. Most Sunnis, and no Shia or Sufi (together, the vast majority of Islam, 99% of muslims, over 1 billion people) would ever be caught dead following this garbage. In fact, if I were to ever find myself in Saudi Arabia, I could very well be killed for being a member of my branch of Islam.
To understand some of this history, I would start with this. And perhaps move on to this. First so that you can have a basic understanding of how Islamic jurisprudence works, and second, so that you can stop parading the ignorance of Islamophobes who refuse to do research and the Wahhabis who delight in this fact.
>Are you more learned about Islam than they are?
Frankly, yes. And so are the VAST majority of muslims.
Karen Armstrong has a book on Islam, Islam: A Short History. I wasn't thrilled by her A History of God, but she's a reputable scholar so it's probably a good place to begin.
Well from what you've said it's abundantly clear you don't really understand much about Islam beyond fearmongering garbage and being scared of a mysterious other. Try reading something beyond shitty websites https://www.amazon.com/Islam-History-Modern-Library-Chronicles/dp/081296618X/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid