A History of the World

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary is a thick book that I need almost more than a month to accomplish. But frankly, this is the best book I've read throughout this year, though the end of this year hasn't come yet. In this book, Ansary has written about world history that brings Islam as the main focus, tracing back to 1,500 years ago from the revelation of the Quran through the 9/11 in the beginning of this century.

He stated that Islam is not merely a system of belief, the argument is that it could be discussed together alongside communism, democracy and fascism, as it is also a social project that regulates politics, economics and justice – also a civilization of its own that has achieved outstanding accomplishments in arts and crafts, and one of many world histories.

West and Islamic world has different histories over the past few decades, though their pasts record many of the same events since these two histories had begun in the same place, between the Tigris and Euphrates of ancient Iraq. That is, not until 17th century, when Western began to intervene Muslim life and history. This disruption stirred movements in the name of renaissance and reaction, and also caused the conflicts happened in the early of this century.

Let’s make it simple, here is the breakdown of world history from West perception (which we used to learn in school), acknowledged in stages as follows; Birth of civilization (Egypt and Mesopotamia), Classical age (Greece and Rome), The Dark Ages (rise of Christianity), The Rebirth: Renaissance and Reformation, The Enlightenment (exploration and science), The Revolutions (democratic, industrial, technological), Rise of Nation-States: The Struggle for Empire, World Wars I and II, The Cold War and The Triumph of Democratic Capitalism.

But when we look at the Islamic society’s experience, the narration might be like this; Ancient Times: Mesopotamia and Persia, Birth of Islam, The Khalifate: Quest for Universal Unity, Fragmentation: Age of the Sultanates, Catastrophe: Crusaders and Mongols, Rebirth: The Three-Empires Era, Permeation of East by West, The Reform Movements, Triumph of the Secular Modernists and The Islamist Reaction.

Anyhow… Tamim Ansary did a great job in explaining the big picture of Islamic history from early victories against great odd that proved Allah to be on their side, until the Mongols came into town- up to the open war between the U.S and the Taliban. The basic foundations of Islam’s understanding and faith direction in its early years had also emphasized here. This book is really entertaining and enlightening, as it also offers an essential point of view on the world's current conflicts we are facing.

And please don't consider this post as a review, because I will become a very bad book reviewer then, since I need to read some real book reviews over the internet first before trying to wrote it down here. Happy Friday all! :)

p.s: Distinction between Shia and Sunni Islam was one topic that often written here that somehow stimulates my curiosity to know more about this issue.

image source