From Muhammed to the Ottoman empires and the modern struggle for Palestine, Akbar's story explains how Jihad thrives on complex and shifting notions of persecution, victory and sacrifice and the Muslim control over this phenomenon.
A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'A stunning blockbuster' Robert Fisk 'A brilliant tour de force of revisionist scholarship and thrilling storytelling' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'A compelling detective story of the highest order' Sunday Times 'Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour, the individuals and animation of the past' Independent In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelt, in effect, the end of the ancient world. In the Shadow of the Sword explores how this came about. Spanning from Constantinople to the Arabian desert, and starring some of the most remarkable rulers who ever lived, he tells a story vivid with drama, horror, and startling achievement.
The acclaimed author of Rubicon and other superb works of popular history now produces a thrillingly panoramic (and incredibly timely) account of the rise of Islam. No less significant than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion—except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day—not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path.
It is a short encyclopedia of Islam to understand Quran and Hadiths through 786 textual questions. In this groundbreaking work Professor Patri tries to find out the epicenter of the eruption of Islamic terrorism. The author very scholarly documents the unknown side of Islam which both Muslims and non-Muslims should read to know the real face of Islam as a political creed and not a religious philosophy. The great thing about this book is that one can penetrate the whole of Islamic literature through a series of textual questions which can enlighten on the basic tenets of Islam.
IN THE EPIC HISTORICAL NOVEL SWORD OF HONOR, DAVID KIRK CONTINUES THE SAGA OF MUSASHI MIYAMOTO, THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN IN JAPANESE HISTORY, AS HE JOURNEYS TO THE ANCIENT CITY OF KYOTO TO FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE AND HIS IDEALS. Having survived the cataclysmic battle of Sekigahara, which established the mighty Tokugawa Shogunate, young Musashi Miyamoto travels through Japan determined to proclaim his revolutionary epiphany that the “way of the samurai,” the ancient code that binds warriors to their masters, needs to be abolished. But during the battle Musashi insulted an adept of the powerful Yoshioka school, and a price has been put on his head. Musashi is drawn to Kyoto, domain of the Yoshioka, driven by anger and certain that he will deal a crushing blow to the traditional samurai dogma by destroying the school. Musashi will learn, however, that the capital of the nation is rife with intrigue and potential rebellion against the newly established government, a struggle into which he unwittingly enters. Among other outcasts, Musashi will find the worth of his spectacular skill with the sword weighed against the deep cunning of manipulative Lords, and must make his reckoning with the Yoshioka, the way of the samurai, and ultimately his own nature. Only then will he be able to take one step closer to becoming the wise old sage who wrote The Book of Five Rings. Sword of Honor seamlessly blends meticulous research, mesmerizing action sequences, and a driving narrative to bring this extraordinary figure to life.
Jane Carver is nobody's idea of a space princess. A hard-ridin', hard-lovin' biker chick and ex-Airborne Ranger, Jane is as surprised as anyone else when, on the run from the law, she ducks into the wrong cave at the wrong time-and wakes up butt-naked on an exotic alien planet light-years away from everything she's ever known. Waar is a savage world of four-armed tiger-men, sky-pirates, slaves, gladiators, and purple-skinned warriors in thrall to a bloodthirsty code of honor and chivalry. Caught up in a disgraced nobleman's quest to win back the hand of a sexy alien princess, Jane encounters bizarre wonders and dangers unlike anything she ever ran into back home. Then again, Waar has never seen anyone like Jane before… Both a loving tribute and scathing parody of the swashbuckling space fantasies of yore, Jane Carver of Waar introduces an unforgettable new science fiction heroine.
In this epic sequel to Once & Future, Ari and her Rainbow knights must pull off a Holy Grail heist thousands of years in the past -- without destroying their own destinies. Ari Helix may have won her battle against the tyrannical Mercer corporation, but the larger war has just begun. Ari and her cursed wizard Merlin must travel back in time to the unenlightened Middle Ages and steal the King Arthur's Grail -- the very definition of impossible. It's imperative that the time travelers not skew the timeline and alter the course of history. Coming face to face with the original Arthurian legend could produce a ripple effect that changes everything. Somehow Merlin forgot that the past can be even more dangerous than the future . . .
The time of the Shadowhawk was gone. Now he needed to be more. In the space of a night Cuinn Acondor lost his crown and almost his life. Devastated by Talyn’s disappearance, he’s on the run, fleeing from Shadow hunters who want to destroy everything he stands for. But he won’t give up. Together with the resurgent Wolves, he begins preparing to take back what Azrilan stole from them. After killing their Shadow betrayer, Talyn is captured and thrown in a Montagni labour camp. With no way of knowing what happened to Cuinn or her Wolves, she fights desperately to find a way out, to return home to them. Like Cuinn, she refuses to give up, no matter what… even if escaping means allying with her greatest enemy. In the Twin Thrones, the Dumnorix are banding together and marshalling their forces. Firthland has brought war to their shores. And they intend on fighting back. The final book in A Tale of Stars and Shadow is filled with slow burn romance, political intrigue, found family, and epic battles. Perfect for those who love DK Holmberg, Philip C Quaintrell, and Christopher Mitchell.
In 1105 Damascene Muslim jurisprudent ‘Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami (d. 1106) dictated a call to the military jihad against the European invaders. Entitled Kitab al-Jihad, al-Sulami’s work summoned his Muslim brethren to the jihad and instructed them in the manner in which it ought to be conducted. The text is vital for understanding the Muslim reaction to the crusades, and provides the first contemporary record of Muslim preaching against the crusaders. This book provides a complete edition and the first full English translation of the extant sections of the manuscript, making it available to modern readers for the first time. An introductory study explores al-Sulmani's influences and techniques, and suggests possible directions for future study. An appendix provides translations of jihad sermons by Ibn Nubata al-Fariqi (d. 985), a preacher whose rhetorical style influenced al-Sulami’s work.