A Concise History of the Middle East

Introduction * What Is History? * Then and Now, There and Here * The Physical Setting * Some Descriptive Geography The Middle East Before Muhammad * A Minimum of Antiquity * Persia and Rome * The Arabs The Prophet of Mecca * Muhammads Early Life * The Emigration (Hijrah) * Aisha bint Abu-Bakr * Assessment What Is Islam? * Basic Beliefs * The Five Pillars of Islam * Other Duties and Prohibitions The Early Arab Conquests * The Succession Issue * The Initial Conquests * The Beginnings of Islamic Government * Dissension in the Umma * Changes in the Government of Islam * Muawiya ibn-abi-Sufyan The High Caliphate * Restoration of the Umayyad Order * The Downfall of the Umayyads * The Abbasid Caliphate * Al-Mamun * The Decline of the Abbasids Shiis and Turks, Crusaders and Mongols * Shii Islam in Power * The Turks * The Crusades * The Mongol Invasion * Hulegu Khan Islamic Civilization * The Rules and Laws of Islam * Development of Jurisprudence * Islamic Society * Importance of Family Life * Intellectual Life * Theology Firearms, Slaves, and Empires * The Mamluks * The Mongol Il-Khanids * Gunpowder Technology * The Ottoman Empire * Persia Under the Safavids European Interests and Imperialism * Ottoman Weakness * The Koprulu Family of Viziers * The European Powers and the Eastern Question Westernizing Reform in the Nineteenth Century * Egypt * Westernization of the Ottoman Empire * Mustafa Reshid Pasha * Persia Under the Qajars * Some Afterthoughts The Rise of Nationalism * Egyptian Nationalism * Ahmad Urabi * Ottomanism, Pan-Islam, and Turkism * Nationalism in Persia The Roots of Arab Bitterness * Arab Nationalism * World War I * Faysal ibn al Husayn * The Postwar Peace Settlement Modernizing Rulers in the Independent States * Turkey: Phoenix from the Ashes * Mustafa Kemal Ataturk * From Persia to Iran * The Rise of Saudi Arabia Egypts Struggle for Independence * Britains Role in Egypt * King Faruq * The Egyptian Revolution * A Strange Ending The Contest for Palestine * Origins * Prefatory Remarks * The Beginnings of Political Zionism * Britain and the Palestine Problem * Amin al-Husayni Israels Rebirth and the Rise of Arab Nationalism * Israels War for Independence * The Wars Aftermath * The Arab Countries * Israels Early Years * David Ben-Gurion * Middle Eastern Oil * The Great Powers and the Arab World War and the Quest for Peace * The June 1967 War * The Palestinians as a Political Force * Abortive Peace Efforts * Political Changes: 1967-1970 * Danger Signs in the Middle East * The October (Yom Kippur) War * The Wars Aftermath * Anwar al-Sadat * Lebanon: The Arena for a New Arab Struggle * The Road to Camp David The Reassertion of Islamic Power * Prefatory Remarks on Islam and Politics * The Iranian Revolution * Sayyid Ruhollah Mussaui Khomeini * The Struggle for Persian Gulf Supremacy * The Retreat from Camp David * Western Policy Formation and Islamic Polity The Gulf War and the Peace Process * The Gulf Crisis * Operation Desert Storm * Palestinians and the Peace Process * Yasir Arafat * Whither Islam? The War on Terrorism * The Present in Historical Perspective * Survey of Terrorism * The Iraq War * The Contest for Palestine (Redux) * A Parting Message