
The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates
The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century
Hugh Kennedy(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
3rd Edition
Published on 10. December 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
356 pages
978-1-138-78761-2 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates is an accessible history of the Near East from c.600-1050AD, the period in which Islamic society was formed. Beginning with the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islam, Hugh Kennedy goes on to explore the great Arab conquests of the seventh century and the golden age of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates when the world of Islam was politically and culturally far more developed than the West. The arrival of the Seljuk Turks and the period of political fragmentation which followed shattered this early unity, never to be recovered.
This new edition is fully updated to take into account the considerable amount of new research on early Islam, and contains a completely revised bibliography. Based on extensive reading of the original Arabic sources, Kennedy breaks away from the Orientalist tradition of seeing early Islamic history as a series of ephemeral rulers and pointless battles by drawing attention to underlying long term social and economic processes.
The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates deals with issues of continuing and increasing relevance in the twenty-first century, when it is, perhaps, more important than ever to understand the early development of the Islamic world. Students and scholars of early Islamic history will find this book a clear, informative and readable introduction to the subject.
This new edition is fully updated to take into account the considerable amount of new research on early Islam, and contains a completely revised bibliography. Based on extensive reading of the original Arabic sources, Kennedy breaks away from the Orientalist tradition of seeing early Islamic history as a series of ephemeral rulers and pointless battles by drawing attention to underlying long term social and economic processes.
The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates deals with issues of continuing and increasing relevance in the twenty-first century, when it is, perhaps, more important than ever to understand the early development of the Islamic world. Students and scholars of early Islamic history will find this book a clear, informative and readable introduction to the subject.
Reviews / Votes
"Ever since its first publication, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates has been a landmark history of the early Islamic Middle East. In this new third edition, Hugh Kennedy has updated the work to incorporate a range of the latest research. It remains an indispensable text for teaching Middle Eastern history at university level and offers an authoritative overview for the interested general reader."Harry Munt, University of York, UK
"The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates is a lucidly written and very competent work authored by one of the most prominent scholars of early Islamic history in the western world. Very reliable and featuring detailed discussions of the major themes in early Islamic history, it is yet eminently readable and accessible to the non-specialist audience."
Nikolay Antov, University of Arkansas, USA
More details
Series
Edition
3rd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
4 s/w Zeichnungen
4 Line drawings, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
710 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-138-78761-2 (9781138787612)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions

Hugh Kennedy
The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates
The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century
Book
07/2022
4th Edition
Routledge
€62.60
Shipment within 15-20 days
Additional editions

Hugh Kennedy
The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates
The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century
Book
12/2015
3rd Edition
Routledge
€297.61
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Hugh Kennedy is Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London. His previous publications include The Armies of the Caliphs. Military and Society in the Early Islamic State (2001), The Great Arab Conquests. How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In (2007) and (as editor) Warfare and Poetry in the Middle East (2013).
Content
1:The matrix of the Muslim world: the near East in the early seventh century 2: The Birth of the Islamic State 3: Conquest and division in the time of the Rashidun Caliphs 4: The Umayyad Caliphate 5: The early 'Abbasid Caliphate' 6: The Middle 'Abbasid caliphate 7: The structure of politics in the Muslim commonwealth 8: The Buyid confederation 9: The Kurds 10: The Hamdanids 11: Bedouin political movements and dynasties 12: Early Islamic Egypt and the Fatimid empire