132 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19:2 

Islam in Global History 

Nazeer Ahmed 
Concord, Cal

i

fornia: American Institute of Islamic 
History and Culture, 2000. 861 pages. 

Islam in Global History, written in two volumes covering the period from 

the death of the Holy Prophet to the First World War, has the distinction of 

being a book on history and the philosophy of history. This is because, as the 
reader discovers, it is not merely a chronicle of events of the Muslim world 

from the advent of Islam to the end of the World War I; it is a book which 

provides insights into the causes of the victories and defeats of dynasties as 
well as successes and failures of movements in Islamic history, and lays 

down the laws for the rise and fall of civilizations. 

Certainly, he is not the first in the field of the philosophy of history. The 

two stalwarts who made original and remarkable contributions in this field 
during the last two millennia are Ibn Khaldun and Arnold Toynbee. The 

books in which they propounded their theories of the interpretation of his­

tory are not books on history as such. Historical data were, no doubt, used 

and analyzed to substantiate their theses. lbn Khaldun proved his concept 
of asabiyah (social group cohesion) in the context of the history of the 
Arabs and the Berbers, which he was to write subsequently. Toynbee used 

the data from world history to prove his idea of "Challenge and Response" 

to be the detennining factor in the strength and decay of civilizations and 
societies. It is to the author's credit that such a comprehensive and coher­

ent work on Islamic history has been produced. At each critical stage he 

diagnosed the causes of the major events that went into making watersheds 
and turning points in Muslim history worldwide. 

Dr. Ahmed is an eclectic writer who has partially benefited from the 

concepts of the interpretation of history expounded by lbn Khaldun and 

Toynbee. For example, he agrees with lbn Khaldun when he says: 

The origins of the Ottoman Empire are to be found in a combination of 

Turkish 'asabiyah, a term used by lbn Kha Idun to denote tribal cohesion, 
the force that holds together tribes through bonds of blood, a characteris­

tic found in abundance among peoples of the desert and the nomads off 

the steppes. 

He concurs with Toynbee when he writes: 

Great civilizations measure up to their challenges and grow more resili ent 

with each crisis, turning adversity into opportunjty. Critical moments in hjs-





134 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19:2 

and beauty of expression. His book on history can be compared to Will 
Durant's Story of Philosophy. He has made a potentially dry subject like 

history into enjoyable reading,just as Durant has done. Indeed, the book is 

as much a book of literature as it is a book on history and the philosophy of 
history. One cannot escape the chann of words while reading the book. As 

a philosopher of history, among the Muslims, I would not hesitate to allot 

to Dr. Nazeer Ahmed a place next only to Ibn Khaldun. 

After paying rightly deserved tributes, it will not be out of place to 
make a couple of suggestions for the improvement of the book: in the first 

place, the binding of the soft-cover copy of the book is too loose. In the sec­

ond reading, the leaves start falling apart. This good book deserves to be 

preserved in public and personal libraries. It may, therefore, be suggested 
that the publisher should ensure a more secure and sturdier binding in the 

next issue; secondly, there are a number of spelling errors and a few other 

typographical mistakes and omissions, which need to be removed in the 

next edition. 

Niaz Erfan 

Retired, Former World Bank Project Preparation Liaison Officer 

for Educational and Examination Refonns in Pakistan and 

Joint Educational Advisor to the Government of Pakistan 

Islamabad, Pakistan