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  • Lost Islamic History

  • Reclaiming Muslim Civilisation from the Past
  • Written by: Firas Alkhateeb
  • Narrated by: Neil Shah
  • Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (13 ratings)

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Lost Islamic History

Written by: Firas Alkhateeb
Narrated by: Neil Shah
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Publisher's Summary

Islam has been one of the most powerful religious, social, and political forces in history. Over the last 1,400 years, from origins in Arabia, a succession of Muslim polities, and later empires expanded to control territories and peoples that ultimately stretched from southern France to East Africa and South East Asia.

Yet many of the contributions of Muslim thinkers, scientists, and theologians, not to mention rulers, statesmen, and soldiers, have been occluded. This book rescues from oblivion and neglect some of these personalities and institutions while offering the listener a new narrative of this lost Islamic history. The Umayyads, Abbasids, and Ottomans feature in the story, as do Muslim Spain, the savannah kingdoms of West Africa, and the Mughal Empire, along with the later European colonization of Muslim lands and the development of modern nation-states in the Muslim world. 

Throughout, the impact of Islamic belief on scientific advancement, social structures, and cultural development is given due prominence, and the narrative is complemented by portraits of key personalities, inventions, and little known historical nuggets. The history of Islam and of the world's Muslims brings together diverse peoples, geographies, and states, all interwoven into one narrative that begins with Muhammad and continues to this day.

©2017 Firas Alkhateeb (P)2020 Tantor

What listeners say about Lost Islamic History

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    4 out of 5 stars

Poor narration

A very informative and useful account!

However, the choice of the narrator couldn’t have been poorer. He struggled with names like Mohammed, Ibrahim and Ismail.

A basic understanding of Arabic or the ability to learn to pronounce ‘Islamic’ terms or Muslim names properly should be a minimum for someone narrating the ‘Islamic’ history.

Choosing someone to narrate the colonial American or British history who lacks the ability to pronounce English or American names or geographical names correctly would be nothing short of disastrous.

Sadly, this sums up the narrator’s contribution to an otherwise well-written text.

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Best Summary of Islamic History

Best summary of Islamic history in the English language that I’ve come across (I’m a Muslim with a passion for history.) Highly recommend.

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  • Jamal
  • 2022-06-19

Excellent narration

A must for every American. One needs to understands Islams glorious past and not look at current muslim states to determine its role in the future. Years of colonial damage will take time to be in done.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Haroon
  • 2022-05-03

Well written, concise history

Book is a great, concise yet complete history of Islam. Almost all major events, personalities and aspects of Islamic history are covered.

Narrator made some pronunciation errors. He could have researched better to more accurate.

3 people found this helpful

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  • azadmajeed
  • 2021-12-30

Excellent!!!

This is a great introduction to Islamic history. it is beautiful how big topics are condensed into small easy to understand concepts. I highly, highly recommend this book..

3 people found this helpful

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  • Allan
  • 2020-12-27

1400 Years of Islamic History in Under 10 Hours

Follow the Muslim world from its inception in the heart of Arabia until the present. A succinct presentation and overview of the forces, sects, individuals, empires, battles, and many other categories of events that shaped not only the Middle East, but the world since 600 AD. The book transcends typical notions of Islamic lands and dedicates sections to specific regions such as North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, the Balkans, and Central Asia. You will be well on your way to becoming an expert on the Muslim world after this listen, I guarantee it.

3 people found this helpful

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  • Marvin Martin
  • 2021-10-31

Good overview of Islamic history

A very useful ( for the non-expert) overview of Islamic history from an Islamic perspective. I found the author to be reasonably fair-minded.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2020-11-08

Excellent summary

Excellent short summary of 1400 years history of Islam and political figures following this divine religion.

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  • Frederick E. Dennstedt
  • 2021-12-13

Truly polemical

I wasted my time with this book. It was about glorifying Islam and it's adherents. For example, the conquest of the world from Spain to India (an imperial endeavor as far as I could tell) was glorious while the imperialism of the non Islam world was awful! One of the best examples of the author's blindness to the dark side of Islam was a chapter about the Christian enslavement of West Africans compared to a one sentence mention of the enslavement of East Africans by the Omanis!

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  • Mohammed K
  • 2021-10-06

wonderful comprehensive summary

loved the logical flow and sequence of events. well written and read clearly and vividly

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  • R. Wajahat Izaat Arthur
  • 2021-09-12

Great book

This was a fantastic book. There were alot of important information about Islam that I found about listening to this audio book.

1 person found this helpful

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  • ahmed bajwa
  • 2021-07-05

Brief but thorough walkthrough of Islamic history

An enjoyable and interesting recap of all major occurrences in Islamic history. The author does a great job of remaining neutral while presenting captivating information about the period in detail. The voice narration is a bit dry, but did an effective job of covering the material.

1 person found this helpful