Seeing Islam as Others Saw It

About “Seeing Islam as Others Saw It”

This book offers a new approach to understanding the early history of Islam. It begins by examining the nature of Muslim and non-Muslim sources from the seventh and eighth centuries in the Middle East. The author argues that reducing the divide between these sources—often emphasized by modern scholarship—can lead to a clearer understanding of this period. The second part provides a detailed survey of non-Muslim texts, analyzing around 120 of them, which contain information about the first 150 years of Islam, from approximately A.D. 620 to 780. The third part demonstrates how to write the history of this time, using the approach and materials outlined earlier. The final part includes excurses on topics such as the process of Islamization, conversion to Islam, the development of prayer direction techniques, and the conquest of Egypt.