A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes - Destiny Disrupted

This is a clear, lucid explanation of the history of the Muslim world and the current cross currents that help to make that world a place of danger and conflict. These currents include doctrinal schism, ethnic and tribal rivalry, national identities (and the lack thereof), personal rivalries, the conflict between modernist and fundamental conservative outlooks, economic power and numerous other factors. The author does a wonderful job of showing how the world and its history looks quite different to the Muslim from the "Middle World" (as he calls it) than to Euro-Americans. Born in Afghanistan but a long time resident of the United States, Tamim Ansary is a distinguished writer with a full command of the American idiom. His critique of both the Muslim world and the West is sympathetic to both, but he does not shrink from identifying foolishness and cruelty on either side. It is a very well balance presentation.

This to be the best book I have seen to help the Westerner understand the complexities of the Middle East.

.... for anyone attempting to understand the incompatibilities between the Western and Islamic worlds. Ansary presents a compelling narrative of how we have come to live on one planet but in parallel, often conflicting universes.

To look at your surroundings from a different viewpoint is often difficult but so enlightening. When you enlarge "surroundings" to mean a huge chunk of world history, it can be all that much more enlightening.
Ansary writes well; very readable.

I would recommend this book to all who have studied western history. My study was very sadly relegated to modern history of the western hemishere, but learning of the culture of the eastern world and its advances was very enlightning.

As with the "Islam in Modern History" I had, prior to the book purchase had the Audiobook version and once again found the combination of spoken and written word very enlightening! The book arrived in mint condition and right on time!
For a more in-depth but highly readable history of Islam this is the one.

A must read to help understand the history and current mindset of the Muslim world. Some of the first part of the book is a little confusing about the conflicting theories of Islam; but it's well worth plodding through to gain significant insights into the creation of the various countries and the conflict with the West.

As a non Muslim I wanted to understand the history and the rise of the Islam and how it intersected with the western world. Ansary takes the reader through the early years of Islam to the present tieing together European, American and Middle Eastern history. He gives the reader an unbiased world view of this history and it is fascinating.

Very interesting to read the history of that part of the world from a non-Western prospective. The narrative is easy to read and holds your interest, even when names and places start to run together a bit. Would love to know how this author would respond to current events [ISIS, etc.]

An eye opening book. Gives you all the facts that you thought you knew, but you actually only had a limited understanding of. I did not like the fact that the author sometimes makes an apology of the flourishing life under Muslim occupation, which is highly debated nowadays.
I also liked his sincerity at the end, when he sums up the fact that Islam is not another religion, therefore cannot be compared to Christianity. Christianity is personal and it refers to the salvation of the individual co-habiting with different political and economical systems (I.e. democracy, capitalism, etc.), whereas Islam is a way of life, encompassing everything from individual behavior to political, social and economical rules. The author also concludes that therefore there is always going to be a "clash" between the two, which, as a European intimate to the Middle Eastern culture, I fully agree with.

This was an excellent book, type 101, for western people to understand where Muslims thinkers are coming from. The author was very good at making connections and comparisons which any intelligent person could understand. Very helpful to remember how much the Muslim world has contributed to civilization as we know it.

Tamim Ansary was uniquely qualified to write this book. An Afghan Muslim himself, he has spent much of his adult life in the West. That gave him a dual perspective that enabled him to see the Muslim world both as it views itself and as it views (and is viewed by) the outside world.

Islam is the youngest of the great Abrahamic religions and the one which achieved the greatest success within the shortest period. Within a century of the death of Muhammad Islam had already spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa to Spain and India. Over the next several centuries it expanded further, developing an urbane civilization based on trade, dedicated to the study of science and philosophy, and tolerant of other faiths. Gradually, as Islamic civilization was rivaled and threatened by other powers, the religion turned inward, and its societies began to fall behind and come under the domination of other cultures, particularly Western. Then during the twentieth century an Islamic resurgence or reformation began, with rivalry between those who wished to return to Islam's roots and those who preferred a more modern, secular, society.

Ansary writes in an informal, sometimes even colloquial style which makes his ideas accessible to the general reader without alienating more scholarly eyes. He does a fine job of tracing the history of Islam's development and excells in delineating the sects and schisms which have arisen, explaining clearly the differences between Sunni and Shi'a and between Fivers and Twelvers, for example. I found particularly interesting his examination of the twentieth century, especially the Israeli-Arab conflicts and the rise in Islamic or Islamist nationalism as an after effect of Western imperialism.

Destiny Disrupted will make an excellent resource for anyone wishing to better understand Islam and its relationships with the West and the rest of the world.

This seemed to me a worthy attempt to do something important: to offer a picture of world history focussed on Iran, Turkey and the Middle East. What the author has produced is very readable and informative, but I was left worried about the accuracy of what he had written. While it was not the prime focus of his concern, he got some things relating to developments in Europe badly wrong. (E.g. it was not the case that for Christianity, the Fall was all about sexual relations between Adam and Eve. It is also not the case that the rise of the ‘new science’ was connected with the Reformation: while scientists in Britain, say, were influenced by their Protestant ideas, some of the key figures were Catholic. Some historians have stressed the significance of continuities with Medieval science. While it is also clear that classical Greek mathematics played a key role. In addition, the Reformation is portrayed as involving a revolt against formalism, and as expressing a concern for mystical religious experience – which amounts to incorrectly reading aspects of his characterization of developments in Islam, into European history.)
Does this matter? I think that it does, because one of the author’s concerns is – quite properly – to draw parallels and contrasts between what happened in Europe and in Muslim countries, but this is undermined if he does not get the European side right.
The book is, however, nonetheless interesting, and it seems to me to do a valuable job in explaining how some of the more puritanical developments within Islam can be seen as understandable reactions against Muslim rulers who had moved a long way from the ideals which inspired Islam’s early days.

This book is a wonderful tool to discover the Islamic history, religion and culture. It is vastly documented and easy to understand. It thoroughly covers every important aspect of Islam from its beginning to the present days. I really recommend it for those who know little or nothing (as myself) about Islam and want to get the basic facts about this religion.

Loved the simple yet powerful style of Mr. Ansary... The story is more focused on the interaction of Islam with the "West"... But what about "east"? History of India and Southeast Asia is just a blip... Key events like Creation of Bangladesh, resistance of Rajputs, rise of Marathas, 3rd battle of Panipat, Deccan Sultanates, rise of Hindutva, Babri Mosque dispute etc. are missing... Maybe a new book by the author on this subject is due!

Good book that clarifies and enlivens the compressed history of Karen Mitchel's book "Islam".
However the vernacular language is distracting and irritating. Totally unnecessary. Good bibliography.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this book. It has generated a substantial interest on my part in religious history in general. It has also provided great insight to why certain conditions exist today in the Muslim world.

A well laid out book that takes the reader through the evolution of Islam, its whys and hows and presents another view...this time through the eastern window instead of the typical western view. Engagingly and informatively written by a man who grew up in the "East" now living in America, a history textbook author with a passion for WORLD history, whose own depth helps the reader grasp another perspective.

Mr. Ansary account of the Islamic history 'middle kingdom' is a must read for Muslims and anyone trying to understand Islam itself. It is highly readable and a well researched book. Many of current headline grabbing Islamic dogma and practices are rooted in its history. At the core Islam is a monoesthetic 'be a good human being' Abrahamic religion. This book gives a good sense of how Islam's turbulent history resulted in its current forms and sects. Destiny disrupted indeed.

This book was exactly what I was looking for - an easy to read introduction to the history of Islam and to the history of that part of the World. Maybe it has some bias, however, the reader's job is to read further more to deepen the knowledge in specific areas by looking to other sources (the book has extensive bibliography). Great job by the Author and the editors.

I enjoyed reading this book. The only real negative I can think of is that some of the people and dynasties mentioned are fairly hard for me to keep track of, but I attribute this to my unfamiliarity with the subject matter, no fault of the author. It was an easy book to read, the writing style kept me engaged.

This is a must-read!
It provides information you probably didn't get in school that in today's world you need to know.
The author writes in a lively style and provides a balanced view of the Islamic world of the past and present.
He also provides an excellent historical summary of the non-Islamic world.
Buy this book!

Author does a great job explaining the broad history of the world from an Islamic perspective. It's broad brushed and doesn't push on specific ideologies and impacts, though challenges you to think about them

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
One of the most wonderful and informative books I have read in a long time. I recommend that this should be a mendarory books for all colleage students. I also believe that all Muslims should read this book-at least the ones who can read.

The scope is ambitious but the author pulls it off. It covers the sweep of Arab history from the Sumerians to 911. It is a vast and complex subject, yet he succeeds in tracing the multiple interweaving threads of history in a manner that is succinct and lucid.

The writing style is almost conversational, but it is underpinned by a concise and disciplined structure.

The author is Afghani, with an American education, and so brings a perspective that is both from within the subject matter, yet informed by Western discourse and solid scholarship.

I have been looking for ages for something to open the door to the history of this fascinating part of the world. I don't yet now why the Middle East is so interesting. It is not simply that its convulsions dominate the headlines, nor that it was home to the Neolitihic revolution and thus 'civilisation'. I first got interested reading Thesiger, then Lawrence, who were besotted by people who loved the desert and scorned the city. I have longed for a text that would map their context.

Well, this is it.

I can't remember the last time I read a page-turner. Oh, yes I do... it was a Peter Temple 'Jack Irish' novel.

History as compelling as crime fiction. There you go. That's writing at its best.

Exactly what I was after... captivating from start to finish, and jam packed with fascinating material.

It’s very hard to find a historical account of Islam, from its birth; to its glory days; to its sad modern times (up to 2001 unfortunately), written in an interesting and thought-provoking dialog that is not too bias (if that is ever possible!).

This book provides logical reasons and answers (with a sparkle of humour) on where things went right and wrong, not just from an Islamic context, but also for the rest of the world’s empires and civilisations as a whole.

The author (in my opinion) did a marvellous job at analysing complex historical accounts and interactions between various empires/ tribes/ khalifats/ civilisations/ societies/ mad dictators etc that lead to today’s map of the world which we currently occupy.

I believe every Muslim and non-Muslim should read this book if they wanted to understand how a Message of Peace (Islam; as it was revealed by its Messenger) could today become so ridiculed, and under attack, because of the actions of few misguided and radicle “Muslims”.

I look forward to reading more of Tamim Ansary’s work, as this story of nations and ideologies is today still taking a radical change in the Middle East.

A fascination and even handed work explaining the intersection and collision between two cultures, the muslim and christian, with the jewish world caught in between. Not a diatribe for or against anything, belief, peoples or faith.

Western history is biased in that it is ego-centric. There is a huge history both in The Middle East and the Orient that we simply choose to ignore because is not Greek or Roman. Ansary does a remarkable job of gathering the vast history of the Middle East and presents it in an easily read form. His pro-Islamic bias is understandable, it was a pretty remarkable culture. I found his presentation of modern Western influences to be both superficial and self-serving, but given the overall reach of the book, it was a minor flaw.

Ansary has presented a clear, informative view of the Islamic world for western eyes. It gave me a better understanding of our conflicts with the Middle East and of the inner turmoil among different sects of Islam. It was a real eye-opener for me.