In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire, by Robert Hoyland. (2015) This book brings some objectivity to the typical sweeping claims about the explosive Islamic expansion in the 7th and 8th centuries. Ironically, in demystifying the implied claims that the Qur'an was the primary driver of the conquest, the author removes the rationale for the title of his book. According to the preponderance of the various contemporary sources, and the latest historical evidence, the conquests were mostly Islamic, and mostly Arab; but a substantial proportion was neither Islamic nor Arab. The original conquerors from Arabia were not innocent shepherds suddenly motivated by the will of Allah; rather, they were nomads with a long fighting tradition, and had long served (and trained) in other armies. His more radical conclusions are couched in careful language: for example, the Qur'an itself makes little mention of iconography, and mostly ...
Thoughts on education, technology, and culture, during an international career.