Excellent as a history of the Arab Muslims
This book is excellent for what it is: a history of the Arab Muslim peoples. Its major flaw is its title. This is not a history of the Arab peoples; it is instead a history of the Muslim Arab peoples. The publisher falls into the error of equating the Arab peoples with Muslims. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth: not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs. Among non-Muslim Arabs are the millions of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant Arab Christians living in the Middle East. Among non-Arab Muslims, we can point to the many practicing Muslims in Indonesia, Pakistan, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Somalia, among others.
It is easy to mistake this book as a true history of the Arab peoples--both Muslims and non-Muslism--if one relies only on the title. Yet the preface states very clearly what this book is intended to be: a "history of the Arabic-speaking parts of the Islamic world, from the rise of Islam until the present day" (p. xvii). This book thus does not deal with the thousands of years of history of the Arab peoples prior to the rise of Islam in the Middle East, or the vast and rich history of Ancient Egypt. If he picks up this book with such hopes and expectations, he will be sorely disappointed.
In some parts of the books, the author misleadingly equates Muslims with Arabs. The first heading of chapter 1, for instance, is titled "The World into which the Arabs Came." The author proceeds to describe the world into which Islam was born, rather than the world into which the Arabs came. Long before the name Mohammed was ever heard on the earth, the ancient Arab nations of Egypt, Assyria (Syria), Lebanon, Ammon (Jordan), and Babylon (Iraq) existed. Yet this book paints a picture of a people that suddenly sprung into existence in the seventh century at the birth of Islam. The author's use of the word "Arab" is in this way imprecise is confusing.
The reader will otherwise recognize this book as meticulously and well-researched. It offers a thorough account of the history of the Arab peoples, of Arab Muslim societies, the Ottoman Age, the European Empires in the Middle East, and of the birth of nation-states in the Middle East.
Not a Paragon of Academic Objectivity
Mr. Hourani's book was certainly worth my time reading. However, readers who have become accustomed to the sort of objective, relentlessly honest treatment that European-American history commonly receives, will be sorely disappointed. Mr. Hourani writes with such delicacy that he leaves the reader with a grossly -- indeed, dangerously -- incomplete understanding of Arabic history.
In the interest of space, I will discuss only one example, though in considerable depth. The reader will find others examples if he or she chooses to purchase the book.
Slavery had an incredibly deep and broad footprint in Arabic society. Although no large segments of the economy were ever based on slave production (as in other nations), slaves were nonetheless omnispresent; as many as 11-18 million black slaves alone are thought to have been imported to Arab nations between 650AD and 1900AD (perhaps two-thirds of them female). Castrated slaves were used to guard harems, which were themselves often full of female slave 'concubines' whose consent to sex was neither sought nor required. Other slaves worked in Saharan salt mines, Egyptian gold mines, Iraqi swamp drainage projects, as well as agricultural fields, businesses, and markets throughout Arab lands. Many were porters or other laborers.
The circumstances, experiences, and outcomes of slaves in Arab nations was vastly more varied than those of North America. The cultural and economic impacts of slavery on Arab society, and the care with which the Quran addresses the topic, are extensive. Yet Mr. Hourani devotes just a bit over one page, exactly 47 lines (out of 458 pages of actual text), to slaves and slavery. Hourani's virtual cover-up of a vital part of historic Arab culture is astonishing.
Much of his already slim coverage consists of an amazingly idealized description of how slavery was supposed to work. Hourani states that shari'a insisted that slaves should be treated with justice and kindness; the reader would never know that the rules for slavery were very often violated to the slaves' detriment, since Hourani only describes the ideal, carefully avoiding any discussion of the reality. Mr. Hourani fails to note that, for every slave 'liberated' by his owner, several others died in captivity. For each slave enjoying a 'close relationship' with his master, others were routinely whipped or beaten. For each slave permitted to 'marry his master's daughter', there were several female slaves compelled by force to submit to the master's sexual apetite. Not only is it a betrayal of humanity to dismiss so very much human suffering, but one can never have a proper understanding of Arab history without taking a close look at Arab slave-holding.
Further, on page 298 of the paperback edition, Hourani states that, by and large, slavery was outlawed by 1914. This is outright deceit. Although this was true of European-ruled Arab regions, independent Arab states didn't outlaw slavery until considerably later. Ibn Saud agreed to halt the slave trade in 1927, but the practice in Saudi Arabia was not outlawed until 1962, and continued (according to the UN) even into the 1970's. In 1953 and 1958, the Qatar delegations to Queen Elizabeth II included slaves in their retinues. Yemen and Oman did not abolish slavery until 1969-70. Even then, the practice continued quietly. Hourani undoubtedly knows this, but chooses to mislead his readers.
This book is far from worthless, but it must be read with care. Mr. Hourani could not be troubled with asking any hard questions and revealing any controversial truths. Had authors been so gentle with Pres. George W. Bush's record, he'd have been nominated for sainthood by now.
A partially missed opportunity?
I agree with the criticisms made by some reviewers that this book can be a tedious read in places, but it is ultimately rewarding. The early history of Islam is well handled, though on occasion, particularly when dealing with the various schisms, the book becomes frustratingly unclear. The author is also occasionally side-tracked into discussions of the minutiae of rural life and trade, at the expense of perhaps more generally interesting and relevant questions, such as the relations between Arabs and Europeans, and foreign relations more generally. Overall, it is, I think, still the best of the scholarly books on this topic, but I do agree that it does, on occasion, read like worked-up research notes lacking a narrative structure to engage the reader.
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