Book Review, ISLAM (A Short History), by Karen Armstrong

Being largely ignorant about the Muslim faith and Islam in general this was one of the first books that I read that helped to enlighten me. I first became aware of Islam from reading the Bible, and in particular Genesis. Within Genesis is the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, apparently the concubine of Abraham who gave birth to his firstborn son, Ishmael. Ishmael naturally leads into Islam and the Muslim faith and the twelve tribes of Israel. Karen Armstrong's book cuts through the cliché to reveal a faith which has inspired as many scholars, mystics and poets as soldiers. Islam, she makes clear, has not only been one  of the world's most important and inspiring religions but the basis for one of its most illustrious civilizations.
One of the greatest of the world religions through the 1500 years of its existence, Islam has also been  by far the most misunderstood. The Western world has undergone a complete revolution of thought in recent centuries, but it's mistrust of Islam is still essentially medieval.


Karen Armstrong spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun, an experience she recollected in her bestselling autobiography, Through the Narrow Gate. She is author of the worldwide bestseller, A History of God (which has now appeared in more than thirty languages), the highly acclaimed A History of Jerusalem, The Battle for God and  a book called Buddha.