“Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes” by Tamim Ansary
This is a thorough history of what the author, Tamim Ansary, called the Middle World. It is an area in the middle between Europe in the west, China in the east, and Africa in the south-west; a place that we all now familiar with the colonialist term of the Middle East.
The book is an impressively detailed but yet concise account of the long history of this place, complete with the geopolitics, social, economic, and of course religious factors. And it starts right at the very beginning with the cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia, with its plenty of kingdoms defeating each others, to the rise of the mighty empires in Persia, the collapse of Rome and the rise of the eastern part that became the Byzantine empire, which eventually sequenced to the main subject of this book: the rise of Islam and the subsequent Islamic empires that would dominate the next couple of centuries.
This is not your typical books on Islam, however, as it is written not from the religious angle but strictly from the vantage point of its political history. We’re talking about the power dynamics, the social economic struggles, the way they organized their reign, and many more, even telling the tales of political backstabbing between them. Oh the many backstabbings. That’s right, just like every other empire from the 7th century to the 20th century, the stories are filled with so many violence, murder, betrayal, deceptions, and of course war. And they are being told in a unfiltered manner that give us the complete human picture.
For example, the book told the story of how chaotic it really was after the Prophet’s (PBUH) death; with all the elections, the power struggles, even the forming of several separatist groups. In fact, 3 of the first 4 Caliphs – Omar, Othman, and Ali (Peace be upon them) – were all murdered in the end; not to mention the murder of Ali’s son, Hussain, by Yazid I that sparked the Shi’i movement.
But what makes this book stands out from the rest is Ansary’s ability to demonstrates the complex, multi-dimentional, angles of the characters, rather than just a single angle to fit a narrative. For example Abu Bakr, he was a highly regarded wise leader who actually struggled economically and borderline living in poverty. Or Omar who is tall and strong, famous for his epic temper but can become wise when needed. Or the wealthy and handsome Othman that looks almost perfect, but has a dark side that ended up sabotaging himself. Or the honest and pious Ali that was the hope for so many people, but with a weak personality that left him unable to handle a burning empire filled with traitors. Or the description of Muawiya who was arguably a treacherous person, but simultaneously a champion of arts and sciences that provided the critical foundations for the unleash of the Golden Age of Islam during the Abbasid rule.
Indeed, the real life is messy, nothing is one-dimensional, and characters can simultaenously be the hero and the villain in any given story. This approach is very much the template in every single story of the book: from the era of the Righteous Four, to Muawiya, the Sassanid rule, Umayyad, Abbasid, all the way to the Mughal Empire in India, Safavid Empire in Persia, to eventually the Ottoman Empire where the Turks would dominate the region. And then we have the modern Middle East with, among many others, the rise of Wahhabism through British-engineered Arab Revolt, the deeply troubled creation of Zionism, the transition from Persia into Iran (and who Reza Shah Pahlavi really was), the power dynamics in Egypt between secular nationalists and religious fundamentalists, the spillover to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the rise of secular modernism most strongly demonstrated in Kemal Ataturk’s modern Turkey.
And alongside the dynamic power struggles in the Muslim World, Ansary provides us with the context of the bigger world history. For example, the Abbasid Golden Age of Islam occurred before Europe’s Renaissance, while the slow collapse of the Ottoman (even before World War 1) happened during the rise of the European empires from Spanish, to Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, to British Empire, as well as the Hapsburg and Austro-Hungary.
The interconnected parralel history are so wonderfully fascinating and eye opening, showing us a clearer context over where the Muslim World stands in the face of world history. And perhaps more importantly, it also gives a more complete big picture view over the dynamics between the West and the Muslim world, a vital piece of information puzzle to understand the world today.
THE CHAOS THEORY 