After the control and constant conflict between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire that lasted for hundreds of years, new powers rose on the land of the Middle East. This power was able in a very short time to control many lands of the Persian state and also the Roman state to the point that the new power was able to completely eliminate the Persian Empire. Indeed, the new state that the Prophet Muhammad founded from Medina was able to expand and rise to the point that it extended from Spain in the west to the borders of China in the east. The foundations that the Prophet Muhammad laid and the rules on which the state was built, which were initially based on a religious basis, but with time the Muslim caliphs did not adhere to this matter, and as a result of the control of these caliphs over the land that was under the control of the Persians and Romans, the Muslim caliphs began to imitate these princes and rulers, whether in the way of dress or even living in palaces and indulging in a life of amusement and luxury, which led with time to the loss of some of the values ​​that the Muslim caliphs inherited from the Prophet Muhammad, and began to replace it with the love of money and power to the point that some Muslim rulers reached the point of causing sedition and conflicts between some rulers for the sake of power, and this made the Islamic countries enter into long periods of wars, conflicts and strikes as a result of the conflict between Muslim rulers over power, and we will review in this book the most prominent periods of conflicts and wars between Muslim rulers throughout the Islamic ages.

Analyzes Muslim countries' contemporary problems, particularly violence, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment, comparing their historical levels of development with Western Europe.

This book seeks to explain the political and religious factors leading to the economic reversal of fortunes between Europe and the Middle East.

Between 1453 and 1526 Muslims founded three major states in the Mediterranean, Iran and South Asia: respectively the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires. By the early seventeenth century their descendants controlled territories that encompassed much of the Muslim world, stretching from the Balkans and North Africa to the Bay of Bengal and including a combined population of between 130 and 160 million people. This book is the first comparative study of the politics, religion, and culture of these three empires between 1300 and 1923. At the heart of the analysis is Islam, and how it impacted on the political and military structures, the economy, language, literature and religious traditions of these great empires. This original and sophisticated study provides an antidote to the modern view of Muslim societies by illustrating the complexity, humanity and vitality of these empires, empires that cannot be reduced simply to religious doctrine.

Perhaps no other Western writer has more deeply probed the bitter struggle in the Muslim world between the forces of religion and law and those of violence and lawlessness as Noah Feldman. His scholarship has defined the stakes in the Middle East today. Now, in this incisive book, Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the shari'a--the law of the traditional Islamic state--in the modern Muslim world. Western powers call it a threat to democracy. Islamist movements are winning elections on it. Terrorists use it to justify their crimes. What, then, is the shari'a? Given the severity of some of its provisions, why is it popular among Muslims? Can the Islamic state succeed--should it? Feldman reveals how the classical Islamic constitution governed through and was legitimated by law. He shows how executive power was balanced by the scholars who interpreted and administered the shari'a, and how this balance of power was finally destroyed by the tragically incomplete reforms of the modern era. The result has been the unchecked executive dominance that now distorts politics in so many Muslim states. Feldman argues that a modern Islamic state could provide political and legal justice to today's Muslims, but only if new institutions emerge that restore this constitutional balance of power. The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State gives us the sweeping history of the traditional Islamic constitution--its noble beginnings, its downfall, and the renewed promise it could hold for Muslims and Westerners alike.

After a constant control and conflict between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire that lasted for hundreds of years, new powers rose on the land of the Middle East, this power was able in a very record time to control many lands of the Persian state and also the Roman state to the extent that the new power was able to completely eliminate the Persian Empire, and indeed the new state founded by the Prophet Muhammad from Medina was able to expand and rise to the extent that it extended from Spain in the west to the borders of China in the east, the foundations that Developed by the Prophet Muhammad and the rules on which the state was built, which was initially based on a religious basis, but with time the Muslim caliphs did not abide by this matter, and as a result of the control of these caliphs on the land that was under the control of the Persians and Romans, the Muslim caliphs began to imitate these princes and rulers, whether in the way of wearing or even living in palaces and indulging in a life of fun and luxury, which led with time to the loss of some of the values that the Muslim caliphs inherited from the Prophet Muhammad, and it seemed Replaced by the love of money and power to the extent that some Muslim rulers have reached the occurrence of strife and conflicts between some rulers for power and this made Islamic countries enter into long periods of wars, conflicts and strikes as a result of the struggle between Muslim rulers for power and we will review in this book the most prominent periods of conflicts and wars between Muslim rulers throughout the Islamic ages.

A look at the developing conflicts in Christian-Muslim relations during late antiquity and the early Islamic era How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across the early Islamic caliphate slowly converted to the faith of the Arab conquerors and how small groups of individuals rejected this faith through dramatic acts of resistance, including apostasy and blasphemy. Using previously untapped sources in a range of Middle Eastern languages, Christian Sahner introduces an unknown group of martyrs who were executed at the hands of Muslim officials between the seventh and ninth centuries CE. Found in places as diverse as Syria, Spain, Egypt, and Armenia, they include an alleged descendant of Muhammad who converted to Christianity, high-ranking Christian secretaries of the Muslim state who viciously insulted the Prophet, and the children of mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians. Sahner argues that Christians never experienced systematic persecution under the early caliphs, and indeed, they remained the largest portion of the population in the greater Middle East for centuries after the Arab conquest. Still, episodes of ferocious violence contributed to the spread of Islam within Christian societies, and memories of this bloodshed played a key role in shaping Christian identity in the new Islamic empire. Christian Martyrs under Islam examines how violence against Christians ended the age of porous religious boundaries and laid the foundations for more antagonistic Muslim-Christian relations in the centuries to come.