G. E. von Grunebaum (1909–1972)

CLASSICAL ISLAM:
A HISTORY 600A D-1258A.D

G E.von Grunebaum
The period from 610 A.D. when Muhammad
received his "call" until the conquest
of Bagdad by the Mongols in 1258 is
known as the "classical" period of Islam
This was the period of the great expansion
of Islam both as a political structure and
as a religious and intellectual community.
It established the base for the development
of the high Islamic civilizations of
North Africa, the Near East, Persia, and
India, as well as further expansion of the
Islamic religious and intellectual community
throughout the world. This book
presents an authoritative history of the
period written by one of the world's leading
experts on the subject.

In Classical Islam Professor von
Grunebaum examines the relationships
both cultural and political, between the
Islamic world and the Mediterranean
countries and India and elaborates on the
economic, social, and intellectual factors and
forces that shaped the Muslim world and
molded its interactions with "infidels." The
book is written in simple and direct narrative
form, emphasizing simultaneously the
major intellectual trends and the political
events and tendencies of the period.
Succinct and well-written, Classical
Islam is important reading for all scholars
of Islam, comparative religion, and
medieval history and all those interested in
the Middle East.… (mere)