In The Shadow Of The Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World by Tom Holland (PDF)

Description

In this ‘thrilling. . .profoundly important book’ (Christopher Hart, Sunday Times) and Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, the acclaimed author of Rubicon gives a panoramic-and timely-account of the rise of IslamIn the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished for ever, while the other was a dismembered, bleeding trunk. In their place, a new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelled, in effect, the end of the ancient world.But the changes that marked the period were more than merely political or even cultural: there was also a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today, over half the world’s population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during the last centuries of antiquity. Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way, they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary, convulsive age – though as Tom Holland demonstrates, much of what Jews, Christians and Muslims believe about the origins of their religion is open to debate.In the Shadow of the Sword explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new and revolutionary understanding of the divine. It is a story vivid with drama, horror and startling achievement, and stars many of the most remarkable rulers ever seen.’A compelling detective story of the highest order, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a dazzlingly colourful journey into the world of late antiquity. Every bit as thrilling a narrative history as Holland’s previous works, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a profoundly important book. It makes public and popular what scholarship has been discovering for several decades now; and those discoveries suggest a wholesale revision of where Islam came from and what it is’ (Christopher Hart, Sunday Times)

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In the Shadow of the Sword falls lightly into the genre of “popular histories”, with all the pluses and minuses implied by that. I would start off by allowing that it is an enjoyable read, though some, those who share all of the author’s biases, will find it more completely enjoyable than those who do not. Like all “histories” written for a general audience, it is written in an engaging style, and is a quick read. While written in a style that compels one to keep reading page after page, the prose does border on the purple variety at times. Not quite purple, not quite not. He tends to over egg the pudding in his descriptions, perhaps that is how it would be best described, a style which would not be out of place on reality tv. There is nothing here either in the style or the content which would tax the capabilities of the average 16 year old. Exciting, quite exciting and riveting, perhaps a bit overly so for a history, though that is a matter of taste. Though enjoyable as a cream pie, it is fair to say that his constant desire for the juicy depiction of events falls somewhat short of the reality which existed at the time. But, it was truly an engaging read, one I was glad to have undertaken, and one through which I learned a few things. For that reason alone I do not hesitate to recommend it, but with a few provisos, which may or may not be important to everyone.The problems with the book, as a history, are several. The worst of which, is a defect which is not viewed kindly by actual historians, though might well add to its appeal to the general audience at which this book is squarely aimed. It is anachronistic, in every sense of the word, and is very much of the Whig school of historical interpretation. The author is plainly and unabashedly of the mindset that the human race has progressed upward from the not-quite-so-advanced-and-bright assemblage of people and faith traditions which are the subject of this work. The book positively drips with condescension towards the beliefs of the Persians, Arabs, Jews, Christians, and Romans who are brought to life here. He does not label them as stupid and backward in so many words, but the descriptions make it impossible for someone who knows nothing of the history to come to any other conclusion. It is fair to say that they are, by and large, subtly and not so subtly, mocked, page after page, for their beliefs. “There but for the Grace of (the non-existent) God, go (the enlightened secular) I” is the constant undercurrent here. So, that is one anachronism, judging the past by using the idols of our present age as the standard. The other anachronisms are the use of present day artifacts to describe historical realities, which cannot honestly be described that way. The author describes events in 300 A.D. as being “globalization”. The Catholic Church was “the first NGO”, which was a “welfare state”, and created “safety nets for the poor”. The reason that language would never have been used contemporaneously is that it is in no way an accurate description of how the actors then would have conceived of them, as realities. This may be poor history, but it does make for more engaging reading.The book is excellent as a straight dates and sequences log, and will help most people understand what happened when and where. It is on fairly solid ground there, revealing much that most readers will be unaware of. For that, and that alone, it is well worth reading for someone looking for an introduction to the period in question. The main defect in the book is that it is highly inaccurate when the author attempts to describe the motivations of the peoples in question, a task for which he is obviously intellectually unprepared. Since this book in large part deals with the history of the Jews and Judaism, the early history of Christianity and Christians, and the beginnings of Islam, it is, perforce, to a large extent a history of faiths and their intersections and conflicts. The author spends a great deal of the book explaining the religious motivations of these various peoples. The problem is that the author, has little or no knowledge of the theologies involved. It would take someone who was a lifelong student of the history of the theological developments of these various faiths to be able to describe what motivated these various peoples.The author is not that person, yet he never hesitates to pretend that he knows things he does not know. This is the biggest reservation which I have about this book. If you are of the opinion that Bill Maher actually knows something about religious faiths, you are not likely to recognize the soft bigotry in this book and the cringe inducing suppositions about motivations on display here. If you have some of the necessary background in theology, I would not let this put you off, as it is an interesting book, just be forewarned.Some of these problems are due to the author’s lack of background in these particular areas, and some of them are due to the fact that he is none too careful about his sources, all of which, whether it by Livy or Jack the cobbler’s uncle are given equal pride of intellectual place in the telling. The thoughts he puts into the heads of the generic person of that era, whether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim are often complete rubbish, which can, if I am being generous, be put down to his carelessness with sources, wherein the ideas of the outlier are allowed to represent the thinking of the mainstream theologically literate person of that time period as a whole. That does allow him to spin a much more interesting yarn here, full of all kind of anecdotes, but, again, just be careful at dissecting this. Just to show that I am not making this up to be flip, though anyone who reads this book will find scores of examples, I reference here one, but there are scores. On page 334 after two pages of references to some of the dubious sources noted above, all of which are prefaced by his phrasing that “if this had happened” or “if so and so perceived it this way”, a veritable cascade of “ifs”, he says, in reference to one of the biggest reveals of that particular chapter—“All this is speculation.” Well, and so it is, as is much of the book.This is an engaging book of popular history, not necessarily a fully accurate one. You will probably come away knowing more about the period than you did, but, as far as understanding it, or understanding the motivations of the people who made this history, you are likely to know no more than the author, which is almost nothing, though of the truth of his uneducated prejudices he is quite sure, as will be many of his readers, as other reviews make painfully clear.

⭐This was a fascinating book to read, about a topic I knew very little of.The downside is this book was very weighty, it wasn’t a quick read but took some time to get through.I still recommend it.

⭐I haven’t read the previous books by Tom Holland about the classical west

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⭐), of which apparently _In the Shadow of the Sword_ is the concluding volume. It is long winded ( some may say exquisitely detailed – I found it a bit overwritten), but ultimately Holland makes an interesting – if not tremendously controversial – point: as with the development and evolution of Christianity, so too did Islam evolve and change over time before finally asserting itself as a “religio” – a religion in its own right.The first 300 pages of the book have very little to do with Islam, as Holland discusses the tumultous world that was the Near East in the 4th – 6th centuries: the Roman empire in the west was crumbling, there were divisions within the Christian church, the Sassanid empire was facing a succession crisis, and disease – apparently Y. pestis (bubonic plague) – ravaged the cities. To contemporaries, it must have been apocalyptic. In this highly charged social, political and religious climate emerged Islam. That these factors influenced its metoric success is hardly news (for an excellent and readable history on this period, I recommend

⭐). Holland first argues that Islam (and the Muslim world) are strongly influenced by these classical precursors – that the Islamic empires of the Near East are very much part of the classical world and are, to a large extent, successor states. For example, in commenting on a 679 pilgrimage by the Frankish bishop Arculf, Holland writes, “the difference between (Frank and Arab) was one of quality, not kind. Saracens and Franks both lived like squatters amid the splendours of a vanquished greatness.” (369) This, too is not a new interpretation. (An outstanding discussion of the connections between classical Rome and Greece to the Islamic world is

⭐.) What is new – and, I imagine, volitile and (somewhat) revolutionary, is Holland’s textual criticism of the Qu’ran.”Textual criticism” is a way scholars attempt to discern the authorship, date and place of composition of ancient texts. Of course, to do this to the Qu’ran would be (to devout Muslims), anathema, the Qu’ran understood to be divinely revelaed in its entirety to the Prophet Mohammed. Yet there are a number of tantalizing and unresolved questions that Holland considers. For example, given the wide variety of Christian sects in the Near East at the time of Mohammed, who (or rather which group) was he referring to when Mohammed referred to “Christians”? (There are several very good books on the history of the early Church during this time; a few I recommend are

⭐and

⭐) Why did Muslims reorient the qibleh (originally facing east towards Jerusalem, later facing south towards Mecca) when there is no Qu’ranic evidence to support or explain this? Holland goes further, seriously questioning the isnads (the “pedigree”) of the hadith (the “sayings” attributed to Mohammed), essentially arguing that the more elaborate the isnad, the more likely it is to have been an utter fabrication.That faiths have long labored to deny and destroy any evidence that there were any other interpretations of their belief than that accepted as “orthodox” is a subdiscipline of history and literary criticism. As Holland writes, “Long before the coming of Islam, schoalrs labouring over other works of scripture had inadvertently demonstrated an unsettling truth: the greater the sense of awe with which a text was regarded, the more complete might be the amnesia as to the original circumstances of its composition.” (307) The final 140 pages of _In the Shadow of the Sword_, Holland attempts to show just how complete Islamic amnesia is towards the creation of the Qu’ran, with some startling inferences about where the original “city of the Prophet” was. (Holland claims it was not Mecca for a variety of reasons.)The sanitization of the Qu’ran, and the uniformity of Islam, Holland attempts to show, was only complete with the ascention of the ‘Abbysids as the ulema ascended to religious supremacy, recognized “by everyone, even the Caliph … (of) the ulema’s understanding that attributed almost every single thing of value … to the Prophet and the Prophet alone.” (431) Of course, in so doing, the ‘Abbysids imitated both the Sassanids and Romans before them who believed their position as rulers of the world was the result of favor by the gods.The claims and inferences Holland makes are fascinating and compelling. While I agree in broad terms with much of what he asserts here (especially regarding the evolution of Islam as a faith), the specific supporting details he provides are thin and based on conjecture. Holland attributes this to the lack of a tradition of literary inquiry (ala the Talmud), and he may be correct; still, there wasn’t enough of a “smoking gun” – or even of a perponderance of evidence for me to be convinced wholly of his argument. The argument is worth considering; it is disappointing, then, to have it so deeply buried in historical detail that ultimately is of only ancilary value.

⭐This book took Holland twice as long to write (6 years) than his usual work because he assumed there would be plenty of accessible evidence and documentation to digest and work through, but no, very little existed, so he was searching for ‘evidence’ that did not exist. In many ways similar to the Jesus story, nothing seemed to be written about Muhammad and Mecca while he was alive, it all came decades after. The late Dr Patricia Crone has similar issues when she did similar research. Does raise many questions as history certainly was being recorded at the time, but nothing about this monumental event we are told occurred. A great read, and only criticism is that it could have been a tad shorter, and I would say that if anyone has problems getting past the first 100 pages, then read the last 100 pages first, it is well worth it,.

⭐I got the sample on Kindle, which was mostly the very long introduction, and though I was put off by Holland’s pompous and extravagant style, it did grip me, because he seemed to be erecting the scaffolding for a careful and thorough exploration of the murky origins of Islam. “He does go on a bit,” I thought, “but never mind, this is interesting stuff.”But then the clouds of grandiloquence did not clear into any kind of lucid narrative, of the sort that thrilled in “Rubicon”. It seemed Holland had just fallen in love with his own voice, and couldn’t stop his compulsive, generalised fancifying of what people were thinking and feeling 1,600 years ago. Ornate and convoluted sentences notwithstanding, the tone was of cheap, florid historical fiction. He seemed to cluck with self-satisfaction at the sheer immensity of the paragraphs.I got a refund.

⭐The book consists of three parts, part one being a single chapter introducing the “purpose” of the rest of the work. I feel a bit like Holland real got into or really wanted to write the first & third parts but to make a book of it also had to include some other material. The opening sixty pages will prove facinating to most readers, as will the closing hundred-&-fifty or so. The material would intrigue alone, then it’s well structured, clearly presented and more than well written enoughHowever, the whole middle section – from page 60 to 300 – I found a bit of a slog. It’s just a mess really. A strange combination of things that are too broadly sweeping mixed randomly with overly detailed accounts of things that don’t go anywhere.The material itself is interesting enough and covers a neglected period but it just isn’t well told or made into a coherant structure. If it suits the story you’re telling you can jump around with the timeline but be clear about it and have a purposeThis is an incredably deeply researched scholarly work, the middle section is littered with references, and the depth of background undderstanding is testified to in the wealth of footnotes (I lose track with a Kindle but it looked like two or three endnotes a page through the middle part). Unfortunately that research hasn’t always translated into a tale worth telling. A lot I ploughed through like reading a chronicle. What was good was a joy to read; what wasn’t, wasn’t.I wanted to mention the scholarship particularly given a previous reviewer’s comments below. King attacks the one point where Holland really is unassailable. If you want a story, if you want a fun read then this probably isn’t the book for you. Yet you can’t complaint the author doesn’t know his material. He’s steeped in it. I guess King has his reasons for wanting to believe that – & wanting other people to believe it – just like I guess he has his reasons for that gratuitous swipe at the Hindoos. Though that can’t make it true. Holland knows the primary texts, I just wish he could have translated that into something better for the long middle section

⭐It’s good. It’s worth the read. Its something that needs to be talked about. I learned a lot about the history of the time prior to the Arab empire. A transition of rival clans to a people who coalesced into an empire.The received tradition of the origins of Islam being born in the full light of history is certainly false. The first histories about this vague figure called Mohammed were wrote between 200 – 300 years after the life of this figure, hence there is no certainty as to who he really was.There was some sort of Mohammed but the recieved tradition as to who he was is very much open to doubt. The koran only mentions the name Mohamed 4 times. Mohammed means the praised one. “This praised one” could even of been referring to Jesus, it’s hard to know. We cant be certain about the begging of Islam because its seems that the histories concerning Mohammed have been revised by later Arab scholars.Tom Holland in his English way describes what we know of the origins of islam from a historical academic point of view. His history and his conclusion may scare some people but if truth is what you want then be brave and read this book.Islam is about to experience what the Christian world did over 150 years ago, a total unrelenting sceptical criticism of its truth claim and its origin. If you are interested in either history generally or the origins of Islam specifically then Tom Holland’s book is a good place to start your journey.

⭐An excellent read, which attempts to describe in detail the regional history and prevailing culture at the time of Mohamed’s existence in the Arabian Peninsular. The book tries to assess the arrival of Islam asking the awkward question: did the Arab Empire create Islam or did Islam create the Arab Empire?For me, the one let down in this book is that Tom Holland is very selective about his choice of examples from history and is extremely erratic in his selections from history. This is confusing for the reader and even encourages one to believe that he is simply picking examples that support his various arguments – true or not. Tom Holland knows well that there are many people keen to pick holes in his beliefs and therefore he should be alot clearer and more honest in his presentation.That said, I recommend this book for a different view on an extremely interesting and influential part of history which still has consequences on our lives today.

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