Muslim Conquest of Egypt and North Africa

by Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram

Genres: History, Religion, Egypt

342 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1977

About the author

Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram (Urdu: آغا ابراہیم اکرم), (1923-1989) better known as A. I. Akram was a Lieutenant-General in the Pakistan Army and a historian. He wrote books about early Muslim conquests. His most famous book The Sword of Allah is a biography on the Muslim general, Khalid ibn al-Walid. He retired from the Pakistan Army as Lieutenant-General in 1978. He also served as Pakistan's Ambassador to Spain. He founded the Institute of Regional Studies in 1982 and remained its president till his death in 1989.

His first book, The Sword of Allah, on the life and campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid, was published in 1970 after a five years effort, including visits to battle-fields in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It has two English editions, and has been translated into Urdu, Arabic, German and Bahasa. For several years it was compulsory reading in the Pakistan Army for entrance to the Staff College and has been on the leadership syllabus in the Malaysian Army. His second book The Muslim Conquest of Persia was published after four years, after visiting the battlefields in Iran and discussions with Iranian scholars. The Muslim Conquest of Egypt and North Africa was his third book, which also took four years of preparations and visits to Egypt and Tunisia. His last book was The Rise of Cordoba, which was published in 1986. To research for writing all these books he learned Arabic, Persian and Spanish and collected an impressive library of historical works.

Reviews

[Aizaz Ahmad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly narrated and portraited Muslim history and character of their generals

[Asif Mahtab Utsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd always have a bias towards the writing of Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram. I have been following is writing and unlike most other history book, he doesn't just describe what happens giving it a boring feel but also write in a way that reads like a story.

The fine line between keeping true to the accounts of what happened. Analysis of what happened by taking the role of a historian and writing in a manner that sometimes takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions where you begin to empathize with these historical characters as you would any work of fiction.

The end of General Amr Bin Al As and General Uqba are 'characters' whose story makes this book worth reading. It has my approval.