بحر الخلفاء.. تاريخ المتوسط الإسلامي

by Christophe Picard, كريستوف بيكار

"How could I allow my soldiers to sail on this disloyal and cruel sea?" These words, attributed to the most powerful caliph of medieval Islam, Umar Ibn al-Khattab (634-644), have led to a misunderstanding in the West about the importance of the Mediterranean to early Islam. This body of water, known in Late Antiquity as the Sea of the Romans, was critical to establishing the kingdom of the caliphs and for introducing the new religion to Europe and Africa. Over time, it also became a pathway to commercial and political dominion, indispensable to the prosperity and influence of the Islamic world. Sea of the Caliphs returns Muslim sailors to their place of prominence in the history of the Islamic caliphate.

As early as the seventh century, Muslim sailors competed with Greek and Latin seamen for control of this far-flung route of passage. Christophe Picard recreates these adventures as they were communicated to admiring Muslims by their rulers. After the Arab conquest of southern Europe and North Africa, Muslims began to speak of the Mediterranean in their strategic visions, business practices, and notions of nature and the state. Jurists and ideologues conceived of the sea as a conduit for jihad, even as Muslims' maritime trade with Latin, Byzantine, and Berber societies increased.

In the thirteenth century, Christian powers took over Mediterranean trade routes, but by that time a Muslim identity that operated both within and in opposition to Europe had been shaped by encounters across the sea of the caliphs.

Genres: History, Islam, Nonfiction, Medieval History, Medieval, Middle East

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Christophe Picard is Professor of History at the University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Reviews

[Mh430 · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The contrast between the century of the Mediterranean caliphates and the earlier periods seems all the more pronounced given that the advent of the two sovereignties marked a historiographic leap that shifted the Mediterranean out of a long period of silence into a production that would constantly increase from that point on: as of the tenth century, chronicles, works of geography, legal texts, and also documents from commercial activity - in particular the letters of the Cairo Geniza - provided a far more imposing body of data on naval activities."

(The above is is an unedited excerpt of the author's, or perhaps the translator's, writing style.)

The subject of this book certainly interests me and some truly fascinating historical details have been amassed here from a wealth of primary materials. But, BUT, I just found the prose off-putting and it was a chore to finish. As always though YMMV.

2.5 stars

[Sublime Porta]

rec in Il sole 24 1 ott 2017