The Muslim Conquest of Persia

by Agha Ali Ibrahim Akram

Muslim Conquest Of Persia By Ai Akram, Maktaba Publishing Hb 4J1 Islamic Military History Series Iraq Qadisiyya Ahwaz Etc

Genres: History, Islam, Politics

354 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

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

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

It goes into a great deal of detail trying to novelize the events, including dialogue and internal thoughts that no one could possibly have known let alone some historian around after the fact, and lays a dash of astrological prophecy atop it all. Given that it gets basic facts wrong (names of important figures, for example, and not a simple spelling deviancy but completely mixing different people up, stating one person died multiple different times in the narrative, etc.) it calls, naturally, all these numerous small details stated so factually into doubt. The writer also has a clear Muslim bias.

However, the above points are understandable given the context this was written in, and it's a good resource when taken with an ample grain of salt. Readers would be advised not to take anything stated in this for granted as true without cross-checking to other academic works.

The writing style is an enjoyable read, at least, and it did not overly villify the Persians. It also pulls trivia and folk lore from many sources that English-speakers do not have access to, providing more depth and charm than the more factually-minded academic works do. Whether the trivia are true or not is a different matter, but it's certainly charming.

[Md. Tahmid Onik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always liked the author's work. He did a tough job writing this book which will serve as a great reference of those histories in times to come. We observe in the book how one new civilization pumping with their newfound strong faith wipes another illustrious dynesty, the Sassanid Persian dynasty. Loved the book.

[Asif Mahtab Utsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun journey like everything else written by Agha Ibrahim Akram. But it doesn't reach the same height as others as General Sa'ad bin Abi Wakkas although an amazing general, but never compared to the genius of Khalif ibn Al Walid or Amr Bin Al As (Even the writer admits to this). Thus making this reading slightly less interesting than others, but hey at least the brilliant commander Qaqa and his amazing tactics makes it phenomenally interesting.

[Sarfaraz Ahmad]

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