In God's Path

The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire

By: Robert G. Hoyland

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time. How this collection of Arabian tribes was able to engulf so many empires, states, and armies in such a short period has perplexed historians for centuries. Most accounts of the Arab invasions have been based almost solely on the early Muslim sources, which were composed centuries later to illustrate the divinely chosen status of the Arabs. Robert Hoyland's groundbreaking new history assimilates not only the rich biographical information of the early Muslim sources but also the many non-Arabic sources, contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous with the conquests.

In God's Path begins with a broad picture of the Late Antique world prior to the Prophet's arrival, a world dominated by two superpowers: Byzantium and Sasanian Persia. In between these empires, emerged a distinct Arabian identity, which helped forge the inhabitants of western Arabia into a formidable fighting force. The Arabs are the principal actors in this drama yet, as Hoyland shows, the peoples along the edges of Byzantium and Persia - the Khazars, Bulgars, Avars, and Turks - all played critical roles in the remaking of the old world order. The new faith propagated by Muhammad and his successors made it possible for many of the conquered peoples to join the Arabs in creating the first Islamic Empire.

Well-paced, comprehensive, and eminently readable, In God's Path presents a sweeping narrative of a transformational period in world history.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2015 Oxford University Press (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Okay!

I have a huge interest in the topic covered by the book and I was really excited to read it to better understand the actual impact of "politics" on the early days of the Islamic empire founding, and obviously a different perspective from the traditional, mainstream view of the Islamic civilization founding and growth.

Even though the book did satiate some of my interest, I still found it a bit too fragmented at various points and just getting too bogged down in really intricate details and dates. I would have liked it to have more analysis and critical thinking of the impact of the incidents and activities going on, rather than dry just specifying dates, battles and names.

It is still a good book, and well worth a read, but my wait for a book that covers this topic to the depth it requires still goes on.

Excellent reference

Where does In God's Path rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I rate it pretty high and top of the list of all audio books I ever listened.

I picked up a history book after a long time and having read a lot of history books on Rome, Byzantine, Persian and recent Indian history (from 12th century onward) and many from Muslim view point; I find myself in unique position to comment. In my opinion professor did an excellent job gathering up a lot of information and summing up nicely from outsider's view point. It is as unbiased commentary on the events took place between 6th and 8th century events in Arabian peninsula and neighboring regions. Also, how people jumped to the Arab identity and fall back to their ancestral roots later.

What was one of the most memorable moments of In God's Path?

It's a non fiction history book on the events that are well known, so mostly I knew what to expect.

Which scene was your favorite?

All. This book is very intense with lots of information.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. Unfortunately I couldn't but still finished it pretty quickly.

Any additional comments?

1 - Moghals in India existed till 1857 in Dehli and not 1757 when British sacked the last moghal king Bahadur Shah Zafar.

2 - There is no mention of the food items that those unique communities of 6th to 8th century consumed, as we know that Muslims strictly eat halal meat while Jewish eat Kosher meat and both don’t eat Pigs, hogs or boars etc.

Finally, this book has a lot of information in one place which is very impressive. I hope to read another book on the later events soon by this author.

Good scholarly book but dry

Lots of info but written more like a textbook with original sources. Good if you want to augment knowledge of this period but not a good starter book.

Little shih Sunni background.

Excellent history with a pleasantly unbiased view. However, a person needs to understand the general violence of the time to not come away questioning the morality of the subject people

A skilled scholar who butchers Byzantium.

Hoyland’s book is fascinating and well-written; its central thesis about Arab cohesiveness is compelling.

But his treatment of Byzantium borders on ignorant. He seems to be from another era, with a 19th century view of a decadent and weak Byzantium.

In his discussion of Heraclius’ invasion of Persia, he claims the Byzantines had only 7,000 men or so and that the Turks did all the heavy lifting. He is mistaken, and apparently has not read a real history of that campaign. The Turks in fact completely abandoned the Byzantine army after a dispute over loot, leaving Heraclius utterly alone. He still defeated the central Persian field army under Razates at Nineveh with his supposedly “tiny” forces.

In fact, he was campaigning with a composite force of the Army of the East and Armenia. He likely had around 30,000 to 40,000 men. Hoyland attempts to explain Arab success by saying that their enemies had no soldiers at all — this is reductive and ludicrous.

Even worse is his discussion of the Arab invasions of Anatolia. He describes Byzantines as “cowering in their citadels”, completely failing to mention the Byzantine Theme system which has become so famous. The Byzantines were in fact constantly harassing and raiding Arab armies, picking off foraging parties and even invading Syria to sack cities.

Hoyland seems to think that the Arabs won because their enemies were pathetic. This is a distortion of the highest order. I urge you all to read Warren Treadgold’s A History of the Byzantine State and Society if you want an accurate retelling of this tale.

ENGLISH ACCENT AND SLOW NARRATION.

What made the experience of listening to In God's Path the most enjoyable?

LIKE ANY UNKNOWN HISTORY DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW. BUT ENLIGHTEN THE OF RELIGION AND POLITICS IN ISLAM

What was one of the most memorable moments of In God's Path?

I CANT POINT TO HIGHLIGHT. IT IS HISTORY UNFOLDING ITSELF.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

VERY SLOW NARRATOR VERY DRY HELPED TO DOUBT THE SPEED OF NARRATION

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

THERE IS NO WHY OF LISTENING IN ONE SITTING. I LEFT THE STORY FOR ANOTHER BOOK IN ORDER TO FINISH

Any additional comments?

DIFFICULT TO LISTEN TO BUT WORTHWHILE.

A great summary of the Muslim conquests

and it's subsequent events, as well as a deep dive into some misunderstood topics. Recommended.

A top-book by a top-scholar!

An "objective" historian's well-written account of the contemporary sources in many languages - a real treat for the general (and specialized) reader.

Islamic conquest history from the outside

This is an interesting look at how historians view early Islamic conquests and the explanation of their effectiveness by looking at historical documents from Muslim and other historians at the time.

The reason I give it three stars is because it requires you to look at maps in the accompanying reference PDF if you wish to get the most out of this book. While this isn't a big issue if you don't care about maps or geography; it could become annoying if maps matter to you. If that's the case, skip this and get the physical copy instead.

Cutting edge scholarship available in audio!!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Probably the first audiobook I've heard in which the reader actually knew how to pronounce Arabic, which I greatly appreciated. Also, Robert Hoyland is really doing some pioneering work on synthesis of data on the Arab Conquests and so I am really happy to see this available on Audible and I hope more is to come!