The World Before Islam
Before any Muslim army moved, Rome and Persia spent 26 years destroying each other, and Arabia was already full of Jews and Christians. Part 1 of a sourced history: what Islam actually spread into.
History
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The Conquests
One Arabian city in 632; an empire reaching from Spain to the Indus by 750. What the documented record of the Islamic conquests actually shows, and what popular history gets wrong in both directions.
Who Built the Golden Age?
The Islamic Golden Age was real, and so is the question of attribution. Syriac Christian translators, Sabian scholars, Persian and Central Asian scientists, Jewish physicians, and Abbasid patrons all belong in the ledger.
The Slave Trades Nobody Taught You
The Islamic world's slave systems moved millions of people over thirteen centuries, from the Sahara to a fishing village in Ireland. An honest accounting, with numbers that survive hostile fact-checking and a ledger that indicts Christendom too.
The Long Divergence
In 1000 AD, Córdoba and Baghdad led the world; by 1800 the reversal was nearly total. The two explanations Christians usually repeat are myths. The real story is institutional, and it is more hopeful.
Sacred Ground: What Conquerors Do to Holy Places
From the Dome of the Rock to Hagia Sophia to the church for sale down the street: what the historical record actually shows about conquest and holy places, in both directions.
The Muhammad of the Sources
What can actually be known about Muhammad: the 7th-century witnesses that establish he existed, the 200-year gap behind his detailed biography, and his military career stated exactly as Islam's own sources report it.