Destiny Disrupted : A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes

We in the west share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years. In __Destiny Disrupted__, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europea place it long perceived as primitive and disorganizedhad somehow hijacked destiny. ## Review **__Baptist Standard__** Reading [Tom] Friedman, I was motivated to learn more about the Muslim view of world history. I found a remarkable guide in Tamim Ansarys __Destiny Disrupted__. **General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret)** "Tamim Ansary has written a truely superb history of the Islamic world. His excellent analysis provides the reader with an insightful understanding of how that world and its people were shaped by events. This is a must read for all those who want to understand the evolution of a significant global society and how it has interacted with the rest of the world.' **Khaled Hosseini, author of __The Kite Runner__ and \*A Thousand Splendid Suns**\* Ansary has written an informative and thoroughly engaging look at the past, present and future of Islam. With his seamless and charming prose, he challenges conventional wisdom and appeals for a fuller understanding of how Islam and the world at large have shaped each other. And that makes this book, in this uneasy, contentious post 9/11 world, a must-read. **Dave Eggers, TheRumpus.net** Im in the middle of Tamim Ansarys __Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes__, and its incredibly illuminating. Ansary pretty much covers the entire history of Islam in an incredibly readable and lucid way. Ive been recommending this book to everyone I know. Especially when people are looking for a comprehensive-but-approachable way to look at world history through the lens of Islam, theres no better book. **__San Francisco Chronicle__** "A must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Islamic world. But the book is more than just a litany of past events. It is also an indispensable guide to understanding the political debates and conflicts of today, from 9/11 to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the Somali pirates to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. As Ansary writes in his conclusion, "The conflict wracking the modern world is not, I think, best understood as a 'clash of civilizations.' ... It's better understood as the friction generated by two mismatched world histories intersecting." **__Portland Oregonian__** Never apologist in tone, meticulously researched and balanced, often amusing but never glib, __Destiny Disrupted__ is ultimately a gripping drama that pulls the reader into great, seminal events of world history, a book which offers a wealth of knowledge and insight to any reader who wants to understand the movements and events behind the modern-day hostilities wracking Western and Islamic societies. **__St. Louis Post-Dispatch__** If you want to put today's headlines about jihadist suicide bombings into the much larger context of history, you'd be well advised to settle in with __Destiny Disrupted__. It's the story of a civilization that suddenly found itself upended by strangers and now wants to put itself right. And if author Ansary stops short of calling the result a clash of civilizations, he feels free to call it two one-sided views of world history. His book is a valuable tool for opening up a view of the other side. **__Shelf Awareness__** A lively, thorough and accessible survey of the history of Islam (both the religion and its political dimension) that explores many of the disconnects between Islam and the West. **DAWN.com (Pakistan), August 15, 2010** Tamim Ansarys __Destiny Disrupted: A history of the world through Islamic eyes__ is an important work for understanding both past and present issues surrounding the Middle East and the West Europe and North America and world history more generally Ansarys highly approachable writing style makes the very dense subject of Middle Eastern history easy to digest. **__David Frums FrumForum__, August 16, 2010** An amusing and anecdotal survey of Islamic history **__San Francisco Chronicle__, January 4, 2011** [The fire] was roaring nicely, and I was seated not far from it, reading "__Destiny Disrupted__" by Tamim Ansary, which is the perfect book for someone who knows hardly anything about the history of the Muslim world and feels that, really, what with things the way they are, a little more attention to detail would be useful. It's one of those "fascinating new fact every paragraph" books. Would you like to know how the Shiite-Sunni schism happened? It's all here. Rumi the poet? He's here. Empires, sultanates, wars, atrocities, cities of great beauty now lost forever, the whole deal. Even the chapters on theology are enjoyable, and I'm not big on the minutiae of belief systems. ## About the Author **Tamim Ansary** is the author of the memoir __West of Kabul, East of New York__, co-author with Farah Ahmadi of the __New York Times__ bestseller __The Other Side of the Sky__, and has been a major contributing writer to several secondary school history textbooks. Ansary is director of the San Francisco Writers Workshop. "We in the West share a common narrative of world history: It runs from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, through Greece and Rome, through the rise of Christianity and the Dark Ages, through the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, to industrialism, the secular state, and the triumph of democracy. As a young history buff growing up in Muslim Afghanistan, Tamim Ansary absorbed this narrative but also knew that it sidelined an entire civilization, one that had seen itself at the center of the global narrative for over a thousand years." "In Destiny Disrupted, Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from that other perspective. With the evolution of the Muslim community at the center, his story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the struggles and ideological movements that have wracked the Muslim world in recent centuries, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history from that other perspective, recounting not only what happened but how those events were interpreted and understood in that framework. He clarifies why these two great civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe - a place it long perceived as primitive - had somehow hijacked destiny."--BOOK JACKET. The Western narrative of world history largely omits a whole civilization. Destiny Disrupted tells the history of the world from the Islamic point of view, and restores the centrality of the Muslim perspective, ignored for a thousand years. In Destiny Disrupted , Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from a new perspective: with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective. He clarifies why two great civilizations-Western and Muslim-grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe-a place it long perceived as primitive-had somehow hijacked destiny. With storytelling brio, humor, and evenhanded sympathy to all sides of the story, Ansary illuminates a fascinating parallel to the world narrative usually heard in the West. Destiny Disrupted offers a vital perspective on world conflicts many now find so puzzling. Destiny Disrupted, “a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Islamic world,” (San Francisco Chronicle) tells the history of the world from the Islamic point of view, and restores the centrality of the Muslim perspective, ignored for a thousand years. In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective. He clarifies why two great civilizations—Western and Muslim—grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe—a place it long perceived as primitive—had somehow hijacked destiny. With storytelling brio, humor, and evenhanded sympathy to all sides of the story, Ansary illuminates a fascinating parallel to the narrative usually heard in the West. Destiny Disrupted offers a vital perspective on world conflicts many now find so puzzling. We in the West share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years. Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from that other perspective. With the evolution of the Muslim community at the center, his story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the struggles and ideological movements that have wracked the Muslim world in recent centuries, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history from that other perspective, recounting not only what happened but how those events were interpreted and understood in that framework. He clarifies why these two great civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe -- a place it long perceived as primitive -- had somehow hijacked destiny "We in the west share a common narrative of world history -- that runs from the Nile Valley and Mesopotomia, through Greece and Rome and the French Revolution, to the rise of the secular state and the triumph of democracy. But our story largely omits a whole civilization that until quite recently saw itself at the center of world history, and whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years. In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe -- a place it long perceived as primitive and disorganized -- had somehow hijacked destiny. Entertaining and enlightening, Destiny Disrupted also offers a vital perspective on current conflicts."--Back cover

We in the west share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years.

In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe—a place it long perceived as primitive and disorganized—had somehow hijacked destiny.

The middle world The hijra Birth of the khalifate The schism Empire of the Umayyads The Abassid age Scholars, philosophers, and sufis Enter the Turks Havoc Rebirth Meanwhile in Europe West comes East The reform movements Industry, constitutions, and nationalism Rise of the secular modernists The crisis of modernity The tide turns. Discusses the history of the world from an Islamic perspective, explaining the evolution of the Muslim community while recounting the history of the Western world with respect to Islamic events and interpretations.