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The History of Islam
The history and teachings of Islam.
335 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1990
5 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Robert Payne
342 books36 followersPierre Stephen Robert Payne was born December 4, 1911, in Saltash, County of Cornwall, England, the son of Stephen Payne, a naval architect, and Mireille Louise Antonia (Dorey) Payne, a native of France. Payne was the eldest of three brothers. His middle brother was Alan (Marcel Alan), and his youngest brother was Tony, who died at the age of seven.
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 26, 2013
Don't read. This book is outdated and biased. Yes it's well-written but if you're looking for an accurate book on the history of Islam, this isn't the one. Many things Payne writes about are wrong. It's an incorrect book filled with misleading information. If you want a good book to read on the Prophet Muhammad I'd recommend Muhammad by Martin Lings.
July 18, 2022
This book is simply telling the religion in an extremely wrong light. It refers to Muslims by the wrong name and portrays the religion as very violent when it is not. If i could rate it a zero i would
January 29, 2023
If you are looking for a broad and unbiased history of Islam, this is a great pick. Excellently narrated and full of rich details, its covering of such a wide scope of history is impressive. The book was originally titled “the holy sword”, which I believe is a fitting title because this book focuses most heavily on the military conquests and achievements of Islamic rulers throughout history. Plenty of insights into Islamic culture and theology are woven in throughout the story as well, especially within the first few chapters on the founding of Islam, which reads almost as a short biography of Muhammad. This book would be a great introduction for anyone wanting to dive into Islam. The only reason this book gets any low reviews is because it doesn’t care to filter or sugarcoat its depiction of Muhammad and Islam in a way that would please most modern muslims
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September 2, 2023"Poets and historians and philosophers flocked to Sayf-al Dautah's court. Among them wa al-Farabi, a Turk from Farab in Transxiana, who devoted himself to the study of Aristotle and whose writings on the nature of God influenced Thomas Aquinas. His ambition was to harmonize the different Greek systems and then harmonize these with the Quran; and it is to him that we owe the classic statement on the nature of time: 'Time is the movement which holds all things together.'" p. 207 (from approximately 950-970 C.E.
February 4, 2025
Very dense. Too dense, in fact. At some point reading this feels like you are sailing through an ocean of endless short biographies.
March 19, 2025
A decent history, but the lack of footnotes is a serious shortcoming.
March 4, 2017
This is a difficult topic to cover in 300 pages, I'm sure. It was written in a dense style, and with the Arabic names it was a hard read. It presented a very violent view, which I'm sure there was much violence and there was in Christianity, but I would think there is more. I guess that needs another 300 pages.
August 31, 2014
This gave a great insight into Islam, and the rationale of many in that region. American media is a bit oblivious to the Islam culture. This explains a lot about the phenomenon of ISIS. I started skimming towards the end, since history started repeating itself, with lots of bloodshed (more than I ever learned about). I actually would rate this book a 3.5, since, while it was enlightening is some ways, it started to go on and on, and it lost it's appeal. But the first part of the book was clearly worthwhile.
April 6, 2009
reads like an adventure novel. islam has quite a history. i had no idea. beautiful, sweeping history of islam from before mohammed thru the 1950s. written in an erudite, yet not pedantic style. creates compelling characters, and pulls no punches. extrememly enjoyable way to learn about his important world region/religion.
December 30, 2009
A great summary of the origins and development of the religion and its schisms.
April 26, 2017
This was a good study. This is done by an Englishman, but he covered the history. But how many times can Bagdad be sacked and its population slaughtered. The history seems to lack cohesiveness, but that may be a lesson. The history of Persia, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, etc may have involved Islamic peoples, but they are all different in history and culture. Still worth thr read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews