History of the Arabs: Rujukan Induk dan Paling Otoritatif tentang Sejarah Peradaban Islam

by Philip K. Hitti

Ada banyak jalan untuk memahami Arab-Islam, dan buku ini adalah jalan lintas yang paling aman dan paling cepat.Inilah karya tentang kemunculan Islam dan perkembangannya hingga Abad Pertengahan, gerak penaklukannya, kerajaannya, serta masa kejayaan dan kemundurannya, yang sangat komprehensif. Ia menyingkapkan seluruh kekayaan panorama historis yang mengesankan.Philip K. Hitti melakukan telaah serius selama sepuluh tahun untuk menghimpun data-data historis tentang Arab-Islam. Ia merasa tak puas dengan hanya mengungkap data-data historis seputar pergantian penguasa yang berlangsung di dunia Arab-Islam. Ia melacak lebih jauh pada kondisi prasejarah bangsa Arab, termasuk kondisi geologi dan geografinya.Menghadapi sebuah budaya yang sekian lama tidak mengenal tradisi tulis, tidak terbiasa mencatat berbagai peristiwa sejarah dalam buku harian, maka penelusuran dilakukan lewat tradisi lisan, juga jejak-jejak yang tergambar dalam berbagai artefak budaya, seperti keping mata uang atau kaligrafi yang ditulis di atas peti mati. Hitti dengan cerdik memanfaatkan semua itu sebagai data-data historis yang penting. Di tangannya, sejarah bukan hanya catatan tentang orang-orang besar, namun ungkapan rakyat kecil di pasar-pasar, atau coretan-coretan yang tercecer di pinggir jalan.Dengan lugas, Hitti menyingkapkan fakta-fakta sejarah yang selama ini seakan tertutupi oleh subjektivitas keagamaan. Ia mengulas dengan objektif prestasi dan kegagalan yang dicapai oleh berbagai dinasti Islam. Ia juga layak mendapat acungan jempol karena mengulas dengan adil periode krusial dalam sejarah hubungan Islam-Kristen, yaitu periode Perang Salib.Buku klasik ini merupakan karya besar yang memuaskan dahaga kalangan pembaca umum maupun kalangan akademis.“Kualitas karya Profesor Hitti ini sangat istimewa. Buku ini kaya dengan rujukan pada sumber-sumber primer dan orisinal. Halaman demi halaman sarat dengan analisis historis yang tajam dan meyakinkan.”-New York TimesPhilip K. Hitti lahir di Libanon pada 1886. Sejak 1913 hingga kematiannya pada 1978, ia hidup di hampir semua negara bagian Amerika Serikat. Ia pertama-tama mengajar di Columbia, kemudian di Princeton, tempat ia pensiun pada 1954 sebagai profesor sastra semit dan Ketua Jurusan Bahasa-Bahasa Timur. Selain menulis sejumlah karya tentang dunia Timur, ia juga berperan aktif dalam berbagai kajian bahasa dan politik Timur Dekat dan giat dalam berbagai organisasi kebudayaan internasional.

Genres: History, Middle East, Nonfiction, Islam, Religion, Politics, Historical

982 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Philip K. Hitti (1886-1978) was a Lebanese historian who was instrumental in establishing the field of Near Eastern Studies in the United States.

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1908
Education: AUB, BA 1908; Columbia University, PhD

Philip Hitti was born in the village of Shemlan in 1886. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with first honors in 1908, teaching there for several years as the University’s first Lebanese professor. He departed for the US, where he studied at Columbia, becoming the first Lebanese, and the first native-born Arab speaker, to receive a PhD in the US in 1915. In 1926 he moved to Princeton, founding the first program of Middle Eastern Studies in the US, which he chaired until his retirement in 1954. Under Hitti’s leadership Princeton became the premier center for Islamic studies in the West and was one of the pioneers of the concept of area studies. He was also a prolific writer, and his seminal book, History of the Arabs, published in 1937, is in its 11th edition. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of AUB, the recipient of innumerable awards from the governments of the Arab countries, and received numerous heads of State in his home including the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon.

Reviews

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stole a library book once. It was this one.

I was a child, with no conception how to buy a book, beyond science fiction and cheap classics at my local newsagents. Besides, I wasn’t so well-behaved at that stage. We were leaving the area, and this book came with me…

It was my first major history book; perhaps my first ever history book. I had watched Lawrence of Arabia and been ‘crazed with the spell of far Arabia’ (Walter de le Mare). This book was every bit as romantic to me; I read more assiduously than I believe I have since I turned twenty: my ill-gotten copy has the neatest marks with ruler and pencil in twelve places on every page, even when we’re in the ‘Nabataean and Other Petty Kingdoms’. Further on, my imagination fell in love with Khalid ibn al-Walid of the early conquests – he was my hero, but there were a dozen other figures with whom I struck up a personal relationship.

Hitti is so in-depth and detailed that a kid can do that. His people came alive for me; history came alive.

This work is magisterial, as they say. It’s grand, engaging, deeply learned, vast in scope. It presents the history of the Arabs from antiquity and then the wide medieval Muslim world – so that the title itself is arguably too narrow – with what you might call a large postscript on early modern Mamluk Egypt and Ottoman rule, up to his own day: 1937 (the 1st edition: by the time I got my hands on the book, it had been through ten).

Yesterday I took it out again. I browsed reviews and saw it accused of a language we don’t use nowadays. At a glance, I think this problem is confined to the opening pages, where he talks of the characteristics of the Semitic races. It’s how they talked and thought: you have to make allowances, if you’re going to read 1930s history, as I do too in my other magisterial history, Rene Grousset’s The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, 1939. Yet the Hitti, unlike Grousset, is an insider’s account: he was a Christian Lebanese, a professor at Princeton. I’ll say for 1930s history too, that it can be free of prejudices which have come into existence since their time.

We now like to publish histories from a non-Western standpoint: Tamim Ansary’s Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes, or the Crusades through Arab eyes (Amin Maalouf). But Hitti was this, too. Yesterday I read his sections on the Saljuqs and on the Crusades. I did so straight after a chapter on Turks in The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, c. 500 to 1492, 2009 – and the differences leapt out at me. In Hitti, Saljuqs are allowed to be glorious when they restored a unity to the Muslim world, whereas in the Cambridge they were seen from a Byzantine standpoint, as hordes who ‘swarm’ in from their ‘breeding-grounds’. There’s none of that in Hitti. After seeing the word ‘horde’ used exclusively and often of Turks in the Cambridge, I had to laugh when Hitti introduces the Crusaders as the ‘motley hordes of Christendom’.

This may well remain my favourite history book; it’s ahead on points from the valiant Frenchman Rene Grousset, who besides was less learned I suppose.

I have just purchased the current standard history, A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani. But I hear it has less detail; I don’t quite expect the discovery of undreamt things and engagement with personalities, that I got with Hitti. I still remember my astonishment and entrancement when he described the 1st century castle of Ghumdan in one of the ancient states of South Arabia:

The citadel, according to these geographers, had twenty stories, each ten cubits high – the first skyscraper in recorded history. It was built of granite, porphyry and marble. The king had his court installed in the uppermost story, the roof of which was covered with one slab of stone so transparent that one could look through it skyward and distinguish between a crow and a kite. The four facades were constructed of stones of various colours. At each corner-stone stood a brazen lion which roared whenever the wind blew. In a poem al-Hamdani refers to the clouds as the turban of Ghumdan and marble as its belt.

Composed in a fine historian’s hand. Surely one of the great books.

[Sarah Ayed · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
يتناول فيليب حتي في هذا الكتاب تاريخ العرب من بداية اصل السلالة العربية وعصر ما قبل الاسلام ثم ظهور الإسلام ودولة الخلافة الإسلامية ثم الدولة الاموية ثم الدولة العباسية وفترة حكم العرب للأندلس وبعض أجزاء اوروبا ثم الدولة الفاطمية والحملات الصليبية ودولة المماليك ثم الدولة العثمانية ثم الإستعمار الأوروبي وينتهي الكتاب مع صراع القومية العربية مع الإستعمار
في كل مرحلة من تاريخ العرب يصف فيليب صورة كاملة للمجتمع فيذكر كل جوانب الحياة السياسية والعلمية والفنية والتربية والعمارة والتجارة والفئات الاجتماعية والحركات السياسية والدينية والفلسفية واسباب التقدم واسباب الانهيار
مميزات الكتاب أنه يعطي معلومات عن فترة تاريخية كبيرة جدا بصورة شاملة
ولكن...
حينما تقرأ تاريخ العرب لفيليب حتي لابد أن تنتبه لثلاثة اشياء
اولا التاريخ يكتب من وجهة نظر المؤرخ مهما كان محايدا لابد لايدلوجية المؤرخ ان تظهر في كتاباته وهنا لايمكنني انا اصف فيليب انه محايد لايمكن ابدا حتى وان لم يوضح المترجم ذلك في مقدمته وحتى ان لم يزود المترجم الكتاب بكثير من الهوامش التي توضح تلك الايدلوجية وحتى ان لم تكن قد قرأت قبلا في تاريخ العرب ستشعر بتلك الايدلوجية تصبغ الكتاب وتاريخ العرب من رؤية فيليب صبغة واضحة جدا
ثانيا ان لابد على المؤرخ اذا ذكر معلومة ان يذكر المصادر التي نقل منها تلك المعلومة سواء كان رواية عن اشخاص ويذكر هل الاشخاص ثقة ام لا او من وثائق يذكر اسمها وهنا نجد فيليب حتي في بعض المواضع ذكر معلومات بدون اي دليل مما نتج عنه
ثالثا ان فيليب حتي راح يفسر اجزاء من تاريخ العرب ويبني فرضيات وتعليلات ويطرحها كمسلمة دون اي دليل وهنا نقتبس من من كلام عبد الرحمن محمد المعلق على الكتاب
"اعتاد المؤلف ان يبني على ما في يده من الموارد التاريخية كثيرا من الفرضيات ويطرحها كمسلمة ضمن إطار العرض التاريخي حتى يفوت على القارئ إعمال النقد فيها لكن الفرق الواضح بين المعلومات التاريخية والاستنتاجات المؤدلجة يغنينا عن التنبيه عليها في كل موضع"
وعلى الرغم من ذلك
يقال ان فيليب حتي ساعد الغرب على الاطلاع على تاريخ العرب وان هذا كتاب في الأصل موجه للغرب ولكني ارى ان على العرب ان يقرأوه لكي يعرفوا كيف ينظر الغرب إلينا او ماهي الصورة التي يصدرها الكتاب لهم مع العلم ان هذا الكاتب اعترف بفضل العرب على الغرب بالرغم اني اراه غير منصف في مواضع كثيرة وتسيطر عليه النظرة الغربية للإسلام التي تنظر لمحمد انه قائد سياسي وعسكري بارع استطاع ان يوحد العرب ويغزو العالم وليس نبيا ويرى الدافع من الفتوحات الاسلامية هي المطامع الاقتصادية فقط ويرى ان علوم الدين الاسلامي مقتبسة من اليهودية والمسيحية

[Aliya · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is so amazing, telling us about the history of Islam world and its civilization comprehensively, from a longtime before our prophet Muhammad SAW's life till the end of khilafah turki ustmany. we'll know, from this book, the life of allmost Islam heroes, scientist, ulama, and so on.

but, I remind u moslem readers..., this book is a view of non-moslem person. so, it could be, he wrote without a sense felt by a moslem when writing it. therefore, we couldnt find an Islamic proudness (and u know I guest, that a writer's proudness or fondness of something he wrote will influence the readers to have same proudness and fondness).
so that I recomended you to read Ibnu Hisyam's writings (Ibnu Hisyam was called, in Hitti's book, as the biggest historian of Islam). I want to read it too.... sometime maybe...

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is a bit of a misnomer as, after the initial expansion of Islam, the book is as much about Persians, Berbers, Egyptians and others as it is about the people of the Arabian Peninsula. Also, the period dealt with is about 90% Golden Age of Islam (for example, the Crusades don’t even appear until the last fifth of the book and “Changing Scene : Impact of the West" – which deals with 1800-1930s is the last 12 pages of this edition). That being said, it is quite well done and is still considered as standard textbook on Arabic and Islamic studies. The author was also born in Lebanon, and emigrated to the US to eventually become Professor of Semitic Literature and Chairman of the Department of Oriental Languages at Princeton, which put him in a good position to present this subject to Westerners. Be warned, however, ,he originally wrote this in 1934 so the writing alternates between dry and baroque, some of his terminology old fashioned, and the updates between then and 1970 (when this edition came out) are pretty minimal.

[أحمد لطفي · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب من مفضلاتي، أكثر ما أعجبني فيه حس الكاتب القصصي في مواضع عدة، كانت تلك المواضع المصادر الأولى لعدة قصص من قصص مجموعتي الوحل والنجوم مثل قصة الزبّاء ملكة تدمر وخادمة أم يحيى البرمكي.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sebelumnya saya berharap ada penyajian yang objektif dari Hitti (hal ini disebabkan buku-buku yang menulis tarikh Islam sudah cukup banyak) ketika membuat penelitian tentang Islam dan Arab.

Namun jauh panggang dari api, harapan tinggal harapan. Karena objektivitas "tidak ada" dalam kamus kalangan orientalis barat ketika menemui kata : Islam.

Buku yang sangat tidak direferensikan untuk di baca.
Penuh distorsi sejarah, infiltrasi pemikiran orientalisme (karena memang buku ini ditulis untuk kepentingan orientalisme).

Persepsi Hitti dalam menganalogikan Islam sebagai agama pagan, justru semakin menunjukkan siapa Hitti sebenarnya.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

1967 I was living on the corniche of Jeddah and for me this was required reading that I had assigned myself. I was teaching English at a missile training center to Saudi soldiers, who were mainly of Bedouin background. Dr. Hitti's insightful information on Arab culture was very interesting and useful.

[Raff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although long out of print, this work is a concise history of the rise and subsequent fall of the Arab conquests of the 7th Century. A primer for people who should know more about the people who set Islam on its course of domination of politics, science and culture of the known world.

[Christopher Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

To start the discussion, you need to know this is a textbook. I like reading textbooks, so that's okay with me and I knew in advance what it was. But, I fully understand not everyone does. At times, this one is pretty bone dry. Kind of appropriate considering the topic and even the cover photo. I would merely speed read through those parts. My interest in this book is twofold. First, I'm currently working in Saudi Arabia as a professor at a private university (through June 2017) and wanted to know more about the history and culture of the area. Second, I'm working on a future novel that will occur, at least in part, in the desert and I was looking for background information to use. I suppose you could always say the desire to have a better understanding of the issues of today is another good motive to read it.

I gave the book three stars, but I think the more appropriate rank would be two and half. The book is long with about 850 pages. Yet, he will frequently discuss events he expresses as being important with merely a sentence. If the author really thinks it's an important event, I think he has the responsibility to explain why. So, the discussion of the history is, at times, very skimpy.

The other issue I have is with the amount of proselytizing he engages in. It is mostly subtle, but over the course of the book it isn't hard to realize, in the mind of Hitti, it is Islam first and everything else is inferior. This is an unfortunate viewpoint to use when writing a textbook.

The original edition was written in the 1930s and the terminology frequently reflects that. For instance, it isn't Mecca, it's al-Meccah. This is a somewhat minor issue and I was able to adjust pretty quickly. I think the average reader who would decide to read this book would do likewise, just be forewarned that the terminology can be archaic.

One very good aspect of the book is how he engages in discussions of the details of the period cultures beyond the history. It is not merely a discussion of a list of caliphs and governors, but also the poets, the singers, dancers, etc. There descriptions of events and ways of life that really don't have an impact on the historical events. In this way, he succeeded in making it a story of real people more so than just giving a list of events.

Overall, it achieved the goals I set for it. I learned a lot of the history and culture of the area and I took copious notes to use in my future novel. There were parts I enjoyed reading, but there were also many parts where I found myself slogging through. I wouldn't curly up with this book and a glass of wine, but I enjoyed it as a serious read.

[Obinpercussion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inilah buku fenomenal. Saya pertama kali melihat tumpukan buku Prof.Hitti ini di Toko Buku Gramedia Depok. Saya tertarik untuk membeli, tp seperti biasa saya melihat-lihat dulu buku yang lain kemudian saya pulang dan lupa untuk membelinya. Seminggu kemudian saya kembali lagi ke TB tsb dan kaget, tumpukan buku itu hilang!! saya bertanya kpd petugasnya "Pak kemana tumpukan buku di sini? apakah cacat produksi sehingga bisa hilang hny dlm waktu seminggu? Dan ketika saya mencari di TB Gramedia lain termasuk TB lain, buku ini sudah habis! Hingga akhirnya perburuan ku berakhir di TB Pejaten. Buku Prof. Hitti ini masih ada! tanpa pikir panjang saya langsung ambil satu dan pergi menuju kasir... :)

Prof Hitti begitu detail mengulas Arab, sejarahnya, bangunannya, iklimnya, binatang2nya, kebudayaannya, kita seperti melihat dengan jelas apa yang terjadi pada saat itu. Inilah buku yang merupakan rujukan induk yang paling otoritatif tentang sejarah peradaban Islam.
Muhammad, semua tingkah lakunya baik yang disengaja ataupun tidak, sudah menjadi panutan jutaan pemeluknya hingga saat ini. Di buku ini pun dibahas latar belakang, masa embrio, kelahiran hingga kemajuan Islam. Bagaimana Islam sebagai agama menjadi sebuah kekuatan progresif dalam ilmu pengetahuan, sosial budaya, juga berbagai bidang lainnya. Setelah masa keemasan Islam muncullah masa kegelapan Islam. Bagaimana "abad Pertengahan" eropa beralih kedalam tubuh Islam. Buku ini jujur mengungkapkan apa yang terjadi sehingga kita tahu penyakit2nya dan akhirnya bisa tahu bahwa "penyakit" abad tengah itu memang ada obatnya selama umat Islam berusaha untuk "sembuh"..

[Zico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luar biasa!!! Tebal hampir 1000 halaman, penuh analisa terhadap ribuan kitab klasik yang buat ukuran ulama sekalipun sangat rumit dan detil. prof. Hitti juga menampilkan edisi terjemah eropa untuk setiap kitab yang sudah diterjemahkan ke bahasa eropa dalam setiap catatan kaki. Padahal masa ketika beliau menulis (mulai 1920-an), kitab2 arab belum tersebar dan tercetak masal seperti sekarang. terlebih zaman itu kitab klasik edisinya banyak yg tidak lengkap. Belum ada gerakan tahqiq juga.
Buku ini jadi rujukan bagi sarjana Islam baik timur, apalagi barat.
Prof Hitti menulis detil dan adil tentang pencapaian2 besar umat Islam terdahulu dalam ilmu pengetahuan, sesuatu yang pada zaman itu sedikit/belum ada penelitiannya.
Beliau juga tidak mencukupkan pada paparan sejarawan klasik semata, melainkan melakukan kritik dan analisa sejarah yang serius. Rujukan utamanya sebagian dari Tarikh Umam wal Muluk, karya Ath Thabari. Beliau benar2 tepat memilih rujukan primer.
Beliau melakukan analisa lebih jauh mengenai arab pra Islam, burung elang, simbol2, manuskrip, transfer ilmu dari yunani ke Islam, juga mengangkat sejumlah tokoh2 perintis ilmu pengetahun secara adil.
Beliau banyak memuji sejumlah pemikir Islam dan karya2nya dan menjelaskan dengan jujur bagaimana barat "mencontek" pengetahuan Islam.
tentu saja tetap dalam perspektif non muslim (orientalis) sehingga jangan harap beliau menulis paparan tentang mukjizat nabi2 karena yg demikian keluar dari disiplin ilmu sejarah versi barat.
Pandangan saya tentang buku ini... Two Thumbs Up!!!!

[Simone Lupi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho iniziato questo libro quando ancora preparavo la tesi specialistica, arrivando fino al capitolo sui Fatimidi (il periodo successivo era, si può dire, fuori dai miei interessi in quel momento). Philip K. Hitti fu arabista di origine libanese naturalizzato americano, di famiglia cristiana maronita. Ho approcciato al testo con una certa diffidenza, dal momento che non lo consideravo sufficientemente autorevole per utilizzarlo come fonte storica nella bibliografia. In effetti, esistono fonti migliori per la storia araba. Hitti, tra le altre cose, si impegna molto nell'opera di rivalutazione del contributo arabo nella cultura europea (il testo alterna capitoli di mera cronologia storica a capitoli sull'arte, la letteratura, il progresso scientifico ecc.). Tuttavia, a volte azzarda influenze improbabili e senza supporto di fonti, e in questo senso si dimostra fin troppo partigiano; ma ciò vale solo in alcuni casi. In altri casi, invece, l'influenza da lui affermata è forte e ben documentata. Ad ogni modo, è un'opera molto bella che può servire tranquillamente come base generale dalla quale partire per approfondire ulteriormente. Odoya ha fatto una gran cosa decidendo di tradurla in italiano.

[Handaka mukarta]

memanfaatkan discount 30% di gramedia grand indonesia, lalu ambil buku yg sudah berumur 70-an tahun ini. mungkin hak cipta nya sudah habis. jadi bisa dicetak murah.

tampaknya tidak banyak menyajikan hal baru, dalam keterbukaan dan pencapaian skr ini. sebagai rujukan dan keperluan detail.

cukup "berani" juga serambi menerbitkan buku tebal yg hampir 1000 halaman ini. berani dalam arti aspek bisnis. buku yg dicap orientalis ini tampaknya sudah cukup dikenal masyarakat indonesia, khususnya yg suka debat agama. ah, saya mah mencoba menyimak sajah. khususnya tentang masa-masa pre-islam dan masa kekalifahan.

[Ernie Cordell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is no wonder that he was known as Sheikh Hitti in the Arab world: The history was fascinating and very complimentary as to the advancement of science and technology during ancient times, something frequently omitted from other books. But Professor Hitti does not stop there, pressing the clock forwards through better-known times, which makes this classical work such a logical choice for middle-eastern studies.

I have seen countless other positive reviews and I am sure that I have very little to contribute after all else has been said.

[Sameer Khan Brohi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommend book for knowing the culture and history of Arabs and Arabia. History includes almost all things precise along with dynasties of the region. The book is understandable in general, apart from it’s turtle pace stretched that was really unnecessary at parts. At first, I was intrigued by the cover that arouse in me a curiosity of reading this book. Although this was a very long way back but I still remember it provided me a dose of high knowledge.

[عمر · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب كبير الحجم موسوعي يغطي تاريخ العرب حتى بعد منتصف القرن العشرين. فيه عدد كبير من النقاط التي لا يُتفق فيها مع المؤلف والتي مرجعها إلى اختلاف المرجعية والرؤية. كانت قراءة الكتاب على مدى أكثر من 8 أشهر كفيلة لإشعاري بالملل وذلك لكبر حجم الكتاب واستغراقه في تفاصيل كثيرة في كل فترة تاريخية للكلام عن الفن والثقافة والعمارة والأدب وغيرها من المجالات ما استطاع إلى ذلك سبيلًا. والحمد لله رب العالمين

[faaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

waw......
bukunya lengkap banget tentang sejarah arab dari zaman baheula sampai zaman modern....

y pantesan aja jadi salah satu literatur utama penuilisan sejarah islam.but, bikin pusing.... detil banget kali ya...

[Faaqih Irfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku legendaris. Tebal tapi enak dibaca. Bahasa sederhana. Yang menerjemahkan juga bisa membahasakannya sehingga mudah dimengerti. Sebuah buku yang sampai sekarang paling lengkap membahas Arab dan Islam. Tiap babnya membuat penasaran untuk diketahui.

[Anonimo2000]

Somewhat outdated and steeped in orientalist stereotypes, but it’s the only treatment that combines political with cultural and intellectual history and is also an entertaining read. There is also an equally good and lively Arabic translation by Hitti’s Lebanese students.

[Pandu K. Utomo · Rating 3 out of 5]

lengkap dan komperhensif!

[Ridwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of Arabs people, a comprehensive outlook.

[Danish Haidar · Rating 5 out of 5]

in the present escalation of teh so called war between the islamic and teh weatern countries this your" base book " to deveopl a soun understanding of teh arsb world.

[Arif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Referensi yang komprehensif. 👍

Disajikan dengan enak. Terjemahannya juga bagus.

Saya kira akan sering menengok buku ini untuk melihat sesuatu lagi di masa mendatang.

[Annisa Khaerani]

Ini adalah buku yang tidak boleh tidak dibaca atau dijadikan rujukan oleh setiap Mahasiswa Sejarah Kebudayaan Islam
Tebal, gamblang, meski terjemahan tidak ada kekakuan ketika membacanya

[Elie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a reference book without any doubt for anyone touching on the subject.

[Renasains · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku ini cukup populer dalam sejarah peradaban Islam dan menjadi referensi utama bagi banyak sejarawan dan sarjana yang tertarik dengan sejarah, budaya, dan peradaban Arab dan Islam.

Salah satu keunggulan buku ini adalah keakuratan historisnya. Hitti adalah seorang sarjana Arab-Amerika yang mendalam dalam pemahaman tentang bahasa dan budaya Arab, serta sejarah dan tradisi Islam. Dalam bukunya, Hitti menawarkan gambaran yang komprehensif dan terperinci tentang peradaban Arab dan Islam dari masa pra-Islam hingga era modern. Ia juga menampilkan banyak catatan kaki, bibliografi, dan referensi yang lengkap, sehingga buku ini menjadi sumber rujukan yang penting bagi para sarjana.

Namun, di sisi lain, beberapa kritikus menganggap bahwa buku ini cenderung memandang sejarah dari sudut pandang Arab dan Muslim. Kritikus juga menyatakan bahwa buku ini agak kering dan membosankan dalam gaya penulisannya, dan sulit diakses bagi pembaca awam yang tidak memiliki pengetahuan yang cukup tentang sejarah Arab dan Islam.

Secara keseluruhan, ini adalah buku yang sangat penting dan berharga bagi para sarjana dan peneliti yang tertarik dengan sejarah dan budaya Arab dan Islam. Namun, bagi pembaca yang tidak mempunyai latar belakang sejarah atau kecenderungan yang lebih umum dalam kajian sejarah, buku ini mungkin terasa sulit untuk dinikmati.

[Jarek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some notes:
- this isn't pop history - it's fairly academic, dense, long, and at a few times dragging (covering over a thousand years in 750 pages you are going to get a lot of "and then this happened", and the structure interspersing political/military developments with cultural developments help avoid the worst)
- nevertheless with some breaks for Wikipedia lookups this was approachable to me despite basically no prior knowledge
- most of the focus (size/length wise) is on the initial efflorescence beginning with founding of Islam to the end of Muslim states in Spain and fall of Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate; developments since 16th century are less than 10% of the book
- focus is on history of people in Arabian Peninsula and on various more-or-less Arab/Arabic states; Ottoman Empire, being Muslim but rulers not being Arab and the empire not being centred on Arabs, is briefly described in terms of its impact on Arabs it ruled
- (the book was last substantially updated in 1970, so you won't get the latest)

[R_ajab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dengan rujukan karya Klasik Arab yang mendominasi, diselingi sedikit komentar pribadi, dimulai oleh ringkasan perjudulnya, dan kepiawaian ilmu bahasa yang disuguhkan oleh Hitti. Karyanya sangat bagus terutama dalam pengumpulan sumber²nya. Walau dalam metode penjabarannya dia terlalu menggunakan banyak koma yang seringnya membikin bingung dan harus benar² fokus memahami maksudnya. Hitti berhasil mendamaikan persoalan zero yang dianggap Barat dicuri oleh bangsa Arab dari India dengan memposisikan bahwa asumsi itu dibangun sendiri oleh Barat, bahwa penulis Arab menamai angka jenis itu dengan Hindi yang berarti India.
Hitti memang menyebutkan sebab² kelesuan ilmiah Arab sekarang tapi tidak membahasnya lebih jauh. Ini seperti rangkuman dari banyak penulis dengan dibubuhi komentar tapi justru mengumpulkan sumber² itu ke dalam satu buku lah yang membuat unggul buku ini dalam kajian subjeknya.

[Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this wonderful book back in the early 1980s as a teenager, it was hugely influential for me in my understanding of a culture and religion not my own. It is true that historical research and analysis have moved well beyond where Hitti was when he first wrote this book (for example, the notions of a semitic race will seem somewhat antiquated) but the descriptions and e vocations of the heights of Arab and Islamic civilisation are unmatched. There are significant sections of the book devoted to the Arab and wider Islamic contributions to science, architecture and the arts which were among the most important chapters.

[Afriza Hanifa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sejarah Arab dari sudut pandang orientalis Barat. Tapi di banyak bagian dia sangat objektif. Buku ini menjadi literasi wajib di salah satu mata kuliah prodi Arab UI loh. IMHO, Hitti adalah salah satu pakar hebat di bidang sejarah Timur Tengah.