What do you think?
Rate this book
Ten Stories from Arab History: From Ancient Yemen, Through the First Islamic Civil War, to the Fall of al-Andalus
Ten figures. Ten moments when history tilted.
From the deserts of pre-Islamic Yemen to the final days of Muslim Granada, this book follows the individuals who stood at the fault lines of Arab history.
A fugitive prince who crossed North Africa alone and built an empire from exile.
A poet-king who opened his gates to an army and lost his throne forever.
A philosopher condemned at home whose ideas would outlive kingdoms.
This is not a survey. Not a textbook. Each chapter is a self-contained story, drawn from historical sources and written to be read in a single sitting.
From the deserts of pre-Islamic Yemen to the final days of Muslim Granada, this book follows the individuals who stood at the fault lines of Arab history.
A fugitive prince who crossed North Africa alone and built an empire from exile.
A poet-king who opened his gates to an army and lost his throne forever.
A philosopher condemned at home whose ideas would outlive kingdoms.
This is not a survey. Not a textbook. Each chapter is a self-contained story, drawn from historical sources and written to be read in a single sitting.
191 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 3, 2026
About the author
Dael Alhemyari
16 booksDeal Al-hemyari is a Yemeni writer interested in history and health.
He writes about stories from Arab history and practical ideas related to health and everyday life.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 14, 2026
I received a digital copy of this book courtesy of LibraryThing Early Reviewers and the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
An extremely readable history of Muslim civilization, as it grows out of the Sinai peninsula and reaches its height in medieval Europe, before being pushed back in the late 1400s. I confess that I know very little about the history of this region (Westerners are not taught the history of any places other than the US and Europe), and it took a bit to get into the swing of the names, especially. I find it difficult to read ancient Western scripts, too, where everyone seems to have been named after their forebearers and its hard to keep everyone straight.
But once I got into the groove, I really enjoyed this. It's a selection of ten points in history that are important to the rise of both Islam, as a religion, as well as the conquering of terrain to form a formidable empire. My favorite chapter is Chapter 9, "A Journey of Atonement," a narrative non-fiction telling of the journey of Ibn Jubayr, undertaken in the 12th century, from Granada to do the Hajj pilgrimage.
Events became more recognizable as the book went on - Rick Steves includes extensive notes about the Moors in Spain as part of his history of Europe series - and it ends on a rather bittersweet note, with the kingdom of Granada falling to Ferdinand (of Columbus fame) and the Muslim inhabitants literally being pushed out of their country. These are important stories that need to be told, especially to those of us who never had the privilege of learning them in school.
An extremely readable history of Muslim civilization, as it grows out of the Sinai peninsula and reaches its height in medieval Europe, before being pushed back in the late 1400s. I confess that I know very little about the history of this region (Westerners are not taught the history of any places other than the US and Europe), and it took a bit to get into the swing of the names, especially. I find it difficult to read ancient Western scripts, too, where everyone seems to have been named after their forebearers and its hard to keep everyone straight.
But once I got into the groove, I really enjoyed this. It's a selection of ten points in history that are important to the rise of both Islam, as a religion, as well as the conquering of terrain to form a formidable empire. My favorite chapter is Chapter 9, "A Journey of Atonement," a narrative non-fiction telling of the journey of Ibn Jubayr, undertaken in the 12th century, from Granada to do the Hajj pilgrimage.
Events became more recognizable as the book went on - Rick Steves includes extensive notes about the Moors in Spain as part of his history of Europe series - and it ends on a rather bittersweet note, with the kingdom of Granada falling to Ferdinand (of Columbus fame) and the Muslim inhabitants literally being pushed out of their country. These are important stories that need to be told, especially to those of us who never had the privilege of learning them in school.
Displaying 1 of 1 review