بلاط الخلفاء : قيام وسقوط أعظم أسرة حاكمة في الإسلام

by Hugh Kennedy, فائزة إسماعيل أكبر (ترجمة ), محمد إبراهيم بكر (مراجعة )

يتناول هذا الكتاب تاريخ الدولة العباسية منذ بداية الدعوة العباسية فى خرسان على يد دعاتها المخلصين أمثال بكير بن ماهان وأبى سلمة الخلال وأبى مسلم الخراسانى فى بداية القرن الثامن الميلادى نهاية القرن الأول الهجرى إلى خلافة الخليفة المكتفى وظهور منصب إمارة الأمراء بزعامة ابن رائق فى العام 936م / 324هـ.

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

419 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2004

About the author

NOTE: There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Hugh^Kennedy

Has studies Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies. Went on to read Arabic, Persian & History at Cambridge. Taught in the Department of Medieval History at St Andrews since 1972, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2000).

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kennedy pulls out numerous nuggets of insight from the vast literature of the Abbasid caliphate, which mainly concerns the political or daily lives of the rulers and court elites. He reveals a sophisticated but earthy set of personalities, given to bouts of great piety, drunken merriment, murderous intrigue, or overly lavish generosity. The declining decades of the empire are as horrific as any decline and fall, as things go to pieces in storms of revolting cruelty.

[Dmitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient Baghdad has been lost to the modern world. Cairo and Istanbul moved on while Bukhara and Isfahan stood still, but the walls of the Round City were erased from earth and memory by Hulagu Khan and the Mongols in 1258. If you wish to travel to the world of the Abbasid caliphate you will need to do so in your imagination. Sadly there are few recent books in English to help transport you there.

Hugh Kennedy is Professor of Arabic at SOAS University of London. He completed his Ph.D. in 1978 on the early Abbasid Caliphate and is qualified to provide the necessary time machine. Writing many standard textbooks on the Islamic conquests Kennedy has turned to popular history. In this book the narrative doesn't develop momentum, and his style wavers between encyclopedia entry and medieval tabloid.

The majority of the material for the period is​ drawn from al-Tabari, an Abbasid court compiler of Islamic history. This is largely unavoidable as he is often the earliest or only available source. Kennedy presents the chronicles in modern prose and adds his analysis of events. It is not a bad premise for a popular history given the lack of accessible material, but it lacks adequate interpretation.

Interspersed with the narrative account are topical chapters on poetry, geography, architecture and court life. These essays seem a bit disjointed from the main body of the work, and sometimes the earlier storyline returns unexpectedly. While it is possible to learn a lot from this book, it could be better organized and more insightful. On the positive side, the writing is readable and the period is important.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World claims to introduce us to the history and flourishing culture of the "golden age of Islam." Overall, there aren't too many books on the market to compare to but the scope of the work is interesting and relatively unexplored by most scholars. Unfortunately, the book doesn't live up to all of the expectations I had for it.

Hugh Kennedy admirably tries to tell the history of the Abbasids in as a story but fails to achieve the level of storytelling success that one might find in a book like Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary. His biggest problem with his story format is that 1. it's inconsistent and 2. it switches without notice between storytelling and history lecture in an abrupt manner that doesn't flow well. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with his writing style. He seems to desperately want to share this history as a story but fails to do so in a consistently cohesive and logical way. It seems like he often presents the most dramatic/entertaining/shocking story first as if that IS what happened but, then all of the sudden cuts it off and tells you that's just one possibility and another source says x, y, z. I would have really preferred if he could have told the story that facts confirm and then add in the miscellaneous possibilities as to what else may have occurred. It was kind of like reading "this is what happened.... or is it?" over and over again.

I loved the stories he did tell, I hated hearing once again that it was only one of several possibilities. I think the stories he did tell were perhaps how he'd like to imagine history having occurred and that by telling that story he puts his opinion first in your mind while marginally acknowledging the other possibilities so he doesn't lose credibility. This way you're more likely to remember the more interesting story as opposed to the other possibilities which are presented as more dry facts or secondary considerations. Aside from that I really enjoyed most of the content and I loved reading about Harun Al-Rashid,The Harem, and Abbassid court culture.

Unfortunately, this particular look at court culture contains essentially no information about dancers as part of the court or general culture. There are some images in the middle of the book including one from Samarra depicting two dancing girls pouring wine. It is part of a small fragment of the murals which decorated the palace. Clearly dance was present in court culture but, despite even including an image there is no real information about dance in any form. It does talk quite a bit about poets and makes some mentions of Musicians though. We can make some guesses about the possible place of dance in court culture based on the information about musicians and possibly slaves but the author made no attempt to mention anything about dance.

Although the beginning has a lot of problems with the switching between storyteller and historian writing style the later chapters don't do this as much. Instead the majority switches to more dry history. The information is interesting but, harder to follow and keep interested in. However there are occasional small instances like this throughout the books.

Another issue I had with the book is that although the author of the book is supposed to be neutral to religion but several comments and assertions of the authors opinions seemed to be rather biased against Islam. This gives me reservations about how he perceives the historic events. Considering he presents certain versions of possible history as being his story arc is it because these are products of his bias or is it historically the most viable? I don't know.

My other issue with the book is the way that it's divided into chapters. Some books like Women, Men and Eunuchs: Gender in Byzantium can take a more separate approach to a historical time period and work. this is because the scope of each chapter is very specific in what it covers. there is little to no overlap in other chapters and there is generally not much repeated. Kennedey's work however attempts to separate while weaving together in a story and it doesn't work well. It's a bit like reading a novel out of order randomly selecting which chapter you will read. It's a disjointed experience and you have to jump from one person to another and one topic to another constantly to re situate yourself in the context of what's happening. I wonder if he wouldn't have been better off using a bit more of a chronological progression throughout the book in which he could have incorporated each of the elements he tried to separate. It might have made it easier for the reader to compare military, architectural, and cultural differences between all the different caliphs while also moving forward in a logical and more story like progression.

I would still recommend this for people looking to learn more about the Abbasid Caliphs which is mostly what the book ends up talking about but most other questions about court culture or how people lived their daily lives go largely unanswered. Be aware that parts are going to quickly switch from a story to history in a split second and that jolting experience as a reader can be a problem with moving forward in the book. I do think there is a lot of good information and it is relatively accessible to the average reader (assuming you like reading history and are used to reading in that genre). It does help to examine the history and successions of the Abbasid Caliphs and tells some of the stories that make them seem more like human beings as opposed to just some distant historical figures.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book but found the narrow view it offered the reader hamstrung its goal, namely to explore the Abbasid Dynasty, the second great Caliphate of the Islamic world. What I mean is that the book concentrated the narrative on the dynasty at the expense of what was going on among most of the rest of the population, relations with surrounding powers, social and economic trends that affected the Caliphate. While Kennedy drew from a wide variety of primary sources he spent the majority of his time detailing the life, relations, and dealings of the Court at the expense of just about every other aspect of the polity.

I would have liked a broader discussion about how the Empire fit together, what was going on in the fringes of its control, how neighbors viewed and interacted with them beyond the raids into the Eastern Roman Empire. Heck, the book ended before the dynasty was even extinguished, concluding when the last Caliph with any independent power was overthrown and a succession of puppet Caliphs was installed.

[أحمد نفادي · Rating 4 out of 5]

تاريخ العائلة العباسية من أصعب الفترات التي من الممكن التأريخ لها لأسباب عدة فأولا من الصعب تحديد المقصود ب "الخلافة العباسية " هل هي الفترة التي حكم فيها العباسيون حتى سقوط بغداد على يد المغول ومقتل الخليفة العباسي "المستعصم " أم هي تشمل أيضا الفترة التي أقامها المماليك في مصر مع الظاهر بيبرس أيضا حينما نصبوا أحد بني العباس باسم الخلافة وحتى ظهور العثمانيين ؟ أم هي الفترة التي حُكم فيها اسما وفعلا باسم العباسيين وهي ما بعد خلافة المتوكل حيث سيطر الترك على الخلافة وأصبحوا هم من يتحكم في تولية من يريدون؟ وها هنا لجأ المؤلف إلى العامل الثالث وأرخ إلى حين ظهور منصب أمير الأمراءأي حتى مقتل الخليفة " المهتدي ".

عامل آخر في صعوبة التأريخ هو الامتداد الطويل للدولة مع تفتتها إلى إمارات أصغر يحكم كلا منها أمير والتبعية الاسمية للعباسيين فقط مع الاتساع الجغرافي الشديد لتلك الدولة وهو ما يجعل من الصعوبة بمكان تأريخ كل تلك الدويلات الصغيرة مع الدولة الأم.

في هذا الكتاب يلجأ المؤلف لأسلوب الحكاية فهو يحكي قصة "الخلافة" العباسية من نشأتها على يد أبو مسلم الخراساني وأبو جعفر المنصور مرورا بالخلفاء الكبار الأقوياء المهدي والهادي والرشيد ثم صراع الأمين والمأمون وتولية المعتصم والواثق ثم بداية الانحدار بمقتل المتوكل وبداية انفراط الحكم من أيدي العباسيين بخلافة المستنصر والمستعين والمعتز وسيطرة الجيش على الحكم واعتمادهم على الانقلابات العسكرية لتولية من يريدون وعزل من يريدون حتى تولية المهتدي ومقتله هو الآخر.

الكتاب معتمد بشكل كبير على تأريخ الطبري مع العديد من حكايات كتاب الأغاني ، قد يعتبره البعض عيبا كما فعلت المترجمة مثلا وهو ما اختلف معه كثيرا فالكتاب لم يكتب بصيغة أكاديمية ولا هو بحث معمق في تأ{يخ الدولة العباسية فالكتاب كتب بلغة أخرى لثقافة أخرى عن الآخر لذا فهو يقتضب الكثير ويحاول أن يعطي لمحة عامة عن صورة دولة "الخلافة" التي يروج لها كثيرا في الادبيات الاسلامية .

الكتاب يعطي صورة تاريخية بسيطة مع صورة اجتماعية كبيرة معتمدة بالاساس على قصص الكتب الأدبية وكعادة الاجانب فقد اهتم كثيرا ب" الجواري والحريم وحياة البذخ والترف "صورة قد لا تجدها كثيرا في كتب التاريخ الاسلامي الا بصورة هامشية ولكن نجدها كثيرا في كتب الأدب وكانت تلك الفصول جيدة جدا في ذلك الكتاب خاصة فصله الآخر عن قصور الخلافة وانتشار ثقافة البلاط .

في تقديم المترجمة عابت عليه إظهار "المسلمين" بصورة وحشية وهو ما اختلف معه مرة أخرى فأولا التاريخ وأحداثه لا تعبر عن الفكر بطبعه فالتاريخ يخضع للشخصيات الانسانية نفسها وما بها من حقد وضغينة وأهواء وميول تؤثر على الحدث التاريخي نفسه والفكر عام يأخذخ أي فرد ويطبقه ويختلف تطبيقه عن فرد آخر فهمه بطريقة أخرى فلا يوجد أي مبرر لقصر الفكر على تصرف مجموعة أشخاص في فترة زمنية معينة ، كما أن الحدث التاريخي ثابت باختلاف الرواة فلا يجدي معه انكار فالتاريخ بطبعه رمادي اللون يحتوى على أفعال البشر وليس تاريخ ملائكة لا يوجد به الا المحاسن فقط فلا تاريخنا ناصع البياض ولا التاريخ الاوربي حالك السواد ففي النهاية التار��خ هو تأريخ السياسة به من البياض والسواد الكثير وما نخجل منه ها هنا سرعان من نجد ما نعتز به في موضع آخر .

الكتاب جيد عموما في إطاء صورة مبسطة عن تلك "الخلافة" بالنسبة لأجنبي ولكن لقاريء عربي فهو يحت��ج المزيد لمعرفته كما أنه ينقصه العديد من المراجع الموثوقة لتلك الفترة وهو ما افتقده المؤلف ها هنا كـ " البداية والنهاية " لابن كثير مثلا أو تاريخ دمشق لابن عساكر مع افتقاده للصراعات الفكرية التي نشأت في أيام المأمون وفتنة خلق القرآن وثورات القرامطة والزنج وغيرهم ، قيمة الكتاب االحقيقية تكمن في بساطته وتناوله التاريخ بوجهة نظر مختلفة عن المعتاد .

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

In choosing to write When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty, author and historian Hugh Kennedy tells us that he is working from secondary sources, and most likely not esp reliable sources. Given the preference for mud over stone and the centuries of invaders and war, much of the architecture and all but the outlines of the great capital cities and fortified defensive cities are gone. The result is a very conventional history, missing not just court details but almost all of what was happening on the edges of what had been a very large empire. How it got to be that large and to degree to which those at the edges acted as loyal members of the dynasty is largely absent.

Each chapter focuses on the court. Court life, its degree of dissipation, perennial scheming and killing to gain and protect the advent of the next ruler, the problem of females having no reliable histories, but (eventually) frequently major influence. Of passing interest was a brief fashion for the sciences among the members of the inner court, but more generally was a passion for ego stroking and scandalous poetry. The Abbasids came to power using a particular claim to be the rightful heirs to the Throne of the Profit, but once in power rare was the caliph who was more than tangentially given to strict religious observance.

When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World may have some introductory value to a serious student of the dar al-Islam. To the more casual student, wanting to add some depth to their grasp of this history; it is not a bad book. It may be all that we can cull from the libraries or the archeological digs. It just did not seem to be much. The Caliph centric POV seems stifling. With a few changes in place and person names it could have been the history of dynasties from Japan to England.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a solid 3.5 stars, but I was hoping for more about Baghdad's place in the Islamic world and beyond...preferably right up until its destruction at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century. Instead, I read a rather deep dive into the founding dynasty of the Abbasid caliphate. It starts of in exciting fashion but in turns into a exploration of minutiae and dynastic squabbles that becomes repetitive. As I said, I was hoping for more...as it feels like only the first part of a grand story.

[Simon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A number of people have commented that they found this a difficult read, as the narrative jumps around rather than taking a smooth chronological flow and that sometimes information seems to be repeated. I found myself agreeing at first until I got used to the style in which the historical narrative is alternated with chapters looking at aspects of Abbasid court life, in which events are referenced but not necessarily explained in context until the following chapter. Once I worked this out I went with the flow and really enjoyed the book, as I fully expected to, being a big fan of Hugh Kennedy's other works.
It has all the ingredients of a cracking read, perhaps in a slightly idiosyncratic order, but it does what it says on the tin. The book provides a detailed narrative of the golden age of Abbasid rule, from the overthrow of the Umayyads until the point in the late 9th Century at which the caliphs were reduced to figureheads by their Turkish soldiery. It is a colourful account, filled with incident and anecdote and extensive quotes from the contemporary sources which give a good flavour of the personalities of some of the caliphs, courtiers and hangers on of the period.
Above all it brings home the obscene luxury and callous brutality of the caliphal court and the shear precariousness of existence. Whether a prince, a bureaucrat or a poet on the make, the Abbasid court offered the opportunity for a meteoric rise to wealth and power and an equally meteoric plummet to torture, disgrace and death when the wheel of fortune turned. All of which is hugely entertaining stuff.

[سماح العرياني · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب سردي خفيف، يعتمد على مدونات وكتابات المسلمين.

[Justin Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps a victim of high expectations; I didn't get much out of this one.

[LEGO Yoda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting overview of the Abbasid caliphates various rulers and the cultural impact both they and the city of Baghdad had on the wider world.

I enjoyed how the author actually attempted to characterize the various Caliphs even though we didn’t have a lot of accounts of characterization

Well written and not dry at all, pretty good stuff.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting, if a little dry at times.
Admittedly I picked this up because 1) it was on sale, and 2) my knowledge of this time period and geography was based exclusively on Disney's Aladdin .

In a period of about 200 years, from around the mid-700 ADs to the mid-900s, the Muslim community ranging from Egypt in the west to the Himalayas in the east united under the Abbasid caliphate in an attempt to directly carry on the mission of the Prophet Muhammad. The eastern territories (comprised of modern-day Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, etc.) were marked by mysterious and somewhat isolated civilizations living on a bleak and war-torn landscape, which of course is in great contrast to today where the area contains mysterious and isolated civilizations living on a bleak and war-torn landscape.
It began with good intentions, and at the caliphate's peak, Baghdad was a thriving cultural, economic, and scientific capital. In fact there plenty of magnificent palaces and shadowy, thin-bearded figures named Jafar. Ever the philosophers, one caliph ordered a validation of the Greek observation that the earth was a globe measuring 24,000 miles in circumference. A team of palace scientists measured the location of the pole star, then walked in a straight line with a rope until the pole star had descended one degree. For those of you unfamiliar with global geometry, this is a distance of 66 and 2/3 miles. To be sure, they replicated the experiment in the other direction, walking until they ran out of rope used the first time. They stopped there and measured again- the pole star had ascended one degree. The Greeks were right, and the western world wouldn't catch up for another 600 years.

Eventually though, spending would get out of control, and a Turkish military coup combined with the destruction of fertile Mesopotamian farmland would spell the end of dynasties based in that area going back to 3000 BC.

Recommend to serious history nerds. Don't expect to be entertained.

[N · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although the book contained rich information, I found it poorly organised, repetitive, incoherent (at times) and lacked proper historical analysis. I understand the writer wants to reach out to laypersons by narrating "The Abbasid era" in a storytelling format but only manages to make it dull and dry. I felt the writer spent too much time on personal tales, corruption , betrayal and scandals(though some are shocking and interesting at the same time).I expected more on geo-politics and social analysis.It falls a shot by miles in my opinion and I didn't enjoy much except for some personal tales and gruesome politics.

This may a good starting book for learning "The Abbasid Era". If you are little or vaguely familiar with this period of history, I recommend you skip this book.

[Steven Yenzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suffers from certain organizational problems; the chapters don't seem to exist on the same level of specificity, and often repeat or reiterate information without acknowledging that it was already given.

There is also little in the way of an overarching introduction, so many caliphs appear without context and before we've been told who they are.

In short, it seems like a series of very loosely connected essays intended for someone without at least some familiarity with the subject. Not particularly compelling for me as a layperson looking for an introduction to the subject.

[Aatif Rashid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admirable scope and detail, recounting the history of the Abbasid Caliphate from its founding in the mid 700s to the Anarchy at Samarra in the late 800s, and exploring not just politics, but culture too, in the form of court poetry and the lives of women. The structure was somewhat disjointed, moving back and forth in the chronology, which felt strange for a supposedly narrative history, and often the book summarized events rather than analyzed their larger significance. Still, like all of Hugh Kennedy's pop-histories, this one provides a good overview of a lesser known era.

[QOH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very informative but dense book--I'm not a slouch at keeping track of names, but I was constantly consulting the family tree to figure out where in time we were. It is much more a political history than a social history, although I was glad for the chapters that did touch on what life was like.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice departure from the traditional, textbook-style history book. A good way to read up on an important period in Muslim and world history ... you remember it more because it's told like a story. Also very factually on top of its game.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories of court life during the Abbasid Caliphate. The book is poorly organized, jumping around chronologically and spitting events up between chapters. I enjoyed it but can't recommend it.

[Sagheer Afzal]

Although Hugh Kennedy lacks the literary flair of the inimitable William Dalrymple, this book nonetheless provides an interesting insight into the Abbasid Caliphate.

Interestingly, the author notes in the final paragraph of the book that the Abbasid period is regarded by Osama Bin Laden and his followers as the golden epoch of Islam. The era which all Muslims should aspire to recreate within the confines of the Westernised world we inhabit today.
This is surprising because the portrayal given by the author would be very dissonant with ideology of Osama Bin Laden. We are told of harems consisting of thousands of singing girls; each of them required to satisfy the physical needs of the Caliphs as well as indulging in the occasional lesbian relationship. In fact, the Holy city of Medina became a famous centre for the training and education of dancing girls. Eunuchs who fulfilled administrative duties of the Court as well as providing an outlet for pederasts and homosexuals.

In fact, homoerotic poetry was very much in vogue. As the following poem by Abu Nuwais shows:
‘His face a goblet next to his lip looks like a moon lit with a lamp. Armed with loves weaponry, he rides on beauty’s steed, squares up eye’s steel. Which is his smiles, the bow his brow. The shafts his eyes, the lashes his lances.’

The harem constituted a parallel court culture which by no means resulted in a negative influence on the actual court. Nor were the women of the harem solely subjugated singing girls. A lot of them became wealthy individuals in their own right as well as accomplished poets and musicians. A lot of poetry revolved around singing girls; courting and seducing them was considered a rites of passage for the elite youth.

The Abbasids have been rightly lauded for their patronage of science and arts and their tolerance of Jewish and Christian cultures – although they were discriminated against, they were banned from building places of worship and forbidden to ride horses with saddles. While the Western world was given over to brutality and savagery – as evidenced by the barbaric Vikings - the Abbasids encouraged the pursuit of science and poetry. Although the poetry was largely in the form of panegyrics, their zeal for knowledge was, in context of the time, quite remarkable. I was intrigued to learn that the scientific process of experiment and hypothesis originated during the Abbasid era.
The decadence of court life in the milieu of the Islamic world was interesting. Especially considering the abundance of Islamic scholars and jurists who it seems were not vocal in their disapproval.

In the past ten years or so, many Muslims living in the West, have felt compelled, almost as a matter of conscience, to abandon all and sundry and live within the alleged utopia of an Islamic State. While reading this book, the contrast between the practices of Isil and that of the Abbasids were striking. Both Islamic states upheld the banner of Islam and professed allegiance. Yet how very different was the practice. This made me realise that since its inception, Islam has always been a bespoke religion; adapting to the indigenous culture as opposed to modern day situation where the monolithic edifice of Shariah law seeks to overwhelm the local culture.

The Abbasid Court was not an egalitarian institution. You had to have money and education to gain entry and make a career for yourself. Education and etiquette were seen as points of difference between the common man and the man of culture.

The decline of the Abbasid Caliphate was perhaps reminiscent to the downfall of Muslim Spain. An effete court proved to be unable to infuse a fighting spirit within its protectors when they were attacked by the Buyyids.

[Bob Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

All you ever wanted to know about the Abbasids! Or didn’t know you did.

The Abbasid Dynasty ruled from Baghdad, the present Iraqi capital roughly from 740 A.D. to 940 A.D. Over much of that time they dominated the Muslim world from Tunisia to deep into Central Asia and to Sind in southern Pakistan today. Only Turkey escaped their rule because that area was still dominated by Byzantium. Iraq was the center of the Muslim world then and Baghdad was the new center of Iraq, not an ancient city like some, having been built only in the 700s.

Kennedy has written a very readable book indeed, incorporating all kinds of stories and writings of the period—far more than I ever suspected had survived from that time—found in various Arab histories. Though remembering a fair number of names in such a history is an unavoidable task, you will be drawn in by the descriptions of the city and the activities of the succession of rulers, who include the famous Harun al-Rashid of Arabian Nights fame. It turns out that he was not the bright star of the dynasty as you might suspect. You will learn of the various caliphs (who were also the rulers) and their violent history. As in other Muslim parts of the world, the lack of a primogeniture rule meant that every time a caliph died there would be a violent struggle among the various aspirants for the throne. Revolts for various reasons seemed to crop up often as well.

Other topics covered are the amazing speed of communication possible between one end of the empire and the other; poetry and the court—as well as the high level of intellectual activity in philosophy, religion and the scientific/mathematical works of the Greeks; the Baghdad landscape with palaces and an architectural view of the times; and the harem (always a feature of Western books on Islam just as all American TV reports about the Middle East must show a camel or two). However, we should note that in the early stage of the Abbasids, the women of the ruling family had their own palaces, but gradually they were confined to what we now consider the harem form. This form, appearing then, lasted in Muslim countries up to the end of the Ottoman Empire 1,200 years later. A very violent and destructive civil war put the Abbasids on the decline and we read about the subsequent decay and destruction. If you choose to read WBRtheMW you will get multitudinous pictures of a time 700 years before my town in Massachusetts was begun, when London had around 10,000 inhabitants and Moscow did not exist. The author has made the times come alive.

“The cultural legacy of the Abbasid court was immensely influential. The poets they patronized are still read and acknowledged as among the greatest in the Arabic language [much older than Chaucer or Shakespeare] and the translations they sponsored [from Greek] formed the basis of higher learning not only in the Islamic world but in the medieval West as well. The Abbasids defined the style and performance of Muslim monarchy: they showed how a caliph and vizier should behave, how to decorate a palace….it was an astonishing achievement.” (p. 296)

If you are interested in history, in Islamic history or just the Middle East and its culture, this is a very useful book indeed.

[Gwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

True to his word in the introduction, Kennedy writes less a history text and more a "story" and, like a story told to a friend over a beer, he assumes a level of shared experience that some--maybe most--readers don't have. He makes frequent reference to events that are described later in the book, or occur entirely outside the temporal scope of the book, such that you need to have a moderate grounding in Middle Eastern history in order to follow this book on Middle Eastern history. Also true to his word, he focuses only on the glittering, high-stakes world of Abbasid nobles, ignoring the middle and lower classes. He is transparent about this choice and argues it is justified, but I disagree and feel the book would be much more balanced if placed within a broader context. However, he does a good job of mixing cultural background throughout, which goes a long way to helping the reader understand the events he describes. Overall a solid book, but one that left me wanting better.

[Hoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why other reviewer said the author was biased against Islam. For example:

“The financial resources of the queen mother were also a sort of financial reserve for the caliphs in times of greatest need. In a society where government borrowing from banks or individuals was impossible, the wealth of the harem could be a valuable cushion against financial disaster.”

In the previous paragraph he wrote about one queen mother who refused to help her son financially and this led to his gruesome death. This shows the inconsistency in the author's opinion. Plus, he forgets that there are not many examples where the caliph can borrow money from his mother (the author shows only one case) so we can't make assumption the queen mother's wealth can be seen as a bank. So, the enormous money spent to the harem was unnecessary.

[Adam Windsor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kennedy unapologetically sets out to tell a narrative history for the general audience, rather than an academic work for specialists. Being a member of said general audience, I approve of this agenda. I don't think he quite hits the mark, though. There are certainly a number of interesting stories told throughout, but the structure is of the work as a whole is inconsistent (a few chapters of narrative political history, then a few focusing on specific topics like architecture and the role of women, then back to the narrative political history again). It would have been better to move that middle section to the end, I think. Still, if you want a primer on the early Abbasid Caliphate, it's got some good info in it.

[Abdelmalek · Rating 3 out of 5]

يتناول هذا الكتاب تاريخ الدولة العباسية منذ بدايتها في خرسان والإطاحة بحكم الأمويين إلى غاية زمن الخليفة المكتفي وظهور منصب إمارة الأمراء بزعامة ابن رائق وبذلك تكون فقدت الأسرة كل سلطتها السياسية ولم يبق لديها سوى الإسم وإن استمرت بعدها بصورة شكلية, الكتاب قسم ل 10 فصول 7 منها كانت لسرد الأحداث السياسية والثلاثة الباقية تناول فيها مواضيع ثقافية علمية.
المؤلف إستعان كثيرا بكتب الأدب والقصص لتفسير الأحداث التاريخية فهو كما يقول في مقدمته أنه مصمم على كتابة تاريخ قصصي يركز على الناس والأحداث وبذلك يفقد جزءا كبيرا من قيمته العليمة لكنه مفيد للقارئ العام وإن كان فيه بعض التحامل كعادة من يكتبون بنفس إستشراقي.
الترجمة لم تكن في المستوى المطلوب وكذلك الإخراج ففيه الكثير من الأخطاء لكن هذا لا يفقد العمل قيمته.

[Arfad Abdul Razak · Rating 3 out of 5]

The once great Mesopotamian plain comes to live again! Such were the literals I exported having restored this book to its former place in my shelf.

Dr Kennedy has written an eye opening often questionable account on the Abbasid caliphate of Islam. Eye opening yet questionable as his conclusions often goes against the popular Islamic narrative of similar history.

One particular factor to question would be the piety of Harun Al-Rashid. I share different opinion with Dr Kennedy on this particular topic of discussion.

I awarded the Orion's Belt to When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World for its scholarship and conclusion. Although I disagreed with many of his, this work do open my eyes!

[Aske Christiansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone coming to the subject with very limited knowledge, I found it to be a great opening to the period. At times the musings about how it must have been or felt to be part of can seem a little strange, but I think it's a sign of Kennedy's great passion for the period, and it also helps you get into the minds of the historical figures.
As he himself points out in the foreword, the tone of the book might be frowned upon by his peers, but to all of us that would be hard pressed to name a Caliph other than al-Rashid, it is exactly the book we need. And I think a lot of us that fall into that category, would do well to understand this period of history better.

[Mohammed Khateeb Kamran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book about one of the greatest dynasties of the world, covering their politics, culture and architecture. The author also provides many stories of the khalifas and the people of that time showing the good, the bad and the ugly which in turn humanises them.

A con of the book is that it could have been better organised. The book spans multiple generations with a huge cast of characters. The book does not follow a chronological order which makes it hard to keep up with all of them.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

Πλούσιο σε πληροφοριακά στοιχεία-σε υπερβολικό ίσως βαθμό-αλλά πολλά από αυτά είναι χωρίς ιδιαίτερη σημασία και η ανάμειξή τους με τα σημαντικά-σε συνδυασμό και με την κακή οργάνωση της υλης-κουράζει τον αναγνώστη. Το θετικό είναι ότι το βιβλίο με τον τρόπο του σε μεταφέρει στην εποχή που αναφέρεται, αλλά αυτό δεν αρκεί για να είναι ευχάριστη ή τουλάχιστον μη κουραστική η ανάγνωσή του...

[Ahmed · Rating 2 out of 5]

قرأت هذا الكتاب بترجمة الأستاذ صديق جوهر من دار سما و كان هدفي قراءة التاريخ الإسلامي من وجهة نظر مختلفة بعيدا عن السردية الإسلامية ..

و قد تفاجأت بكمية الأخطاء التاريخية المذكورة و منها مثلا:

١- أن العباس جد العباسيين لم يكن مسلما؟!!
٢- أن أبو العباس السفاح كان شخصية مجهولة؟!!
٣- أن الأمين كان مشغولا بممارسات شاذة وقت حربه مع أخيه المأمون؟!! و غيرها الكثير ..

فإذا قرأت هذه الكتاب يجب ان تحذر من مثل هذه المعلومات التي يزعم الكاتب انه استقاها من الكتب الإسلامية مثل "الأغاني" مثلا الذي لا يمكن اعتباره مرجعا تاريخيا ..

فالحذر كل الحذر من هذا الكتاب ..

مراجعة الكتب و الروايات على تيكتوك و انستا reader_ahmed

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in-depth and readable narrative of medieval Islam's most powerful dynasty. While specialists and those with some background in Middle East history will find this book easier to read, it is accessible to those with little background in the region.