People of the book
Zachary Karabell
John Murray, 400pp, 20.00
‘Only by conflating centuries can it be said that Islam was spread by force, and it simply cannot be said that the initial conquests imposed Islam on the conquered.’ This is but one of many insights provided by Karabell into the forgotten history of Islam and the west.
The People of the Book details the convoluted presence of Islamic thought and peoples in Europe, and is timely given that we are living through a phase of European history where notions of cohesion and unity are drowned out by the soundtrack of the ‘clash of civilisations’.
Karabell takes us through an ignored history that demonstrates a long tradition of peaceful co-existence, while acknowledging the rational brutality of a faith that conquered two European empires. Muslims, Christians and Jews have been so emeshed in a framework of conflict, and so determined to view not only history but also the present through that lens, that they risk missing the next wave of history.
At the dawn of Europe’s next 50 years, with all the incumbent challenges it presents, we can still seize this opportunity if we readily embrace that alternative co-existence history. Many parts of the world that are emerging to dominate the 21st century have not been part of the conflict history. They are neither constrained nor interested by it. And so it should be.