Islam in the Middle Ages : the origins and shaping of classical Islamic civilization / Jacob Lassner and Michael Bonner.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Arabia on the eve of Islam -- 2. Muhammad Prophet of Islam : origins -- 3. The Prophet's mission : Mecca -- 4. The Prophet's mission : Medina -- 5. The Meccan response and the triumph of the ummah -- 6. Succession, conquest, and expansion : the ummah becomes an "Arab kingdom" -- 7. The Hashimite restoration : a revolution shaped by images of an idealized past -- 8. The split between the Hashimites : 'Alids versus Abbasids/Shiites versus Sunnites -- 9. Centralizing power : the rise of a universal Islamic empire -- 10. Emerging cracks within the universal Islamic empire -- 11. The changing political climate : heralding the end of the formative period of medieval Islam -- 12. The Qur'an and its commentators -- 13. The major themes of Muslim scripture -- 14. The formation of Islamic law and legal tradition -- 15. The formation of different schools of Islamic law -- 16. Islamic theology and popular religion -- App. 1. Dynastic orders -- App. 2. Glossary of technical terms -- App. 3. Chronology -- App. 4. Illustrations.

"Islam in the Middle Ages addresses the intellectual and religious achievements of medieval Muslims against the backdrop of an evolving political and social history that shaped the ways in which Muslims understood themselves and the larger world. Unlike many authors of similar surveys, Lassner and Bonner not only emphasize historical trends, but show readers how difficult it is to fashion a coherent historical narrative out of the complex and often contradictory primary sources. Readers thus participate in the intricate process by which professional historians attempt to reconstruct the past. At the same time, since classical Islamic civilization is so important for Muslims in the present-day Near East, this book will help the reader understand the contemporary Islamic world."--BOOK JACKET.