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Press Release: In the shadow of the sword by Tom Holland

TOM HOLLAND
IN THE SHADOW of the SWORD
The Battle for Global Empire and the end of the Ancient World

Published by Little, Brown on Thursday 5th April, price £25.00 hardback, £14.99
trade paperback and £9.99 e-book.

From Tom Holland, the best-selling author of Rubicon and Persian Fire, comes the culmination of his work on the great empires of antiquity. In the Shadow of the Sword tells the story of how the ancient world came to an end and how a new power, Islam, arose. Written with all the verve and panache that is the trademark of Holland’s writing, it is also an examination of what, for forty years now, has been an underground but seismic debate: the issue of whether, as tradition claims, Islam was born fully formed in all its fundamentals, or else evolved gradually from the seed-bed of antiquity.

In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished forever, while the other was a dismembered, bleeding trunk. In their place, a new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelt, in effect, the end of antiquity itself.

But the changes that marked the period were more than merely geo-political. It witnessed as well a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today, over half the population of the world subscribe to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during these years. Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way, they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary, convulsive age.

In the Shadow of the Sword explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new and revolutionary understanding of the divine. It is a tale vivid with drama, horror and startling achievement. Wars and plagues, emperors in golden palaces and ulcerous saints on pillars, teeming cities and empty deserts: all feature. So too does a cast of truly extraordinary characters: a communist King of Kings, a whore turned empress, a Caliph with such bad halitosis that he could kill a fly with a single breath.

But there are questions as well as stories. When did Judaism and Christianity finally and definitively split from one another? Where did Islam originate and from what did the Qur’an derive? Are the claims made to this day by Jews, Christians and Muslims about the origins of their faiths all of them actually true?

In the Shadow of the Sword is the fruit of five years’ intensive research; of extensive travel; of discussion and correspondence with many of the leading scholars in the field. The debate about Islam’s origins has centred itself in academic circles for decades but now, In the Shadow of the Sword, Tom Holland brings the debate, for the first time, to public view. Exciting, accessible and pacy, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a major contribution to our understanding of the great monotheistic religions, and the ancient world.

Tom Holland is the award winning and bestselling author of Rubicon (shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History in 2004), Persian Fire (winner of the Anglo-Hellenic League’s Runciman Award) and the highly acclaimed Millennium. He appears regularly on radio, television and in print, and is currently working on a documentary for Channel 4, to be released later this year, based upon In the Shadow of the Sword. He has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio. Holland is currently working on a new translation of Herodotus, to be published next year.

Tom Holland is available for interview. For further information please contact Susan de Soissons on
020 7911 8069 / susan.desoissons@littlebrown.co.uk or Judith Greenberg on 020 7911 8057 / Judith.greenberg@littlebrown.co.uk

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11 replies ›

  1. I have not read the book yet but I was happy to read how the Press Release by the publisher acknowledges the influence of Islam not only on the Muslims but also the Christians and the Jews in the following words:

    But the changes that marked the period were more than merely geo-political. It witnessed as well a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today, over half the population of the world subscribe to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during these years. Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way, they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary, convulsive age.

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  2. As regards the sources of the Holy Quran

    I am linking one of my articles here about the Holy Quran here as this may be relevant to some of the discussions that this book is likely to trigger. The article is titled: The Bible, The Quran and Science: Is the Quran copied from the Bible?

    Islam is continuation of revelation from the all knowing God, as He revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Ezra, John the Baptist and Jesus, may peace of God be on all of them. But, Quran copied from the Bible? Most certainly not!

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  3. Although the impact of Islam on other religions and civilizations was “Superb”, yet, there is an ongoing series of confusions, distortions and misleading contexts about Islamic Society and its expansion; which tantamount to a “Conflict Apparent” between “Peace” and “Sword”. The Truth However is:-

    1. All wars during the first 60 years of Islamic State were “defensive” in nature.
    2. Territorial Expansions came afterwards and sword was extensively used.

    In the first 60 years after the establishment of Islamic Society (state) the following {Miraculous} changes DID occur – for the first time in history as CODES OF THE CIVIL ORDER:-

    1 “Social Muda” is a term derived off the Lean Thinking Philosophy – year 2000; which includes consumption-wastages, such as the following:-
    Wastage of Cloth (Long Robes and Dresses)
    Wastage of Food (Excessive Cooking and Serving)
    Wastage of Water
    Wastage of Space and Materials (huge Villas and Palaces)
    Wastage of Resources Stopped
    2 Honour Killing of Female Children Stopped
    3 Human Trade Stopped
    4 Fair Wage Settlement and Fair Trade Practices on the basis of “fair to all” (Justice and Benevolence) Pioneered
    5 Rights of the Prisoners of War Established
    6 Wealth and Capital Gains Taxes Pioneered
    7 Social Assistance for the Low Income Households Pioneered
    8 Organic Farming Pioneered
    9 Persecution on the Basis of Religious Belief Stopped
    10 Compulsory Animal Care Pioneered
    11 Right to Profess Belief Established
    12 Written Agreements and Wills Pioneered

    What happened afterwards-:- Expansion of Boundaries by Sword and Acceptance of Islam by Soofis.

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    • What happened afterwards? Just to point out that the Islamic culture and religion spread to vast parts of the world totally WITHOUT any sword, such as anywhere East of India (Malaysia, Indonesia, China) and South of the Sahara (all ‘black’ Africa). Muslim traders reached there and the local population appreciated the superior culture and religion.

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  4. Thank you brother Shahid Pervaiz and brother Rafiq A. Tschannen for your comments. It is very easy to show the defensive nature of early Islam. Here I will link an article about War and Peace in Islam, as it pertains to the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him:

    http://www.alislam.org/library/articles/War-and-Peace-in-Islam-20080402MN.pdf

    As regards the Righteous Khulafa, let me suggest a very short article about Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him, Umar Farooq: Who pioneered religious freedom for the whole of humanity!

    http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2012/02/muslim-heritage/umar-farooq-who-pioneered-religious-freedom-for-the-whole-of-humanity

    Now let me present to you a very powerful quote by Thomas Carlyle, the famous British historian, about Islam and sword:

    Much has been said of Mahomet’s propagating his Religion by the sword. It is no doubt far nobler what we have to boast of the Christian Religion, that it propagated itself peaceably in the way of preaching and conviction. Yet withal, if we take this for an argument of the truth or falsehood of a religion, there is a radical mistake in it. The sword indeed: but where will you get your sword! Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone, there it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it; there is one man against all men. That he take a sword, and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must first get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can. We do not find, of the Christian Religion either, that it always disdained the sword, when once it had got one.

    I care little about the sword: I will allow a thing to struggle for itself in this world, with any sword or tongue or implement it has, or can lay hold of. We will let it preach, and pamphleteer, and fight, and to the uttermost bestir itself, and do, beak and claws, whatsoever is in it; very sure that it will, in the long-run, conquer nothing which does not deserve to be conquered. What is better than itself, it cannot put away, but only what is worse. In this great Duel, Nature herself is umpire, and can do no wrong: the thing which is deepest-rooted in Nature, what we call truest, that thing and not the other will be found growing at last.

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  5. this book, as confirmed in an article in the Sunday times in Britain, is a polemic following in the path of earlier orientalists, and going further, to try and suggest that the entire Islamic belief system is a fallacy, every part of its history made up and out of place

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  7. Truthfully Islam is a false religion in large parts copied verbatim from the Talmud and in some areas copied from jewish folk tales. Also dates do not match up and there are many discrepancies. I don’t hate or dislike Muslims but I truly believe that they are on the wrong part,not because of their own doing,but because of what has been passed down to them. I hope this book helps to enlighten as many as possible.

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    • Christopher: Will you also explain why are you so focused on Saudi Flag? There are so many things to address in India, what are you doing to address them?

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