# Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West - Hardcover

by **Raymond Ibrahim** (Author), **Victor Davis Hanson** (Foreword by)

**A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities**

The West and Islam -- the sword and scimitar -- have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom.

_Sword and Scimitar_ chronicles the decisive battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the Muslim occupation of nearly three-quarters of Christendom which prompted the Crusades, followed by renewed Muslim conquests by Turks and Tatars, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat -- until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic and Greek, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains how these wars and the larger historical currents of the age reflect the cultural fault lines between Islam and the West.

The majority of these landmark battles -- including the battles of Yarmuk, Tours, Manzikert, the sieges at Constantinople and Vienna, and the crusades in Syria and Spain--are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, _Sword and Scimitar_ provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world -- and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.

### Author Biography

**Raymond Ibrahim** is a scholar of the Middle East and Islam and author of _The Al Qaeda Reader_ and _Crucified Again_. He has contributed to the _Los Angeles Times_, _Washington Post_, _Weekly Standard_, and the _Chronicle of Higher Education_; appeared on C-SPAN, Al-Jazeera, CNN, NPR, and PBS; guest lectured at several universities, including the National Intelligence University; briefed governmental agencies such as US Strategic Command; and testified before Congress. Ibrahim has been a fellow at several think tanks, including the Hoover Institution, and has attended the Middle East Forum.

**Number of Pages:** 352

**Dimensions:** 1.3 x 9.1 x 6.2 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** August 28, 2018

## Details

- **Price:** 32.5 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 32.50 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West - Hardcover

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