{"product_id":"islamic-empires-fifteen-cities-that-define-a-civilization-9780241199046","title":"Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization","description":"\u003cp\u003eIslamic civilization was once the envy of the world. From a succession of glittering  cosmopolitan capitals  Islamic empires lorded it over the Middle East  North Africa  Central Asia and swathes of the Indian subcontinent  while Europe cowered feebly at the margins. For centuries the caliphate was both ascendant on the battlefield and triumphant in the battle of ideas  its cities unrivalled powerhouses of artistic grandeur  commercial power  spiritual sanctity and forward-looking thinking  in which nothing was off limits. Islamic Empires is a history of this rich and diverse civilization told through its greatest cities over the fifteen centuries of Islam  from its earliest beginnings in Mecca in the seventh century to the astonishing rise of Doha in the twenty-first. It dwells on the most remarkable dynasties ever to lead the Muslim world - the Abbasids of Baghdad  the Umayyads of Damascus and Cordoba  the Merinids of Fez  the Ottomans of Istanbul  the Mughals of India and the Safavids of Isfahan - and some of the most charismatic leaders in Muslim history  from Saladin in Cairo and mighty Tamerlane of Samarkand to the poet-prince Babur in his mountain kingdom of Kabul and the irrepressible Maktoum dynasty of Dubai. It focuses on these fifteen cities at some of the defining moments in Islamic history: from the Prophet Mohammed receiving his divine revelations in Mecca and the First Crusade of 1099 to the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the phenomenal creation of the merchant republic of Beirut in the nineteenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651704414261,"sku":"ByrdShop_0241199042","price":199.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780241199046.jpg?v=1781837630","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/islamic-empires-fifteen-cities-that-define-a-civilization-9780241199046","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}