Best Books About Islamic History Of All Time

Islam is the religion of peace and living. Muslims have a glorious history of a thousand years. Histories are not imaginary or fantasy-oriented like novels and myths. They are the truths that tell the lives and struggles of a particular event, culture, lifestyle, collection or nation. They investigate the sequences of past events and explore the roots of a civilization or culture.

The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic and cultural development of Islamic civilization. It is not like this that history has always been in favor of Muslims, rather there had been hardships at the beginning of Islamic movement. There had been denial, mistrust, hate, and torture to the prophets and their followers who devoted their lives and souls to the betterment of Islam.

Islam has had a glorious history from the time of the first prophet Hazrat Adam (A) to the last prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM) and after that the caliphs of Islam. The struggles and hardships are also the sources of inspiration that have given birth to the present Muslim Community around the world. For this, the history of Islam is a must-know for every Muslim. In this regard, Islamic history books can play a vital role in distributing light of knowledge about the truth and glory of Islamic civilization.

Jinn o Fereshtader Bisshoykor Itihash

This is a much well-received Islamic history book in Bangla. Allama Jalaluddin Suyuti is the author of this book that discusses the Jinns and related beliefs. Jinns are creations of Allah who are known to be made of fire. They are the subjects of wide curiosity for Muslims. It also describes the Fereshta (angels, ‘Malak’ in Arabic), the celestial beings, created from a luminous origin by Allah. The existence, classes and other related beliefs are extensively narrated in this popular book.

Sanjak-E-Usman

Nearly 8,000 years ago Genghis Khan, one of the most vicious killers in history, emerged as the Azrail for uncountable people in the world. He, along with his Mongol troops, slaughtered people by the millions. Almost 40 million people died in the hands of Mongols. At that time, some from Iran and Turkey fled to Antalya and established one of the greatest empires in history. ‘Sanjak-E-Usman’, written by Prince Muhammad Sajal, is a book that shows the history of a great empire and its beginning.

Tatarider Itihas

Dr. Rageb Sarjani wrote this book about the Tatari aggression on the Muslim Regime in the 6^th Century. This book was translated in Bengali by Abdul Alim and edited by Mawlana Muhammad Zainul Abideen. The book gained a good response for its narrative history on one of the biggest aggressions on Islamic Khilafat. The book gives a view of the uprising of Tataris in the Islamic stage, their attacks on Muslims and the final consequences of the aggression.

Mirat ul Memalik: The Admiral

Mirat ul Memalik is a historical book written in 1557 by Ottoman admiral Syedi Ali Reis about his travels in South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. This was written in an extinct Turkish dialect. The book was translated by then as one of the greatest books on Islamic history books in English. Salahuddin Jahangir translated this book in Bengali and gained much response from writers. Reis’ adventures in the unknown and distant seas make this book a must-read for history lovers.

Bharote Muslim Rajotter Itihas

A.K.M. Abdul Alim wrote this book on the history of Islamic Reign in the Indian Subcontinent. This book narrates the history of Islamic rulers in India from the Sultani Reign in the 13^th century, The Mughal Reign from the 15^th century and the period after the British invasion in India. This also shows the golden era of Islamic reign to the downfall of the same in Hindustan gradually.

Islam: Shonkhipto Itihas

Originally written by Karen Armstrong, this book has proven Islam to be a religion to be most widely misunderstood and falsely terrorized. Through this book, the author proved these to be wrong and futile as well as glorified the powerful journey of Islam from the day of the dawn of it.

The Spirit of Islam

This book is written by Sir Syed Ameer Ali and translated in many other foreign languages. This has also been adapted as the most widely read Islamic history books by Islamic scholars. This gives a brief view on the life of Prophet Muhammad (SM), his life and works, the birth of Islam as a living religion and the specters of Islamic politics, literature, science, commerce, Islam and rationalism, Islam and Sufism etc.

There are many published books on the history of Islamic and its culture in many languages. Islamic history books in Urdu, Bengali, and English, etc. are being widely read in this subcontinent for a long time that are the literary works of renowned scholars and translators. To enlighten the Muslim ummah with the light of historical knowledge, these books have played a vital role and gained mentionable adoration.

-Tahseen Nower

Into the fictional world of Humayun Ahmed

Humayun Ahmed - Image source-dhakatribune.com

There are some common characters, typical lines, average scenarios, ordinary and extraordinary peoples always present in his novels. His lead characters will be extraordinarily genius, a random guy who acts weird and talks weird, a guy with unusual imaginary or intuition power, someone very short-tempered and grumpy but very good at heart at the same time. His storytelling style is linear with no detailed character building, short conversations with talkative characters, straight cut sequences with few wordy emotions and easy to read fluid and fluent pace. Can you guess who is he?

If you have read a lot of his books, it’s safe to assume that these commonalities have stuck your mind also. But there is something, some kind of unique charm present in his writings that every known feature and setup provide us with fresh stories, new appearances, and raw experiences. Each of his lead heroines is equally beautiful i.e. the most exquisite one, still being unique in their own ways. Similarly, all the other features he liked to put in each of his novels commonly are different from each other as well in their own way, like every human being has the same facial features i.e. eyes, mouth, lips, nose, looks distinctly different from each other. Does this legendary man need any further introduction?

The most popular novelist in the post-liberation period of Bangladesh, a proverbial writer who has created countless fictions and fictional characters which are immensely popular among the readers across generations, Humayun Ahmed continues to be the biggest name and the biggest face of our literary premises for a long time now. Since his inception in writing novels with the release of his first-ever novel ‘Nondito Noroke’ in 1972, he has written more than 200 novels before his death in 2012. During that period of 40 years, his pen continued to write on like a magic wand making him a legendary magician to the book-lovers of Bangladesh, who have worshiped him drinking his imaginary magical potion called novels.

Before the 1970s, Bengali literature was extensively dominated by West-Bengal centric writers. We Bangladeshis too used to read West-Bengal literature as they were abundant in our book shops and libraries. However, Humayun Ahmed changed the scenario all alone. He somehow brought a balance to the Bengali literature between ‘Epar Bangla’ and ‘Opar Bangla’ and put our country on the front. He is no more among us but his legacy continues to run towards the path of success, his fictions and beloved fictional characters continue to enchant the newer generations one after another. He continuously became the best-seller writer of the Ekushe Book Fair from 1990 to 2012, the year of his demise.

Many critiques tend to call Humayun Ahmed one of our very first writer who partly explored the literary arena of magical realism. This is because of his unique ability to present an abnormal or surrealistic situation so realistically that the readers are compelled to take that as something tangible. Interactive characters are the lifeline of his writings carried by interesting short conversations. In those fictional conversations, most of the time meaningless or silly issue centric, his characters successfully grab the readers’ attention, thanks to the tremendous presentation of an ordinary situation. This sometimes makes the negative characters adorable as well to the readers.

One of the timeless fictional creation of Humayun Ahmed is Himu, a vagabond youth with no clear meaning of life strolls across the empty streets of night’s Dhaka, loves talking with all sorts of peoples and makes them smiling by any possible means, remains unpredictable all the way with a divine power to amaze people by his inborn charm, though his ramshackle appearance with almost always a yellow Panjabi is not much appreciable. This mysterious man also has a woman in his life who is sometimes even more mysterious, Rupa. Himu keeps fleeing from the inevitable, from his everlasting feelings for the girl, but Rupa keeps waiting patiently with small to no hope at all. Who knows how many young boys and girls have been influenced by this Himu and Rupa through 21 Humayun Ahmed Uponnash series; who knows how many boys idolized Himu, tried to emulate his characteristics by becoming indifferent and passionless being under a rugged yellow Panjabi; and who knows how many young girls have put on sky blue saree with a tip on the forehead to impress her Himu!

Many tend to believe, Himu is sometimes more influential than the creator Humayun himself. However, he has created 2 more influential characters- Misir Ali and Shuvro. Misir Ali featured on 20 of Humayun’s novels who is completely opposite of a character to Himu. He is a professor of psychology at Dhaka University who thinks and acts very rationally and can read people’s psychology amazingly well. Shuvro is another character, featured in six very popular novels, is the purest of all Humayun characters who can’t even tell a lie out of fear that it might hurt somebody. Needless to say, all of these characters are very much popular among the readers.

Humayun is perhaps the one last of his kind who has seen success in writing as well as on television. He has directed many TV serials and films where he has presented some of the most influential characters in Bengali television history. His immensely popular serial ‘Kothao Keu Nei’ featured Baker Bhai, a fictional character that still resides in ‘90s kids’ hearts, for whom people came out to streets with the procession to stop his execution in the serial’s fictional world!

Humayun Ahmed created a world of fiction so close to the reality and number of characters with larger than life charisma, it’s impossible to measure his influence on Bengali literature or fiction. He has written stories, sci-fi, prose and film scripts- all gaining huge popularity. He and his creations have become a legend, a fairytale, a mythical reality that will survive for ages with glory.

-Mohammad Saiful Islam