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Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century 1st Edition

by James Howard-Johnston (Author)
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings
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James Howard-Johnston provides a sweeping and highly readable account of probably the most dramatic single episode in world history - the emergence of a new religion (Islam), the destruction of two established great powers (Roman and Iranian), and the creation of a new world empire by the Arabs, all in the space of not much more than a generation (610-52 AD). Warfare looms large, especially where operations can be followed in some detail, as in Iraq 636-40, in Egypt 641-2 and in the long-drawn out battle for the Mediterranean (649-98). As the first history of the formative phase of Islam to be grounded in the important non-Islamic as well as Islamic sources Witnesses to a World Crisis is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand Islam as a religion and political force, the modern Middle East, and the jihadist impulse, which is as evident today as it was in the seventh century.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199694990
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199694990
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    September 5, 2011
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
  8. Print length
    612 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book will rightly take its place as a pivotal study in the historiography of late antiquity. The author's learning is prodigious and his methodology painstaking. Based on some four decades of intensive reading, writing, and teaching, Witness to a World Crisis will become an indispensable resource for scholars working on many different facets of this tumultuous era."--Joel Walker, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies

"A monumental achievement of scholarship. . . a painstaking, thorough, methodical, and lucid analysis."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Book Description

The first history of the formative phase of Islam to be grounded in important non-Islamic as well as Islamic sources.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (September 5, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 612 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199694990
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199694990
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

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J. D. Howard-Johnston

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3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
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Top reviews from the United States

David Cashin
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Classic on the Early History of Islam
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2010
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This work is very expensive but an absolute must have for all who study the early history of Islam. J. D. Howard-Johnston has assembled all the significant contemporary and near contemporary historical sources both Muslim and non-Muslim in a powerful historiographical research project. This is scholarship at its best. What I like most about the book is that it really communicates, through its original source documents, the ethos of the time and he critically reviews each document to ensure that we know what we have and how reliable it is. His conclusions are important. The Muslim documents, which in the Wansbrough, Crone thesis are supposedly reduced to a rubble of non-history, are demonstrated with some significant inaccuracies to reproduce a fairly coherent view of history when read in comparison with the non-Muslim documents. It is not the intention of the author but his description of this seventh century world crisis throws some powerful light on the present world crisis we are experiencing with the ideological expansion of Islam. This expansion is theologically and historically based. These documents point to where it is going.
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David Reid Ross
2.0 out of 5 stars a failure
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2013
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"Witnesses to a World Crisis" was always going to be controversial; and it is - but not for the right reasons.

Firstly, it is (already) sorely dated. This book had the misfortune of coming out right after Pourshariati had published "Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire". Pourshariati has offered some radical revisions relevant to most of what this book has to say about The Other Empire of late-antiquity; and she's no random weirdo, she is taken seriously even by conservative Iranians like Daryaee. "Witnesses" also hosts a long section on Theophilus's Common Syrian Source... which scholarship is probably also going to have to be rethought, on account of Maria Conterno's upcoming work. And every mention of John of Antioch here is questionable at best, given that Byzantine scholarship still hasn't agreed upon a textus criticus of that historian. On the problem of Byzantine sources generally: Patricia Codeso, "Problemas textuales de la historiografía griega".

The book further makes decisions on when to date certain events, which decisions are often counterintuitive - e.g. pushing Constans II's death (668) forward to 669 - and, likely, wrong. Here, I refer to the Byzantinist scholar Warren Treadgold's review of this book. That review is generally favourable (because it didn't even look at the Islamic-source chapters... I'm getting to that); but even in what it claimed competence to review, it has turned up many problems. Among these, it demonstrates why the standard 668 date is best.

The largest deviations this book makes from the classical Islamic histories concern Ali and his son Husayn. This book believes that Ali died in 658 AD (and not 660-ish), and that Husayn was killed not long after that. As far as I can tell, this relies entirely upon Theophanes.

That brings us to the main problem with this book: it has no handle upon the Islamic sources. The main historian relied upon here is Tabari. No attempt has been made to trace back to Tabari's own sources - which is glaring, given the effort this book makes to trace the sources of Theophanes and of the other Christians. There is no attention to the Islamic chronicle tradition, e.g. al-Khwarizmi (via Elias of Nisibis) and Ibn Khayyat (via Baqiyy). Further: Tabari's primary source for the events of Siffin and Karbala' was one Abu Mikhnaf Lut. There survive parallel histories that also go back to Abu Mikhnaf - most prominently, Wa'qat Siffîn. A scholar interested in primary sources *could* dig out Abu Mikhnaf's contribution to the historiography; but this scholar didn't. More: I see nothing here about Islamic hadiths even more securely traceable to this period - I refer here to poetry and apocalyptic.

The book also takes as, as it were, gospel the Islamic sira - the Muslims' biography of Muhammad. Based on what I saw on how the book handles the Hadith: I have been offered no reason to follow suit. (To a previous reviewer: I *agree* with you about Wansbrough and early Crone. But two wrong books do not make a right!)

This book was supposed to propose a Grand Unified Chronology for this momentous century in history. But it simply goes too wrong about too much. The results are, as a result, a mess. The whole project needs to be scrapped and started again; with more attention paid to Islamic sources, and with a real understanding of Sasanian Iran.

In retrospect, it was too early to embark upon so ambitious a project.
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reader 451
5.0 out of 5 stars Lesson in source analysis
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2011
Some books prompt the question: 'how can no one have done it before?' The novelty of Howard-Johnston's book on the history of the seventh century is in its use of the material, not in the sources themselves, which have been available for a while. Indeed, the problem solved by Howard-Johnston, a Byzantinist, seems to have been one of academic compartmentalisation.

The issue with the history of the seventh-century Middle East is that it was always reliant on the Islamic tradition, and that this tradition was put in writing in the late eight, ninth, and tenth centuries, long after the event. Arabic-language authors such as Ibn Ishaq, al-Baladhuri, and al-Tabari relied on stories passed down the generations by poets, public speakers, and the historical actors' own descendents. In scholarly fashion, these authors used chains of references, known as isnads, to identify the origin of their information and anecdotes (so-and-so told me that he had it from sheik so-and-so that he heard from his father that...), and they also used the occasional written document. But any history written long after the fact is difficult to credit. At the same time, the seventh century is a historically crucial period for the Middle East and indeed the world: it saw the birth of Islam, the astonishingly rapid Muslim-Arab conquest, and the end of what is commonly termed the late-antique period. It also included such dramatic episodes as the last Roman-Persian war, and Heraclius' stunning final campaign and victory.

Witnesses to a World Crisis first reconstructs the sources (the witnesses), then the narrative itself. It builds from the ground up, starting with Greek, Armenian, and Syriac sources, the aim being to build a chronology of events of which the historian can be confident. The book then cross-checks the Islamic tradition against that skeleton chronology. Its finding is that authors such as al-Tabari are surprisingly reliable, give or take the occasional chronological slippage. Howard-Johnston's onion layering works, starting from a core of events attested by several contemporary sources and expanding step by step into a richer but still well substantiated history. This is a model lesson in source analysis. At the same time, it is a very readable account, articulate and entertaining. And while the book no doubt targets an academic public primarily, this is accessible and indeed recommended to anyone.
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JPS
5.0 out of 5 stars A Monument
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2013
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This rather massive book is a rather exceptional piece of scholarship and a monument. It certainly is, as another reviewer has mentioned, a "lesson in source analysis", but it is also much more than that. Essentially, and through this 500 pages-plus book, James Howard-Johnston has accomplished a rather herculean work associating data mining, comparison and analysis, systematically extracting each event mentioned in each written sources about the Seventh (the "witnesses" of his title), comparing the narratives, making sense of each episode.
With all these bits and pieces in hand, it has then attempted to reconstruct the whole sequence of events from the usurpation of Phocas in 602 to the end of the siege of Constantinople in 718 or from the end of the East Roman Empire and Late Antiquity to the emergence of Byzantium and the "New World Order" characterized by the domination of Islam and of the Caliphate.

One reviewer has found the book "verbose". There are indeed quite a few repetitions, but these are quite intentional and never boring (or, perhaps to be accurate, I was neither bored nor annoyed by them!). Essentially, the author recapitulates his previous findings and conclusions each time he adds another stone to the edifice and shows how this new stone fits in with the existing ones. At times, the book, despite being very scholarly, reads like a detective story, or even a treasure hunt. It is true, however, that you need to have more than a passing interest in the last Great War between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia and in the rise of Islam and its early Conquests to appreciate fully this "monument". The rather ludicrous price of the hardcover cover may also be a significant deterrent, unfortunately, although I understand that a paperback version of this exceptional book may be printed.

The same reviewer has found the book "a little biased", or even speculative, at times. I did not have the same impression, quite the opposite in fact, and I found such statements rather unfair, although explainable. Howard-Johnston, however meticulous and rigorous he happens to be when analysing all of the sources, whether Christian and Islamic, is clearly at times making a case and coming up with assumptions, lots of them in fact. These may be disputed and questionable, and I have little doubt that they will be by a number of fellow academics who will disagree with his assumptions, especially when they contradict theirs. The main point, however, is whether the author's multiple but carefully argued assumptions are plausible and credible, or not. I found that they mostly were and was rather fascinated by the cases be built.

One of the issues that he addresses is the vexed question of determining to what extent Islamic sources can be trusted, given their obvious religious overtones. This is why he starts his analysis with the Christian, or rather more correctly the non-Islamic sources, whether Byzantine, Armenian, Coptic, And Syrian or even Sassanid, identifying, in the latter case, bits of previous works which have been recycled and subsumed in more recent Christian or Islamic works. Contrary to a number of other historians, those he calls "the sceptics", he demonstrates that these Islamic sources can mostly be trusted, provided they are carefully handled. In fact, he only identifies four instances, although rather significant ones, where he believes that a "religious truth" has replaced what he terms a "historical truth". In other words, there are four cases where historical events have been manipulated. Two of these relate, for instance, to the two early "fitna" periods - the civil wars between Moslems, one for each.

Another fascinating set of issues that Howard-Johnston examines is how the Byzantine sources have also tampered, and perhaps as much if not more, with events. In other terms, and by analysing the authors, the context they were written in and the sources that they themselves had at their disposal, the author has managed to identify and confirm, for instance, to what extent the reign of Phocas has been blackened, with this Emperor being largely made into a convenient scape goat by the regime of his successor. Far from improving the situation, the coup and take-over of the embattled Empire by Heraclius and his family was initially rather disastrous. The new Emperor was defeated. There was civil war, and the Persians got through the Empire's fortifications, occupied Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt and advanced west across Asia Minor. There are quite a few other similar examples across the book.

A third set of questions is to determine how and why the two mighty super-powers of the time, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Persian one, could be overwhelmed so quickly. This is another area where the author's contribution is exceptionally valuable.

He first tends to downplay the traditional explanation - the two Empire were exhausted after more than a quarter of a century of warfare, and therefore weakened to such an extent that they were unable to face the unexpected and additional onslaught. He also shows that, weakened or not, both put up rather more than a fight than what is generally recognized. This was true of the Romans, despite their frontier being more vulnerable to attacks from the desert. It was even truer of the Persians, supposedly weakened by their defeat, and who managed to defeat the Arabs in the field and push them out of Mesopotamia, forcing them into a general mobilization that allowed them to overwhelm the Persians in battle. Moreover, and even after the last victory in battle against the Persians at Nihawand in 642, it took almost another decade to finally subdue them and kill the last Sassanid king. As for the Romans, and after three successive and increasingly important defeats in the field, Heraclius made the strategic choice to retreat and to pull back what was left of his troops behind the natural protection offered by the Taurus after 636.

According to the author, two of the main factors of the Arab victories and Islamic conquests were the extraordinary strength that their religious beliefs gave them and the administrative knowledge and government capabilities that they inherited from the ruling elite of Mecca. There is certainly more than an element of truth in each statement, and the first successors of the Prophet were clearly outstanding individuals capable of coordinating multiple armies over huge areas. The religious element seems to have also played out in rather unexpected ways, with some Christian subjects of the Roman Empire, such as the patriarch of Alexandria or that of Jerusalem, ready to surrender rather quickly and believing, probably sincerely, that the Arab onslaught was the work of God and that it was therefore hopeless to attempt to oppose it.

A fourth set of issues is also discussed and these are about explaining how the Empire survived despite the odds, and even in a diminished form, to become the medieval Byzantine Empire. This part, which the author calls the battle for the Mediterranean, is also fascinating to the extent that it shows that the Arab caliphs did not have it all their way. The Empire did "strike back" under the reigns of both Constans II (641-668) and Constantine IV (668-685), making especially good use of its naval supremacy. It is during their reign, and especially during the five year breathing space that the first civil war between Muslims gave the Romans that the Empire started to be reorganized into themes and put on a war footing, according to the author.

However, even if the capital itself did survive all major assault and major defeats were inflicted to the Caliphate armies, the Empire lost Africa in the process, leading the author to state that by the beginning of the eight century, Byzantium had become a bulwark resisting against the Islamic tide but no longer a superpower, and not recognized as such. This is one of the rare areas where the author may be going a bit too far. He does however have a convincing case to make with Africa, the Empire's second breadbasket, lost forever, Italy overrun by the Lombard and subject to increasing naval attacks from Africa and the Balkans mostly lost to the Slavs and Bulgars. This is when Asia Minor became per force the heartland of the truncated Empire and even in the Tenth and the early part of the Eleventh Century, during which there was a period of revival in the Empire's fortunes (the so-called "Byzantine Reconquista"), this owed as much to the fragmentation of the Caliphate as it did to the Empire's own efforts.

One element of contention perhaps is the author's belief that the Byzantine authorities somehow recognized and admitted that the universal Empire could not be revived. This seems to be contradicted by the Imperial Ideology inherited from the Roman Empire and the persisting belief, however far-fetched, that, one day, even in a distant future, the Empire would prevail because it was under God's protection.

Despite this relatively minor point (and a couple of others that I did not mention), this monumental book is likely to become the major reference that it deserves to be. It is easily worth five stars and I would have given it many, many more if this had been possible.
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reader 451
5.0 out of 5 stars Lesson in source analysis
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 17, 2011
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Some books prompt the question: 'how can no one have done it before?' The novelty of Howard-Johnston's book on the history of the seventh century is in its use of the material, not in the sources themselves, which have been available for a while. Indeed, the problem solved by Howard-Johnston, a Byzantinist, seems to have been one of academic compartmentalisation.

The issue with the history of the seventh-century Middle East is that it was always reliant on the Islamic tradition, and that this tradition was put in writing in the late eight, ninth, and tenth centuries, long after the event. Arabic-language authors such as Ibn Ishaq, al-Baladhuri, and al-Tabari relied on stories passed down the generations by poets, public speakers, and the historical actors' own descendents. In scholarly fashion, these authors used chains of references, known as isnads, to identify the origin of their information and anecdotes (so-and-so told me that he had it from sheik so-and-so that he heard from his father that...), and they also used the occasional written document. But any history written long after the fact is difficult to credit. At the same time, the seventh century is a historically crucial period for the Middle East and indeed the world: it saw the birth of Islam, the astonishingly rapid Muslim-Arab conquest, and the end of what is commonly termed the late-antique period. It also included such dramatic episodes as the last Roman-Persian war, and Heraclius' stunning final campaign and victory.

Witnesses to a World Crisis first reconstructs the sources (the witnesses), then the narrative itself. It builds from the ground up, starting with Greek, Armenian, and Syriac sources, the aim being to build a chronology of events of which the historian can be confident. The book then cross-checks the Islamic tradition against that skeleton chronology. Its finding is that authors such as al-Tabari are surprisingly reliable, give or take the occasional chronological slippage. Howard-Johnston's onion layering works, starting from a core of events attested by several contemporary sources and expanding step by step into a richer but still well substantiated history. This is a model lesson in source analysis. At the same time, it is a very readable account, articulate and entertaining. And while the book no doubt targets an academic public primarily, this is accessible and indeed recommended to anyone.
13 people found this helpful
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TJ
3.0 out of 5 stars Verbose and a little biased
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2012
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The author writes very densely and with way too much (irrelevant) detail. I could have given the same information with less words and more elegantly. I think he likes the sound of his vouce too much. Also, it is shocking that the whole book is about certain historic texts/sources, but does not give translations of relevant excerpts from these sources!!

In several ways it is an objective book which demonstrates that early Islamic sources are generally sound. And he has interesting theories and he pointed out what he believes were some errors in early Islamic sources. Half of them seem reasonable, but then a couple seemed a bit far-fetched (despite him confidently stating them as facts rather than far-fetched theories).

However, the author lets slip his dislike of Islam at times through the use of emotive words and value judgments when not required/appropriate. For example, when the first Caliph of Islam visits Jerusalem for the first time and meets with Christian leaders, he wears simple clothes of a bedouin. The author instead of simply saying that says: he "ostentatiously" dressed in simple garb. Such value judgments are not required for a historic textbook and I am uncertain how the author came to this conclusion (of ostentation) when he was neither present at that occasion and nor did the sources describe the Caliph as ostentatious. It would be like me saying "that indian man had a happy looking turban".
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