THE CALIPH'S SPLENDOR

This is the fascinating, little-known story of the rise of Islam in the first five centuries. It focuses on the interaction between Islam and the West during the time of Harun al-Rashid, the caliph of THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, his Western contemporary Charlemagne, and the Byzantine empire in the late eighth and early ninth centuries.

At the same time that Europe was starting to recover from the collapse of the Roman Empire, Islam had conquered the Mediterranean from Spain to western Asia and was the dominant power in that part of the world. The central figure of the book is Harun al Rashid -- the caliph who built his capital in Baghdad and the subject of the most famous book of Arab literature in the West, THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (also called THE ARABIAN NIGHTS).

During the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, Islam dominated much of the known world, from the Atlantic Ocean to China. Harun’s capital, Baghdad, was the most cosmopolitan metropolis of the era. In this magnificent work of history, acclaimed scholar Benson Bobrick resurrects Harun’s glorious world and the complex, pervasive influence it had on its neighbors in the Byzantine Empire and the Frankish kingdom of Harun’s contemporary Charlemagne. Harun’s power was checked by the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, and Charlemagne’s European kingdom. Yet along with conflict went cultural exchange. In fact, it was the preservation and development of classical learning by the Muslims that lighted the lamp of knowledge in the West during the so-called Dark Ages when Europe fell into ruin. The Caliph’s Splendor brings this history to vivid life with wide-reaching implications for today’s interconnected world.

Benson Bobrick is the author of several critically acclaimed works, including ANGEL IN THE WHIRLWIND, WIDE AS THE WATERS, and TESTAMENT. In 2002 he received the Literature Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He lives in Vermont.