The History of the Saracens

Infobox Book
name = The History of the Saracens


image_caption =
author = Simon Ockley
cover_artist =
country = Great Britain
language = English
subject = Caliphs
Islamic Empire [" [http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&ti=1,1&SEQ=20070201201911&Search%5FArg=HISTORY%20OF%20THE%20SARACENS%3B&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=22910&SID=1 Full Record] "Library of Congress".]
publisher =
release_date = 1708 vol. I
1718 vol. II [Simon Ockley. " [http://www.dinsdoc.com/ockley-1-1.htm The History of the Saracens] " 6th Edition. London: Henry G. Bohn. 1857]
english_release_date =
media_type = Hardback
pages =
isbn =

"The History of the Saracen Empires" is a book written by Simon Ockley of Cambridge University and first published in the early 18th century.

The full title is "The History of the Saracens; Comprising the lives of Mohammed and his successors, to the death of Abdalmelik, the Eleventh Caliph. With an account of their most remarkable battles, sieges, revolts, &c. Collected from authentic sources, especially arabic mss."

The book has been reprinted many times including London in 1894. [http://www.al-shia.com/html/eng/articles/mahdi/almahdi/04.htm]

Simon Ockley, vicar of Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, devoted himself from an early age to the study of eastern languages and customs and was appointed professor of Arabic at Cambridge in 1711. The first volume of his Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt by the Saracens, generally known as The History of the Saracens, appeared in 1708, the second in 1718, with an introduction dated from Cambridge gaol, where he was then imprisoned for debt. Gibbon, who admired and used his work, speaks of his fate as “unworthy of the man and of his country.” His History extends from the death of Mahomet, 632, to that of the fifth Ommiad caliph, 705; the work was cut short by the author’s death in 1720, after a life of incessant and ill-requited toil. The Life of Mohammed prefixed to the third edition of his History, which was issued for the benefit of his destitute daughter in 1757, is by Roger Long, Master of Pembroke hall, Cambridge. Ockley based his work on an Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian library which later scholars have pronounced less trustworthy than he imagined it to be.cite book | last = Ward | first = A. W. | authorlink = | coauthors = A.R. Waller, W.P. Trent, J. Erskine, S.P. Sherman, and C. Van Doren | title = The Cambridge history of English and American literature: An encyclopedia in eighteen volumes | publisher = G.P. Putnam’s Sons | date = 1907–21 | location = New York, New York | pages = | url = http://www.bartleby.com/220/1202.html | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

A.W. Waller described the author's work:

Unreferencedsection|date=October 2008

Authenticity of Oakleys work

This book is regarded by countless scholars of history as well as by some Muslim scholars as a highly authentic account although some may disagree with certain elements of the work, due to differences in religious belief.

References

External links

* " [http://www.dinsdoc.com/ockley-1-0.htm The History of the Saracens] " 6th ed.
* " [http://www.bartleby.com/220/1202.html § 2. Ockley’s History of the Saracens.] " in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).