A simply written history to the end of the Abbasid caliphate in 1258.

Part I: --Geography in the Middle East -- Introduction -- The fertile crescent -- The Nile valley -- The Arabian penninsula -- Part II: -- Semitic backgrounds of the Arab world -- Arabia: Home of the Semites -- The Semites in Mesopotamia -- The Semites in Egypt -- The Semites in Canaan -- Part III: -- Pre-Islamic Arabia -- Historical backgrounds -- Religious backgrounds -- Socio-Economic backgrounds -- Three roles of leadership -- Part IV: -- The Islamic religion -- Muhammad, the prophet of Islam -- Islamic beliefs and devotional duties -- The Qur'an -- The traditions -- Part V: -- Beginning of the Islamic state -- Migration to Madina -- Between Makka and Madina -- Capture of Makka -- The Islamic state -- Part VI: -- The orthodox caliphate, 632-661 -- Abu Bakr, 632-634 -- Umar, 634-644 -- Uthman, 644-656 -- Ali, 656-661 -- Part VII: -- The Umayyad dynasty, 661-750 -- Umayya versus Hashim -- Abd al-Malik, 685-705 -- Walid, I, 705-715 -- Decline of the Umayyad regime -- Fall of the Umayyad dynasty -- Part VIII: The early Abbasid period, 750-861 -- Abbasids versus Umayyads -- The first two Abbasid caliphs -- The Abbasid golden age -- Fratricidal conflicts -- The beginning of decline -- Part IX: -- Forces controlling the Abbasid caliphate -- Regional dynasties in Western Asia -- The Umayyad dynasty in Spain, 756-1031 -- Regional dynasties in North Africa -- Regional dynasties in Egypt -- Part X: -- The Arabic-Islamic society -- State administration -- Islamic sects -- Islamic scholarship -- Tribalism and society.