24 March، 2020
Reading of the Book (The Plague in the Umayyad Age – Unknown Pages from the History of the Umayyad Caliphate)
This book was written by Dr. Ahmed Al-Adawi, and issued by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (Beirut: 2018). The book, which consists of 184 large-format pages, is one of the most important books that deals with the plague that affected the health, demographic, economic, social and political aspects in the Umayyad State. It was constituted of three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter one summarizes the disease definition, causes, prevention ways and the religious, philosophical, medical, and intellectual impacts of the disease on the Middle Ages world and so on.Chapter two lists the most important plagues that infected the Arab-Islamic world in the Islamic era and the Umayyad state, especially the Plague of Amwas (18 AH / 693 AD), the Plague of Aljarif (69 AH / 688 AD), the Plague of Alfatayat wa Alashraf (87 AH / 705 AD) and the Plague of Muslim Bin Qutaibah (131 AH / 748 AD), illustrated with a precisely detailed statistical evaluation of the plagues in the Umayyad period to constitute an important reference for researchers.The last chapter includes the demographic effects of the plague and its repercussions on the economic, social and political aspects of the society in the Umayyad State.Finally, the book concludes the most notable findings regarding the great impact imposed by the plague in the political, military, economic and demographic history of the Umayya State.In the collective human memory, it is very important to read about epidemics and disasters to take a comprehensive picture of how to deal with those diseases that may reach the level of pandemics, as is the case today with the current Novel Coronavirus Pandemic, and to benefit from the experiences of previous nations in curbing and overcoming such pandemics.God save Iraq and its people and all mankind.