Islam: Faith and History by Mahmoud M Ayoub is a complete history of Islam from the beginning in 622 CE to the 21st century. The book is written for non-Muslims and attempts to be complete and balanced.
By 711 CE, Islam had spread to the Iberian Peninsula. (The Jews aided the invading Arabs, saw them as liberators from Latin Christian rulers.) The resulting culture was Arab in language and Arabo-Hispanic in spirit. Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in mutual tolerance for centuries. The Abbasid Caliphate ruled 750-1258 CE. During this period Arabic was a common language for religion, science, philosophy, and literature shared by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars. Under Islam Spain was the cultural center of Europe.
Five pillars of Islam: Bear witness, Daily prayers, Welfare tax, Fasting, and Pilgrimage.
If you want a comprehensive introduction to Islam, this is an excellent book. In some places, it gets bogged down in the details with long lists of names and dates, and in others, it seems to cross the line from history to propaganda. Overall it is a good background book.
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