Hello everyone!
I've been finding difficulty in trying to learn more about the Islamic world during and after the disintegration of the Abbasid caliphate. What there is, focuses on the Mediterranean and almost always on the interaction (read wars) between Islamic powers and the Christian world.
Central Asia is a massive region and events there have had tremendous importance towards the history of the world as a whole. From the Ghaznavid invasions of India, to the creation and rapid expansion of the Seljuk Empire (Which would go on to defeat the Romans at Manzikert and are the reason Turkey is where it is today). Besides such events, the developments in culture and the sciences can't be ignored, much as Hellenisation after Alexander can't be ignored.
I thus ask for any sources, be they books, documentaries, good quality websites on this region during the period from about 900-1200 CE.
Many thanks for reading.
I've been reading "A History of the Muslim World to 1405" by Vernon Egger for a class. It covers the exact topics you mentioned and it's really well written. You can preview it here: https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_the_Muslim_World_to_1405.html?id=YmZ9DAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false
Hi there, this might seem like kind of a basic resource but I found this useful when I traveled in Central Asia: the UN History of Civilizations of Central Asia. It's a fairly high level overview but it's accessible and the books are free to download, which is always nice.
Hey there. A few ideas jump to mind:
the all encompassing classic would be Marshall Hodgson's three volume The Venture of Islam, which covers all this and quite a lot else besides.
For a shorter introduction at least to sort of greater Iran I quite like David Morgan's Medieval Persia: 1040-1797.
For the longer version, perhaps have a look at the relevant portions of the Cambridge History of Iran. I haven't read it but it also sounds like the Cambridge History of Inner Asia is more or less exactly what you're looking for.
A few things worth checkout out:
Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization, 3 vol. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974). {A bit old but still often referenced}
Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014 [1988]). {An old standard, much updated}
Garth Fowden, Before and After Muḥammad: The First Millennium Refocused (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014). {This gets directly at your question but spends a long time mucking through arguments among historians; might still be interesting}
Richard W. Bulliet, Islam: The View from the Edge (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994). {My top recommendation for your question, Bulliet argues that Islam spread because of the decline of Iranian cities in the 1100s}
I'll add a recommendation from /u/sunagainstgold, "The Great Seljuk Empire" by Andrew Peacock. I cannot personally comment yet on the book, however this appears to be the Authors specialist area.