Summary
Summary
Muhammad's was a life of almost unparalleled historical importance; yet for all the iconic power of his name, the intensely dramatic story of the prophet of Islam is not well known. In The First Muslim, Lesley Hazleton brings him vibrantly to life. Drawing on early eyewitness sources and on history, politics, religion, and psychology, she renders him as a man in full, in all his complexity and vitality.Hazleton's account follows the arc of Muhammad's rise from powerlessness to power, from anonymity to renown, from insignificance to lasting significance. How did a child shunted to the margins end up revolutionizing his world? How did a merchant come to challenge the established order with a new vision of social justice? How did the pariah hounded out of Mecca turn exile into a new and victorious beginning? How did the outsider become the ultimate insider?Impeccably researched, Hazleton's narrative creates vivid insight into a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, nonviolence and violence, rejection and acclaim. The First Muslim illuminates not only an immensely significant figure but his lastingly relevant legacy.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Despite Islam's position at the forefront of the American consciousness, the general public knows little of its founder and prophet beyond platitudes and condemnations. Hazleton (After the Prophet) attempts to rectify this imbalance with her vivid and engaging narrative of Muhammad's life. The author portrays her subject as an unlikely and unsuspecting vehicle for the divine, "painfully aware that too many nights in solitary meditation might have driven him over the edge." Sympathetic but not hagiographic, her work draws liberally from a long tradition of Islamic biographical literature about the prophet; the nuanced portrait that emerges is less that of an infallible saint than of a loving family man, a devoted leader of his people, an introspective and philosophical thinker who reluctantly accepted the burden of conveying the word of God, and a calculating political strategist. Hazleton writes not as a historian but as a cultural interpreter, reconstructing Muhammad's identity and personality from the spiritual revolution that he sparked and the stories that his followers passed down. While the speculation is sometimes off-putting (as when Muhammad's final illness is confidently diagnosed as bacterial meningitis), the result is a fluid and captivating introduction that will be invaluable for those seeking a greater understanding of Islam's message and its messenger. Agent: Gloria Loomis, Watkins/Loomis Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
It is surprising how little most people know about the life of the prophet Muhammad. Hazleton sets out to rectify that in this eminently readable biography. Relying on two biographies from the eighth and ninth centuries, as well as other sources, she presents Muhammad's life as both history and story. It begins with a moving scene: Muhammad alone in the barren mountains, at night, praying and waiting. Who he is and how he came to be there are revealed in chapters that show him as an orphan in need of protection, as a young camel driver appreciated for his fairness, as a prophet touched by Allah, and as a political leader driven to bring the message to all those with ears to listen. The beauty of Hazleton's book is that she portrays Muhammad throughout his life as a living, breathing man with the hopes, fears, struggles, and the monumental blessing and burden of knowing he has received divine knowledge. Does she delve into psychology to bring about a fully realized portrait? Yes, but respectfully so, posing more questions than she answers. A highly readable, insightful biography.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Writings about Muhammad (570-632) often fail to show necessary objectivity; depending on the author's perspective, the prophet is depicted in an overly positive or overly negative manner. Hazleton (After the Prophet), a veteran journalist covering the Middle East, shows Muhammad as a very human figure, one who was sincere and generally acted appropriately as a leader. However, she also addresses his significant moral lapses, as when he forced the Qaynuqa Jewish tribe in Medina into exile without significant cause and when he oversaw the execution of more than 400 people of the Qureyz Jewish tribe who had resisted his leadership. More broadly, the book presents the story of one man's journey from humble beginnings to business success, to spiritual calling, and finally to religious leadership. The author draws on the seminal writings of two early Islamic historians, ibn-Ishaq and al-Tabari, as well as other early sources. This work is not, however, a scholarly or academic biography; Martin Ling's Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources would be a better choice for that. VERDICT Those interested in a balanced, readable biography of Muhammad for nonspecialists will find this book helpful.-John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib., TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.