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First Muslim : Story Of Muhammad: The Story Of Muhammad (2014)

by Lesley Hazleton(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1782392327 (ISBN13: 9781782392323)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Atlantic Books Export

review 1: Took some notes for book club - posted below.Page 60 – interesting bit about how sophisticated the caravan trade was administration, diplomacy etc. Fascinating story of his background• granddad almost sacrificing Muhammad’s dad, but alas then dad dies anyway before meeting Muhammad• living with wet nurse and Bedouin upbringing, until clearly no money and returned to mother, who dies taking him on caravan trail• brought up by uncleEnjoying listening to Serial, both examples of investigative journalism, looking at different sources, trying to work out what really happened. But putting a nice storytelling spin on it so that it is very palatable for the reader.Page 77 – discussing what happened at Mount Hera?? Different accounts on what happened. Metaphysical in... moreto the merely physical. ‘exactly how Muhammad experienced…’ leaving no room for her possible interpretation of what happened, but taking what others say with a grain of salt. Advantage, poetic license serving good cause – story not scholarly. But then page 81, all the different accounts, ‘it may be possible to begin to understand’, we don’t really know.Page 84, quote I like, while Muhammad is sleeping, Khadiji goes to see the senior dude of the clan, confirms Muhammad’s vision is legit, his fear of delusion is precisely what argued for him not being deluded. “He was no unworldly mystic floating above ordinary humans in a smug aura of holiness…”Page 100, I start feeling like oh, I love this religion. This is when he starts having to recite the verses to the public, not just people who come him. These verses would build into an impassioned protest against corruption and social inequity. They took the side of the poor and the marginalized, calling for advantaging the disadvantaged. It really condemns hoarding wealth as well. “Righteous deeds, not wealth or sons, will bring you closer to God…the bounty of God and his mercy are better than any wealth you amass…we desire to show favor to those oppressed on earth, to make them the leaders and the inheritors”. So that’s good.Page 122 ‘…all three of the great monotheisms show that they began similarly as popular movements in protest against the privilege and arrogance of power, whether that of kings as in the Hebrew bible, or the Roman Empire as in the Gospels, or a tribal elite as in the Quran. All three that is, were originally driven by ideals of justice and egalitarianism, rejecting the inequities of human power in favor of a higher and more just one.”Page 131 – enjoying. After the satanic verses incident, where because of desire for reconciliation Muhammad preaches that the three daughters of god part of the previous religion were three great exalted birds. Then Gabriel comes to him and says You bastard (lol), that’s wrong god never said that to you and you shouldn’t say that blah blah blah. So, even though everyone loves it he publicly says that he was wrong. Then there’s a beautiful passage about publicly correcting yourself and it takes a great deal of courage to do so (last para 131).Seventh-century Meccans were no more able to recognize the integrity of someone who could publicly correct himself than twenty-first-century Americans. To acknowledge error is still mistaken for a sign of weakness instead of strength… (quoting Schulz-) Far from being a moral flaw, it is inextricable from some of our most humane and honorable qualities: empathy, optimism, imagination, conviction and courage..Page 142 – interesting stuff about dreams. References to dreams in the bible.Page 154 – link between Judaism and Muhammad’s move to Medena where there were Jewish tribes. Interestingly it made it more acceptable in Medena than in Mecca because of the 1 God principles. Interesting, as she says, “modern Jews may be surprised by the fact that there were Jewish tribes in seventh century Arabia. From today’s perspective both political and religious, it seems impossible.”Page 157 – it always seems like psychoanalysis rather than storytelling eg “For people with such a strong sense of place, the prospect has to have been terrifying. They would almost literally cut the umbilical cord. [I mean, what is that, how is that literally cutting the umbilical cord??] They would sever themselves from tribe, clan, and even immediate family; from the Kaaba, the lode-star by which they oriented themselves in the world; from everything that had made them who they were. Fore everyone of them, this took courage as well as faith.”Page 176 – nice description of jihad double meaning – “inner striving to live a moral life and attain a higher level of spiritual consciousness, and external armed struggle against those seen as the enemies of Islam.” Muhammad said inner striving is the higher of the two meanings.Page 184 – I’m getting disenchanted with the cause, because its just gone violent. “Muhammad himself took only two items: an ornate double-edged sword and the prized stud camel that had belonged to his arch-nemesis…” I mean really, where’s the Ghandi, Jesus turn the other cheek approach. Of course this is in the context of me loving Clash of Clans lol. But anyway, it seems a bit jarring.Page 224 – Aisha (nice name), cheeky minx with the tale of the missing necklace that she went back for and then had hours unchaperoned with a young dude, and its just funny thinking of how cheeky she is with Muhammad. When he gets another wife (his adopted son’s wife who he has a thing for, so his son divorces her so that Muhammad can marry her), the Quran – it’s God’s will that its only natural born son’s wives that you can’t have, and it’s also God’s will that Aisha was innocent when there was all this scandal around her. 224 – Aisha had no choice to accept the marriage, but says “Truly God makes haste to do your bidding”. Page 225 – under the Quran, M can marry as many wives as he wants but his followers can only marry up to four, and only if they can treat them all equally. But he tried to be really fair with each of them. Marriage added to stress on him, diplomacy.Ch 17 – slaughter of the weak Jewish tribe part of the Medena base, consented to the order of hundreds to be beheaded, and its just awful, weird that that happened when the Quaran says no violence once an enemy submits. It made me feel really annoyed at the religion, a shame because I was hoping to really warm to it.Page 275 – book is really annoying me now M is getting a bit exhausted by all his wives, so he spends a lot of time with his concubine, a slave girl. One of the dad’s of one of his wives is getting pissed off and says to M have you decided to leave your wives. Then of course the voice of God – the wives may effectively divorce him if they want, or can stay with him, but either way can never marry again because they are the mother of all the followers. So I am now getting cranky with the book.
review 2: If you, as I, knew virtually nothing about the founder of Islam, I think this is an excellent way to get your feet wet. I was looking for a better understanding of the roots of Islam and specifically Muhammad. Ms. Hazleton does an excellent job of telling his story in an easy and enjoyable read. She goes to great lengths to be non-judgmental, respectful, and grinds no axes pro or con that I could detect. I like that - readers are well capable of forming their own opinions. I you find this book enjoyable, I also recommend "After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam", also by Hazelton. It details about the first century after Muhammad's death, giving the reader some valuable insight into the current bloody violence in the Middle East. Between the two books, one would start to form some understanding about the thoughts and actions of folks living (and dying) in Iraq, Syria, and surrounding countries. less

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