HIS 256 The Islamic World to 1683

The prophet Muhammad was undoubtedly one of the most influential men in history. Amid the swirl of current judgments regarding Muslims and their religion, Peterson offers a concise, objective, accessible biography of the first Muslim. Peterson begins with the impoverished and orphaned childhood of Muhammad, highlighting his evident strength of will, character, and resourcefulness. Peterson then moves through the prophet's life, detailing Muhammad's visions and revelations and examining the beginning of a religion that continues to affect the entire world in dramatic ways.

This book is an accessible history of the Near East from c.600-1050AD, the period in which Islamic society was formed. Beginning with the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islam, Kennedy goes on to explore the great Arab conquests of the seventh century and the golden age of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates when the world of Islam was politically and culturally far more developed than the West. The arrival of the Seljuk Turks and the period of political fragmentation which followed shattered this early unity, never to be recovered.

Hazleton's account follows the arc of Muhammad's rise from powerlessness to power, from anonymity to renown, from insignificance to lasting significance. Hazleton's narrative creates vivid insight into a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, nonviolence and violence, rejection and acclaim.

This book comprises a collection of essays by some of the most accomplished scholars in the field exploring the life and legacy of the Prophet. The book is divided into three sections, the first charting his biography and the milieu into which he was born, the revelation of the Qur'an, and his role within the early Muslim community. The second part assesses his legacy as a law-maker, philosopher, and politician and, finally, in the third part, chapters examine how Muhammad has been remembered across history in biography, prose, poetry, and, most recently, in film and fiction.