The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad

Lesley Hazleton

Jan 2013 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The extraordinary life of the man who founded Islam, and the world he inhabited—and remade.

Lesley Hazleton's new book, Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, is out now from Riverhead Books.

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 and thrillingly readable, 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.

Ratings and reviews

An easy to read biography of Prophet Muhammad ( pbuh ) that keeps to a minimum the names that are difficult to pronounce and also difficult to remember in that part of the world. Thoroughly researched and a joy to read.

Contrary to other records of the islamic history, I think this is among the unique few fresh narratives of the prophet's life that seems to shine the light on the prophet as a human being rather than a magical, god-send figure. There always seem to be a sense of empathy and grounded in reality to the prophet in the narration as well as to the people around him in the author's writing - to a point that it almost felt as if the author was there witnessing the whole journey to be telling the story.

I will recommend book written by Martin Lings if someone wants to know Muhammad's history.

About the author

Lesley Hazleton reported on the Middle East from Jerusalem for more than a dozen years, and has written for Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and Harper’s, among other publications. Her last book, After the Prophet, was a finalist for the PEN-USA book Award. Hazleton lives in Seattle.