The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad Paperback – February 4, 2014

The First Muslim: The Story of MuhammadLesley Hazelton isn't just a seasoned reporter who's probed her subject like few others have, she's a elegant writer, able to craft a compelling and fluid story. And a story is what this is, considering that her subject lived some 1400 years ago and spent most of that time clouded by legend. That said, she's painstakingly researched the primary biographies of the prophet and Koran itself translating the original text word by word. With a reporter's zeal and a novelist's eye she pulls together the most realistic, thoughtful and entertaining story of Mohammed anyone could ask for. Nevertheless she will have her critics. Since it is nearly impossible to untangle Islam from the strife, the war, the land, the water supply, the oil, the fanaticism, racism and history that inextricably link it to Western thought, there are those who'll find her "off message" and, therefore, suspect. Look only as far as Hari Kunru in the New York Times, who seems stunned and confused that Ms. Hazelton managed to see beyond the prism of his own personal experiences. After all, some fundamentalist government banned him from speaking somewhere...shouldn't that be part of her story? For him, and those like him, the bigger story is problematic; personal experience matters, so long as it's his own. Fortunately reviewers like Kunru seem to be the minority, and a transparent minority at that. This book is strong enough to stand on its own merit, and its own quality.

Muhammad's story so lends itself to hagiography. It follows then that anyone attempting to write it can take the easy road and yield to this wonderful temptation. After all, who doesn't like to hear (or tell) a super hero story once every while? But, all of us have to go home once the movie ends. And, that is where Lesley Hazleton's story begins.Building on the solid premise of an orphaned child's need for social acceptance and inclusion, she effortlessly provides a new window from which to view the Prophet's life and mission. She uses his various personality traits (detachment, integrity, steadfastness) to show why he was so exclusively suited to the role he played while also highlighting the weight of prophethood on even this strongest of shoulders. She presents us the man with all his frailties, idiosyncrasies and failures but with empathy and the understanding that hindsight is always 20/20. Lesley claims and does carefully avoid the mistake many historians (or history journalists as I like to call them) make - projecting the future into the past. She adamantly examines him in the backdrop of 7th century Arabia and remains true to Muhammad's early biographers, Ibn Ishaq and Al-Tabari.To a discerning Indian reader, especially to those exposed to Irawati Karve and M T Vasudevan Nair, this approach might not seem too novel. It is one thing to re-render a mythological story but it is totally another to reconstruct the story of a man who lived in flesh and blood and held dear by millions of people. That Lesley manages this with compassion and a lot of respect (for a scarcely understood man) is what makes this a compelling work.Some people (most people) like Tony Stark better than Iron man. Maybe you are one of them.

Most of us know about the lives of the prophets and most of what we know boils down to these simplicities: The prophet (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammed) was born, he lived a thoughtful life, he was a great man and God chose him to be His prophet. Hazelton removes the screen to show who Muhammed the boy was, how he grew up and what his environment was like as he approached prophethood and after that.In this book Hazleton draws from historical writings and skillfully fills in gaps to create a picture of what Muhammed may have been like, how he may have been thinking and how he was influenced. To be sure, some of the material is pure conjecture, but it is intelligent conjecture with enough continuity to be convincing.Hazleton takes us into the prophet Muhammed's mind and his thinking. While it may be impossible to represent exactly what Muhammed may have been thinking, she drew sufficient material around certain events to help us understand the man. After reading The First Muslim, we can appreciate Muhammed better because he becomes more touchable; a man like us but better than us; a man who, while he was great enough to influence billions of people over time, to love him and his message, was still a man with very human reactions.A superbly written book that fills a gap that few books about the prophet Muhammed have been able to fill. I highly recommend reading this book because it will leave you with a better appreciation of who the leader of a great faith really was.

I got this book since I knew very little about Muhammad or the origins of Islam. After the first few pages I had a hard time putting the book down. It was very informative and read like a novel, in a sense bringing the historical figures back to life. The author also connects some events and circumstances from the 6th and 7th centuries to current times which added to the book's relevance. It is interesting that Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and even Joseph Smith made their connections with God when going off to deserted places. The instances of great violence described in the book alongside attempts at peace and harmony created a theme throughout the book that, like in many religions, is perplexing to say the least. After reading this book I got Hazleton's book After the First Muslim which was written prior to the one I am reviewing. I hope Hazleton writes more on this subject as her style makes for easy, interesting, and informative reading. I strongly recommend this book if you are looking to learn about an important person and time with which you are not familiar.