Muhammad and the Believers

Looks at the history of Islam, arguing that its origins began with the "Believers" movement that emphasized strict monotheism and righteous behavior that included both Christians and Jews in its early years.

Looks at the history of Islam, arguing that its origins began with the "Believers" movement that emphasized strict monotheism and righteous behavior that included both Christians and Jews in its early years.

Traces the history of Islam back from the twentieth century to its origins, discussing the faith-based "Believers' movement" started by the prophet Muhammad, and explaining how this led to the separation of Muslims from Christians and Jews as monotheists.

Deep in the heart of seventh-century Arabia, a new prophet named Muhammad has arisen. As his message of enlightenment sweeps through Arabia and unifies the warring tribes, his young wife Aisha recounts Muhammad's astonishing transformation from prophet to warrior to statesman. But just after the moment of her husband's greatest triumph -- the conquest of the holy city of Mecca -- Muhammad falls ill and dies in Aisha's arms. A young widow, Aisha finds herself at the center of the new Muslim empire and becomes by turns a teacher, political leader, and warrior. Written in beautiful prose and meticulously researched, Mother of the Believer is the story of an extraordinary woman who was destined to help usher Islam into the world.

Donner challenges the scholarly assumption that the earliest Muslim believers wanted to write history out of "idle curiosity" and suggests that Islamic historical tradition resulted from a variety of challenges facing the community during the seventh to tenth centuries, C.E. He identifies the intellectual context in which Muslims began to think and write historically; sketches the issues, themes, and forms of the early Islamic historiographical tradition; considers the value of some radically revisionist interpretations of early Islam that have appeared in the past 20 years; and discusses the problem of sources in studying Islamic origins.

Muhammad and the People of Book by Sahaja Carimokam asks the question, what was the nature of Muhammad’s relationship to non-Muslims, particularly Jews and Christians, and how did it change over time? This work is based on a chronological reading of the chapters of the Qur’an supplemented with Muslim commentary literature and biographical materials on the life of Muhammad. Carimokam traces Muhammad’s evolving religious viewpoint based on his borrowings of primarily Jewish and some Christian traditional/apocryphal materials. He shows how Muhammad’s inaccurate and anachronistic rendition of Jewish traditional literature ensured that the Jews would reject him as a Prophet. This rejection lead to his ultimatum to the Jews early in the Medinan period of the Qur’an and culminated with his call to Jihad against all non-Muslims, including those Jews and Christians who refused to acknowledge his Prophethood. The origins of takfir, declaring Muslims to be non-Muslims, are considered. Comparisons are made of moderate and traditional interpreters of the Qur’an. Historical-critical issues regarding the background provided by Muslim historical propaganda is considered in one chapter. The book concludes with a controversial issue for the interpretation of Islamic law in the 21st century based on the actual canonical practices of Muhammad.

Naipaul's controversial account of his travels through the Islamic world was hailed by The New Republic as "the most notable work on contemporary Islam to have appeared in a very long time."

"This Is Islam" presents a lively introduction to a religion that has a dramatic history and plays a crucial role in the world today. Designed for people unfamiliar with Islamic beliefs, rituals, and customs, it explains the history of Islam, the importance of Islamic law, and major sects including Sunnism, Shi'ism, and Sufism. "It is vital for our schools to teach what the religion of Islam is like and how it agrees and differs from Judaism, Christianity and other world religions. 'This Is Islam' serves that purpose with calm, cool, brief and authoritative explanations of the Islamic religion and of Muslim societies with all their variations." -William McNeill, professor emeritus of history, University of Chicago; author of 'The Rise of the West' (National Book Award) and 'The Human Web.'

A bold new religious history of the late antique and medieval Middle East that places ordinary Christians at the center of the story In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. Jack Tannous argues that key to understanding these dramatic religious transformations are ordinary religious believers, often called “the simple” in late antique and medieval sources. Largely agrarian and illiterate, these Christians outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East’s history. What did it mean for Christian communities to break apart over theological disagreements that most people could not understand? How does our view of the rise of Islam change if we take seriously the fact that Muslims remained a demographic minority for much of the Middle Ages? In addressing these and other questions, Tannous provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the religious history of the medieval Middle East. This provocative book draws on a wealth of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources to recast these conquered lands as largely Christian ones whose growing Muslim populations are properly understood as converting away from and in competition with the non-Muslim communities around them.

Setting wages isn't an exact science, but we like to think that our workplace performance provides an objective basis for pay. You're Paid What You're Worth offers a bold theory to the contrary, arguing that pay is decided in contests over interests and ideals--that social conflicts, not economic metrics, determine who gets how much.

Prophets serve as intermediaries between the human and divine worlds, granting them a special status in history across diverse religions and cultures. For Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) represents the culmination of the line of monotheistic prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus. In his own lifetime, Muhammad overcame opposition and brought reforms, firmly establishing a thriving community of believers which would become a major world civilisation. Today, the Prophet's life and actions continue to inspire the Muslims worldwide. The Prophet Muhammad presents an illuminating portrait of Muhammad in his capacity as God's messenger and an exemplary figure to Muslims. Revealing the challenges and triumphs of prophecy, Stephen Burge examines how prophets have inspired faith communities' relationship with the Divine, and one another. In doing so, this engaging account elucidates the enduring influence of prophecy and the profound legacy of the Prophet Muhammad.

From one of the most popular historians writing today comes a book as fascinating as the bestsellers of Karen Armstrong and Reza Aslan. In this captivating chronicle, Martin Gilbert shines new light on a controversial dilemma in the modern world: the troubled relationship between Jews and Muslims. Beginning at the dawn of Islam and sweeping from the Atlantic Ocean to the mountains of Afghanistan, Gilbert presents the first popular and authoritative history of Jewish peoples under Muslim rule. He confronts with wisdom and compassion the stormy events in their dramatic story, including anti-Zionist movements and the forced exodus to Israel. He also gives special attention to the twentieth century and to the current political debate about refugee status and restitution. Throughout, Gilbert weaves a compelling narrative of perseverance, struggle, and renewal marked by surprising moments of tolerance and partnership. A monumental and timely book, Jews under Muslim Rule is a crowning achievement that confirms Martin Gilbert as one of the foremost historians of our time.

This study of the Qur'an arises from an interest in a pressing contemporary issue, the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims ('the Ummah and the Other'). This text explores how the Qur'an comments on this relationship as it changed in the course of Muhammad's ministry. Particular attention is paid to the portrayal in the Meccan 'punishment-narratives' of a fascinating and complex triangular relationship between God, the powerless and persecuted believing community with Muhammad at its centre, and the unbelieving Meccans who rejected Muhammad's preaching. The text raising questions about the possible contemporary relevance of this analysis, focusing firstly on discussions about the appropriate models for Islamic society today, and secondly on dialogue between Christians and Muslims. This book presents a detailed and illuminating analysis of many important Qur'anic themes and passages, and offers a coherent and original account of significant developments within the thought of the Qur'an as a whole.

Combining vast erudition with a refusal to bow before the political pressures of the day, Muhammad’s Mission: Religion, Politics, and Power at the Birth of Islam by Professor Tilman Nagel, one of the world’s leading authorities on Islam, is an introduction to three inseparable topics: the life of Muhammad (570-632 CE), the composition of the Koran, and the birth of Islam. While accessible to a general audience, it will also be of great interest to specialists, since it is the first English translation of Professor Nagel’s attempt to summarize a lifetime of research on these topics. The Introduction, Chapters 1-2, and Appendix 1 provide essential historical background on the Arab tribal system and Muhammad’s position within that system; the political situation in pre-Islamic Arabia; the history of Mecca; and pre-Islamic Arabian religions. Chapters 3-5 cover the beginnings of the revelations that Muhammad claimed to be receiving from Allah, paying special attention to the influence on Muhammad of the hanifs, a group of pre-Islamic pagan monotheists attested in the earliest Islamic sources. The hanifs claimed to trace their religion back to the putative original monotheism of Abraham, from which they claimed Jews and Christians had deviated by, among other things, abandoning animal sacrifice. Chapter 6 explains how Muhammad’s religious message included a thinly-veiled claim to have the right to political power over Mecca, a claim that exacerbated tensions with his own clan and led eventually to his expulsion from Mecca, as recounted in Chapter 7. Chapters 8-10 describe the impact of the hijra on the evolution of Islam. Seeing himself as the true heir to Abraham and the prophets who followed him, Muhammad would demand allegiance from Jews and Christians, as recounted in Sura 2 and other Medinan suras. He would initiate a war against Mecca, not in self-defense, but in order to gain control over the Kaaba, the central hanif shrine and the new qibla or direction of prayer for the Muslims. The Muslim victory at the Battle of Badr in 624 would help to shape a new ideal of a militarized religiosity in which those who waged war under Muhammad’s command would attain the rank of “true believers,” while those converts who refused to make hijra and to fight for Muhammad were relegated to the lower rank of “mere Muslims,” as Suras 8 and 49 make clear. Muhammad’s war against Mecca alienated many of his Medinan followers, the ansar. The refusal of the Jews to convert to Islam, combined with the close connection of the Jews to the ansar, led Muhammad to make war on the Jews as well as the Meccans. The surrender of Mecca in 630 (Chapter 11) did not lead to the end of war, for the aggressiveness and military success of Muhammad’s movement had made it attractive to a slew of new converts whose desire for booty had to be placated. Sura 9, promulgated near the end of Muhammad’s life, served as a broad declaration of war against polytheists, Jews, and Christians. Chapter 12 describes the evolution of Islam late in Muhammad’s life into a “religious warriors’ movement” that sought to extend the rule of Islam over the entire inhabited world. Chapter 13 covers the final pilgrimage and death of Muhammad, while Chapters 14-20 describe the development of Islamic dogma surrounding the figure of Muhammad and its implications for politics in the Islamic world and interfaith relations with non-Muslims up till the present day. The book concludes with appendices in which Nagel summarizes the state of scholarship regarding the life of Muhammad (Appendix 2) and the tensions between competing varieties of Muslim recollection of Muhammad (Appendix 3). Muhammad’s Mission: Religion, Politics, and Power at the Birth of Islam is an erudite and authoritative guide to events of world-historical importance by a scholar who has spent a lifetime mastering the primary sources documenting the birth of Islam.

Busy administrators will appreciate this quick read packed with immediate, accessible strategies. This book provides the framework for understanding dynamic relationships within a school culture and ensuring a positive environment that supports the changes necessary to improve learning for all students. The author explores many aspects of human behavior, social conditions, and history to reveal best practices for building healthy school cultures.

This endlessly informative history brings the classical Islamic world to lifeIn this accessibly written history, Amira K. Bennison contradicts the common assumption that Islam somehow interrupted the smooth flow of Western civilization from its Graeco-Roman origins to its more recent European and American manifestations. Instead, she places Islamic civilization in the longer trajectory of Mediterranean civilizations and sees the ‘Abbasid Empire (750–1258 CE) as the inheritor and interpreter of Graeco-Roman traditions.At its zenith the ‘Abbasid caliphate stretched over the entire Middle East and part of North Africa, and influenced Islamic regimes as far west as Spain. Bennison’s examination of the politics, society, and culture of the ‘Abbasid period presents a picture of a society that nurtured many of the “civilized” values that Western civilization claims to represent, albeit in different premodern forms: from urban planning and international trade networks to religious pluralism and academic research. Bennison’s argument counters the common Western view of Muslim culture as alien and offers a new perspective on the relationship between Western and Islamic cultures.

Kecia Ali delves into the many ways the Prophet’s life story has been told from the earliest days of Islam to the present, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Emphasizing the major transformations since the nineteenth century, she shows that far from being mutually opposed, these various perspectives have become increasingly interdependent.

The Lotus Sutra proclaims that a unitary intent underlies the diversity of Buddhist teachings and promises that all people without exception can achieve supreme awakening. Establishing the definitive guide to this profound text, specialists in Buddhist philosophy, art, and history of religion address the major ideas and controversies surrounding the Lotus Sutra and its manifestations in ritual performance, ascetic practice, visual representations, and social action across history. Essays survey the Indian context in which the sutra was produced, its compilation and translation history, and its influence across China and Japan, among many other issues. The volume also includes a Chinese and Japanese character glossary, notes on Western translations of the text, and a synoptic bibliography.

A biography of Muhammad, the founder of Islam.