A review by misspalah
The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad by Lesley Hazleton
4.0
“The best of humankind was him but Human, he still was”.
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I’ve picked up ‘After the prophet : Sunni - Shia split” earlier this year and i have been meaning to read Lesley Hazleton’s other book, The First Muslim but i havent got the time. Now i am on a break and i decided to read this book. Before i begin my review, let me put a disclaimer that this review belongs to my opinion alone and how i perceive this book / Prophet Muhmmad (PBUH) might be different from other muslims. I like this book but not as much as i love “After The Prophet”. One summary i could give is the book premises is on the assumption of thoughts and reasons of The Prophet’s life either his actions or his manners. While most of his manners and actions have been cited and referenced properly, all these thoughts are not as they are merely based on conjecture. The reason i enjoyed this book while others are not as i have followed few Lesley Hazleton discourses on youtube and i find that her approach in humanizing the prophet is refreshing (though i have to stress here that i dont agree with all of her analysis). As Lesley talk in her Ted Talk Video, her approach in writing this book is to write it in a human view hence the engagement of of emotion and feeling of the subject matter is valid. As someone who have learned “Sirah” from “Sekolah Agama Rakyat” and somewhat has been ingrained with the history of the prophet since i was young, reading this give me another perspective of the Prophet. Its like you have all this jigsaw puzzles scattered around and the more you read more books about Him (PBUH), the more you find the right pieces of puzzle to connect each to his stories. I have to admit that this book can be slightly uncomfortable reading for Muslims. However, just take a moment to be aware that of all the protagonists are human beings - They all have emotional and political biases. This is where i started to realize that the whole journey from an orphan to an outcast to a leader and eventually it took me on a different feel and it is hard to ignore it as many of the events are supported by the Bukhari and Muslim sources. I need to point out that majority of the goodreads reviews given by those who've read this book highly recommended Karen Armstrong's book - Muhammad : A prophet of our time compared to Lesley Hazelton's The First Muslim (presumably that they have read both books). I, on the other hand, haven't read anything of Karen Armstrong hence I cannot make a comparison of both books. Overall, i find this book easy to follow and enlightening (especially on the appeal of humanizing The Prophet (PBUH). Despite that, i would not recommend this book if you are not ready to venture outside or beyond of what you have learned and known of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). If you are ready, then go ahead.
.
.
I’ve picked up ‘After the prophet : Sunni - Shia split” earlier this year and i have been meaning to read Lesley Hazleton’s other book, The First Muslim but i havent got the time. Now i am on a break and i decided to read this book. Before i begin my review, let me put a disclaimer that this review belongs to my opinion alone and how i perceive this book / Prophet Muhmmad (PBUH) might be different from other muslims. I like this book but not as much as i love “After The Prophet”. One summary i could give is the book premises is on the assumption of thoughts and reasons of The Prophet’s life either his actions or his manners. While most of his manners and actions have been cited and referenced properly, all these thoughts are not as they are merely based on conjecture. The reason i enjoyed this book while others are not as i have followed few Lesley Hazleton discourses on youtube and i find that her approach in humanizing the prophet is refreshing (though i have to stress here that i dont agree with all of her analysis). As Lesley talk in her Ted Talk Video, her approach in writing this book is to write it in a human view hence the engagement of of emotion and feeling of the subject matter is valid. As someone who have learned “Sirah” from “Sekolah Agama Rakyat” and somewhat has been ingrained with the history of the prophet since i was young, reading this give me another perspective of the Prophet. Its like you have all this jigsaw puzzles scattered around and the more you read more books about Him (PBUH), the more you find the right pieces of puzzle to connect each to his stories. I have to admit that this book can be slightly uncomfortable reading for Muslims. However, just take a moment to be aware that of all the protagonists are human beings - They all have emotional and political biases. This is where i started to realize that the whole journey from an orphan to an outcast to a leader and eventually it took me on a different feel and it is hard to ignore it as many of the events are supported by the Bukhari and Muslim sources. I need to point out that majority of the goodreads reviews given by those who've read this book highly recommended Karen Armstrong's book - Muhammad : A prophet of our time compared to Lesley Hazelton's The First Muslim (presumably that they have read both books). I, on the other hand, haven't read anything of Karen Armstrong hence I cannot make a comparison of both books. Overall, i find this book easy to follow and enlightening (especially on the appeal of humanizing The Prophet (PBUH). Despite that, i would not recommend this book if you are not ready to venture outside or beyond of what you have learned and known of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). If you are ready, then go ahead.