The First Muslims: History and Memory

by Asma Afsaruddin

Overview

A fresh look at the origins and development of Islam, this is a fascinating reconstruction of the era of the first three generations of Muslims. Using a wealth of classical Arabic sources, it chronicles the lives of the Prophet Muhammad, his Companions, and the subsequent two generations of Muslims, together known as the "the Pious Forebears". Examining the adoption in contemporary times of these early Muslims as legitimizing figureheads for a variety of causes, both religious and political, Afsaruddin tries to establish where their sympathies really lay. Essential reading for anyone interested in the inception of the Islam, this important book will captivate the general reader and student alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781851684977
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	10/01/2007
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.85(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Asma Afsaruddin is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. She is the author of /Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Writing about the "First Muslims"
Chapter One: The Rise of Islam and Life of the Prophet Muhammad
Chapter Two: The Issue of Succession to the Prophet
Chapter Three: The Age of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs
Chapter Four: the End of Rightly-Guided Leadership
Chapter Five: The Age of the Companions
Chapter Six: The Age of the Successors
Chapter Seven: The Successors to the Successors I: Administration, Leadership, and Jihad
Chapter Eight: The Successors to the Successors II: Education, Humanism, and Mystical Spirituality
Chapter Nine: Constructing the Pious Forbears: Historical Memory and the Present. Part One: The Islamist Construction
Chapter Ten: Constructing the Pious Forbears: Historical Memory and the Present. Part Two: The Significance of the Salaf al-Salih for the Modernists
Chapter Eleven: Assessment of Islamist and Modernist Views
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"Helpful and clarifying... A clearly written and argued work"

Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies (FAS William Graham - Dean (Harvard Divinity School)

"Well-researched and measured. An eloquent and cogent explanation of the historical roots and meanings of many key concepts relevant to today's discussion of contemporary Islam, including the role of jihad in the Islamic tradition. Her book should be required reading for any Muslim or non-Muslim who mistakenly believes the faith is immutable."

Washington Post

"An outstanding, panoramic view of the development of the early Muslim community and its leading intellectual figures."

Roy Mottahedeh

"A splendid piece of forensic scholarship. Highly readable and aptly revisionist, this book will be as welcome for novice non-Muslims as for devout believers."

Duke University and author of 'The Bruce Lawrence - Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Professor of Religion

"This attractive and readable book", "Afsaruddin has a clear argument, and her passion and commitment to the modernist position shine through"

Speculum - A Journal of Medieval Studies

"A nuanced and erudite portrait of early Muslim lives and ideas. This is a rich and much-needed text. Its range of scholarship, balanced statements and acute sense of the past and the present makes it required reading for both specialists and non-specialists."

The Times Higher Educational Supplement

"A thoughtful, critically informed reading of Islam's early history from a modernist perspective."

Choice

"Well-researched and measured. An eloquent and cogent explanation of the historical roots and meanings of many key concepts relevant to today's discussion of contemporary Islam, including the role of jihad in the Islamic tradition. Her book should be required reading for any Muslim or non-Muslim who mistakenly believes the faith is immutable."

Washington Post

In The First Muslims, Asma Afsaruddin, a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame, offers an eloquent and cogent explanation of the historical roots and meanings of many key concepts relevant to today's discussion of contemporary Islam, including the role of jihad in the Islamic tradition…Her book should be required reading for any Muslim or non-Muslim who mistakenly believes the faith is immutable.
—The Washington Post

Geneive Abdo