Muhammad: Islam's First Great General

by Richard A. Gabriel

Overview

That Muhammad succeeded as a prophet is undeniable; a prominent military historian now suggests that he might not have done so had he not also been a great soldier.

Best known as the founder of a major religion, Muhammad was also Islam’s first great general. While there have been numerous accounts of Muhammad the Prophet, this is the first military biography of the man.

In Muhammad: Islam’s First Great General, Richard A. Gabriel shows us a warrior never before seen in antiquity—a leader of an all-new religious movement who in a single decade fought eight major battles, led eighteen raids, and planned thirty-eight other military operations. Gabriel’s study portrays Muhammad as a revolutionary who introduced military innovations that transformed armies and warfare throughout the Arab world.

Gabriel analyzes the environment in which Muhammad lived and the religion he inspired as they relate to his military achievements. Gabriel explains how Muhammad changed the social composition of Arab armies by replacing traditional ways of fighting with a new command structure.

Muhammad’s transformation of Arab warfare enabled his successors to establish the core of the Islamic empire—an accomplishment that, Gabriel argues, would have been militarily impossible without Muhammad’s innovations. Richard A. Gabriel challenges existing scholarship on Muhammad’s place in history and offers a viewpoint not previously attempted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806138602
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	09/14/2007
Series:	Campaigns and Commanders Series , #11
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Richard A. Gabriel, a historian, is Adjunct Professor of Humanities and Ethics at Daniel Webster College. He is the author of forty books, including The Great Battles of Antiquity, The Great Armies of Antiquity, and Great Captains of Antiquity.

Table of Contents

List of Maps     xi
Important Dates     xiii
Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction     xvii
The Land of Arabia     3
The Strategic Setting     11
Arab Warfare     23
Muhammad     53
Insurgency     61
Battle of Badr     86
Battle of Uhud     108
Battle of the Ditch     131
Battles of Kheibar and Mu'ta     152
Conquest of Mecca     166
Battle of Hunayn     178
The Tabuk Expedition and the Death of Muhammad     191
Muhammad's Military Legacy     205
Notes     221
Bibliography     241
Index     245

Editorial Reviews

Gabriel brilliantly succeeds in detailing the military life of the Prophet Muhammad while expertly discussing the substantial interconnection of war, politics, and religion. He makes a convincing argument that it was not simply Muhammad’s military accomplishments but his fundamental transformation of military and cultural life that allowed his successors to triumph over Persia and Byzantium and further Islam.”—Foreword

From the Publisher