LESLEY HAZLETON

The extraordinary life of the man who founded Islam, and the world he inhabited--and remade. Muhammad's was a life of almost unparalleled historical importance; yet for all the iconic power of his name, the intensely dramatic story of the prophet of Islam is not well known. In "The First Muslim," Lesley Hazleton brings him vibrantly to life. Drawing on early eyewitness sources and on history, politics, religion, and psychology, she renders him as a man in full, in all his complexity and vitality. Hazleton's account follows the arc of Muhammad's rise from powerlessness to power, from anonymity to renown, from insignificance to lasting significance. How did a child shunted to the margins end up revolutionizing his world? How did a merchant come to challenge the established order with a new vision of social justice? How did the pariah hounded out of Mecca turn exile into a new and victorious beginning? How did the outsider become the ultimate insider? Impeccably researched and thrillingly readable, Hazleton's narrative creates vivid insight into a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, nonviolence and violence, rejection and acclaim. "The First Muslim "illuminates not only an immensely significant figure but his lastingly relevant legacy.

¿Es María la mujer más olvidada de la Historia? ¿Se han intentado ocultar datos sobre su vida? ¿Por qué era tan importante que la Madre de Dios fuera virgen? María, una niña de trece años, curandera como su abuela y conocedora de los secretos de las plantas medicinales, ayuda a las mujeres a traer niños al mundo o evitar que suceda... María es también la Virgen, la mujer más famosa del mundo, la Madre del Mesías. ¿Cómo se reconcilia el mito religioso con la vida de una aldea en la Galilea del año 4 a C.?