Muhammad and the Course of Islam (Paperback)

by Hasan Balyuzi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A sympathetic account of a world religion whose adherents today number over 500 million. This book contains a full biography of the Prophet and a history of Islam from the years of His mission to the nineteenth century.

Product Details

• Paperback: 475 pages
• Publisher: George Ronald (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0853980608
• ISBN-13: 978-0853980605
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,117,938 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the history of Islam, March 19, 2002

By A Customer

I read this book 2 years ago and was fascinated by the detail on the life of Mohammad and the history of Arabs and their conquests post-Islam. I recommend this to anyone interested in history and learning about the events that led to Islam becoming one of the major religions of the world today. Unfortunately this book was out of print for a while and I am glad to see it is back.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent history of Islam and bio of Muhammad, September 21, 2004

By	Emilia Lanier "Emilia" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This is a well-researched and excellent history of Islam. Verses from the Qur'an are included in such a way as to make the Qur'an itself more understandable to the Western non-Muslim reader. The most refreshing aspect of the work is its lack of reliance on many of the old axe-grinding sources that lead the Westerner down a road not to further understanding of one of the world's great religions, but rather to a dismissal of millions of people as deranged fanatics.

To the reader of Islamic history, the author's Persian extraction does come through a bit in his depiction of the status of Ali as the rightful successor of Muhammad. I imagine Sunni Muslims would take issue with that point of view, but still this history is one of the best that I've seen over the years.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear explanation of Islam and its history, April 16, 2005

By	Thomas A. Buckingham (Bratislava) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It has been several years since I read this book, but I still recall how clear it was. It provides a detailed yet comprehensible history of Muhammad and the time in which He lived. Some of the events in the early history of Islam are dramatic and make for an interesting read. Verses from the Koran are included and explained. This book is particularly valuable to the Western reader.