MUHAMMAD

by Maxime Rodinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 30, 1980

A reissue of an intelligent popular biography, with a new Foreword and Introduction of no particular interest. Professor Rodinson, a Sorbonne Arabist, first wrote the book in 1961 and revised it in '68 (Anne Carter's fine translation came out three years later). Except for Muslim fundamentalists, no one will object to its reappearance. Rodinson's narrative is quite readable, briskly paced and astringently witty; and while he never hides his vigorous atheism, he doesn't let it stop him from giving credit where it's due. He claims to feel a ""sincere admiration for the Prophet of Islam,"" but most of this feeling is directed towards Muhammad the warrior, politician, and religious genius--Muhammad the man comes in for some hard lumps. In the best Voltairean tradition Rodinson delights in exposing his subject's all too human amorous, acquisitive, vengeful nature. He mocks the special revelation granted by Allah enabling Muhammad to break with custom and add his adoptive son's wife to his own growing harem. When his army seized the lands and houses of the Jews of Medina, ""the Prophet did not forget himself in the distribution"" of the spoils. When a satiric poetess attacked Muhammad in verse, he had her murdered while she lay asleep with her children. The killer's exploit, Rodinson dryly notes, ""is listed by the chroniclers among Muhammad's 'expeditions.'"" For all his greatness, then, the Prophet was still a barbarian in a barbaric age. One may argue about Rodinson's harshly reductionist view, but at least it's vivid and informative. On the other hand, the 40-odd pages of new material, and especially the Introduction, ""From Muhammad to the Political Islam of Today,"" are dull and abstract, largely boiling down to a denial of connections between normative Islam and the ""vicissitudes of power"" in Islamic nations. Despite this, a trenchant and (of course) timely piece of scholarship.

Pub Date: May 30, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION