Reviewed
by:
Dr
M Zaki Kirmani
The
First Muslim: The story of Muhammad
by Lasely Hazleton is an Atlantic Book product of 2013. Quite a challenging
work really for Muslim Scholarship by a Western Scholar of Jewish origin. The
book can well be described somewhere between love, and
objectively imaginative analysis of, a human being who was adorned by divine
care and chosen as a prophet. Lasely’s
is a successful narrative of this unique character, as it strikes wonderful
balance between what is from divine and what is on account of human
imperfection and frailties . It has been a very difficult task indeed
as most of the books on Seerah by
Muslim scholars have generally
been not so successful in defining Mohammad. They have been overwhelmed by the
idea of his divine protection, realizing little that it becomes a psychological
barrier for emulation by common human folks. His entire achievements become God’s acts and even his sufferings and sacrifices sometimes fail
to impress upon because of this underlying divine patronage. On occasions I
have personally experienced and even harbored such feelings towards prophet and
prophethood. This rather over emphasis on divine relation of Muhammad serves to
dampen our attachment with him. And constant Quranic reminder that God has sent
you a prophet, from amongst you and in him is the best model for you to
emulate, fails to unfold its real meaning. Ironically, popular books on seerah
in Urdu and English, authored by Muslims fail to pay attention to this aspect.
Conscious or unconscious emphasis on divine patronage no doubt succeeds to
strengthen our faith in Muhammad’s
prophethood but emulation of his actions becomes a distant objective. This is
here Lasely Hazleton is spectacularly successful and easily establishes her
superiority over several Muslim biographers
of the Prophet.
An orphan even
before birth and the story that Abdul Muttalib, the grandfather, was about to
sacrifice his father Abdullah, and then very early departure of his mother must
have played very important role in his upbringing and making him more serious
and sober than the children of his age. This is so natural and close to our
general experience and observation that one hasn’t got to be a future prophet for such a character in early
age. Desirous of marrying his first cousin Umme Hani, but finally settling with
a forty year old widow throws ample light on the nature of his ‘desire’
and a longing for someone to take care of him; which he missed in the childhood.
Khadijah sufficed him both as till she was alive, Muhammad needed no other.
Lasely throws
ample light on the religio-social structure of society Muhammad was born in.
Significance of forefathers, and the role of elders of the clans in pagan
religious doctrine that thrived in then Makkah and tribes around, in providing protection to its members is
explained in an easily perceptible manner. Abu Talib being the leader of
Hashmiete clan, the protection Muhammad enjoyed was a part of tradition of
social structure of Arabs. Life threatening situation he faced on the death of
Abu Talib, which became severe when Abu Lehab, the new leader, withdrew
protection on him was primarily responsible for his journey to Taif. This
narrative is so comprehensive and impressive that increased vulnerability of
Muhammad to the tyrannies of Quresh makes it a human need to search a new
protector. His journey to Taif was a desperate attempt of a man in danger and
under threat. Described as a journey for Dawah by majority of biographers,
fails to evoke the feeling that Lasely’s
narrative does.
Gap of two
years between first and second revelation and consequent psychological distress
and pain Muhammad experienced is beautifully explained in terms of pure human
experience of the joy of being chosen and the agony of being neglected and
ignored. The revelation, as recorded by eye witnesses, being a body shaking
experience can’t, in normal
circumstances be yearned for. However, the accompanying joy of being chosen by
God, long delay in resumption of communication with Him raised many questions
in Muhammad’s mind. The thought
that perhaps he has now been discarded was so agonizing that he even thought of
ending the life itself. This be it,the episodes of migration to Madina, battles
fought there, and then the policies of interaction among different people
residing in the new city, all exhibit a character, wisdom, insight and
intelligence of extremely high and extraordinary superior degree. In spite of
divine assurance of help and protection, nothing super-natural was seen when
Muhammad and his followers were in distress or faced trouble during individual
or collective struggles. By so doing, individual traits and qualities were
encouraged to grow and attain highest possible standards leading to the most
perfect character in history. Super human characters never evoke a longing for
emulation. They can be models only when they are from amongst human beings and
experience humanly. Miracles do not help build humans rather they restrict
their dependence on something other than knowledge and intellect. That is why
Muhammad and his followers were always encouraged for self belief which was
nothing but belief in God.
This book by
Lasely Hazleton superbly describes Muhammad’s successes and failure of his humanly life both in Makkah
and Madina and thus makes him most distinguished character in history. However,
being a Jewish author and of Western origin, the kind of reverence that Muslims
have for Muhammad in particular and other prophets in general, should not be
expected of her. But there is nothing derogatory either. Another, rather more
important aspect of the book is related to certain controversial references
some of which are unknown, and some others have not been taken seriously by
majority of Islamic scholars and historians. For example on page 97, she says
that in a meeting with the elders of Quresh Muhammad declared Ali, a ten year
old young lad then, as his successor and asked everybody present, including Ali’s father, to follow him. That not only it bears no reference
of source, it also seems unfounded and totally out of place, because neither it
was an occasion for such a declaration nor was the environment suitable for
such utterance. Massacre of Qureyz, as an aftermath of the battle of trenches,
on the decision of Saad bin Maaz(p. 234) has been a debatable issue among the
historians. Lasely however thinks that Muhammad found it difficult to himself
take such a hard decision and conspired with Maaz to do the job. Unfortunately Lasely fails to point out that
Maaz’s decision was in
conformity with the cherished tradition of Torah. She also fails to realize
that the behavior of Qurayz during the battle of trenches might have done havoc
to Muslims of Madina. Their total disregard to their contract with Muhammad to
stand together with Muslims in the event of attack from enemy was bound to
invite reaction from the emerging political authority.
Similarly she
seems selective to mention that Muhammad chose to meet the delegation of Najran
Christians only in the company of Ali, Fatima and their two sons with their
heads covered under the cloke, and this made them believe in the truth of
Muhammad. There are other reports which suggest that the delegates asked him
several questions and went back without declaring their conversion. They were
convinced though but declared only after going back home and narrating their
experience to the elders of their community which they were representing.
There are more
such examples going against generally accepted opinions. However, overall
narrative is highly positive. If at all she has gone against, that is based on
her unbiased and unprejudiced understanding of the event under consideration.
She is at her best in her criticism on the Satanic Verses and the stand taken
by William Muir and Salaman Rushdi. Acknowledging the possibility of Satanic
intervention in the revelation, she reinforces Muhammad’s credibility as a prophet, by mentioning that he himself
accepted and acknowledged such a possibility but explained how to differentiate
the truth with the falsehood.
As said in the
beginning, this book projects Muhammad as a human being, fallible and prone to
mistakes as humans are. This is just in accordance with the Quran which says
that you have been sent with a prophet from amongst you and that he is the best
model for you. A fallible human being can emulate only an individual who is
like him. A super human can’t
be an attraction for him.
Lasely
Hazleton says that Muhammad was gifted with a great quality of converting his
mistakes into success and failures into opportunities. She does take Muhammad
as a prophet but truly in the tradition of the Bible of our time. The standard
of dignity and reverence, Muslims may find wanting. Overall it is superb
narrative and highly inviting to love him more and seeking to emulate him.
Perhaps no such book can be found in Urdu, I am sure.
