Book Review on Mohammad and Believers

Book Review on Mohammad and Believers

¹Donner Fred. “Mohammad and Believers: At the origin of believers (2010). Harvard University Press, London.

Book summary

The book by Fred Donner has provided a vivid description of the religious, social, and political movements during the early years, which would expand its popularity base to a significant international religion. Donner Fred’s (2010) ambitions in his book have a precise focus yet simple. His primary intentions were to bring into limelight the western Islamic studies, which are presented based on sociopolitical and nationalistic aspects. In his book, Donner Fred (2010) opines that the overall belief of Muslims and Islam started as a movement of followers who would strictly adhere to the provision of the religion. The believer’s motive was to stand firm while waiting for God’s final Judgment.

Summary for the five chapters

The first chapter portrays the pre-Islamic world in the ancient near the east, which was ruled by persisting and vast empires with diverse existing religious visions. The Byzantines originated both in the northern and western, which is renowned for being the birthplace of Islam, and they were successors of the Roman Empire. There were Christian realm and the Persian Empire, which would be expanded by the believers (Donner Fred, 2010). The second chapter provides us with the bibliography of Muhammad as well the challenges people experienced while sourcing materials concerning the ancient days. Donner Fred (2010) advises historians to expound on traditional sources since some seem not to be helpful. However, some of the materials are still valid because they were published for various reasons. Besides, the second chapter provides an overview of the prophet’s life, claims, and struggles of receiving revelations from God. The section enlightens that the believer’s devotion to prayers and adherence to laws was the central driver to future development.     

The third chapter of the book explains how the various movements expanded rapidly within a short period of time. Donner Fred (2010) confirms that the movements grew, even though there were interruptions from multiple countries, including Spain and India. The chapter begins with the conquest of Mecca during the political amalgamation of the city under Muhammad. In this chapter, we learn about the death of Muhammad and how Abu Bark succeeded his power. Section four explains the struggle for power and succession after the end of Muhammad, whereby the commanders, Abu Bar, and Uthman competed in a view to take over the control (Donner Fred, 2010). The chapter attracts much attention after the assassination of Uthman and the conflict between Shiite and Sunni communities, which created a long life fracture in the healthy living of communities.

Chapter five is pivotal in outlining Donner Fred’s (2010) opinions while he was presenting the history of the movement. Donner illustrates how a movement which began as mere monotheistic religion developed to an empire of Islam. The coming of last Judgment in the holy city was marked by the building of Dome, which is a rock in Jerusalem. Donner relates his final remarks to the centralization of Arabic identity as well as codification and clarification of Islamic practice. Again he focused more on the rejection of Trinitarian opinions by the Islamic aristocracy (Donner Fred, 2010). Overly, Donner’s much interest was to describe the loss of ancient monotheistic unity to Islam, which is now definite and at odds with Abrahamic faiths.

Comparison with the other readings

“Mohammad and believers” by Fred Donner and “Fighting Slave Trade” by Sylyane Dioufu seem to be comparable in various aspects. The two books seem to address similar issues in the sense that both detail defensive, offensive, and protective strategies that communities could apply to defend themselves from salve trade and civil war.  Diouf’s book presents strategies that would be used to secure the town from the Atlantic slave trade, while that of Donner Fred (2010) describes how Islam could seek power and guidance from religion during the ancient time to prevent civil war. In his book, Dioufu challenges the myths towards Africans passivity and confirms that human resistance to enslavement was far much pervasive than what is provided in the historical interpretation of events. On the other hand, Donner focuses on interpreting how people lost ancient monotheistic unity to Islam, which is now definite and at odds with Abrahamic faiths.

The rationale of the book to students

I would enjoy mastering the content provided in the book to have a clear view of Islamic origin. Again, I would enjoy reading the book to learn the various strategies which were applied during the ancient time to prevent civil war and power succession struggles. The content provided in the book can not only be significant to historical specialists but also college students because it describes the religious, social, and political movements during the early years. The book can be beneficial to students in providing an overview of how various campaigns, including Islamic, were developed.

Conclusion

Overall, the book has provided a vivid description regarding the origin of Islamic religion, social and political movements during the early years. It is, however, worth noting that Donner did not give ways in which the Islamic religion has triggered odds against the Abrahamic faiths.

Reference

Donner Fred. “Mohammad and Believers: At the origin of believers (2010). Harvard University Press, London.