Muhammad and the Empires of Faith - by Sean W Anthony (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This work offers a fresh assessment of the sources for the prophet Muhammad's life, integrating the earliest non-Muslim and documentary sources with the earliest prophetic biographies written in Arabic during the eighth-ninth centuries C.E. By placing these sources within the intellectual and cultural world of Late Antiquity, the author carves out a methodological approach to studying the historical Muhammad that, though reliant on the methods of critical historical scholarship, strikes a balance between revisionist historical skepticism and naèive historical realism"--

Book Synopsis

In Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, Sean W. Anthony demonstrates how critical readings of non-Muslim and Muslim sources in tandem can breathe new life into the historical study of Muhammad and how his message transformed the world. By placing these sources within the intellectual and cultural world of Late Antiquity, Anthony offers a fresh assessment of the earliest sources for Muhammad's life, taking readers on a grand tour of the available evidence, and suggests what new insights stand to be gained from the techniques and methods pioneered by countless scholars over the decades in a variety of fields. Muhammad and the Empires of Faith offers both an authoritative introduction to the multilayered traditions surrounding the life of Muhammad and a compelling exploration of how these traditions interacted with the broader landscape of Late Antiquity.

From the Back Cover

"Sean Anthony has written a marvelous book: deeply learned and engaging, it advances and deepens the discussion of how we should think about the ways Muslims remembered Muhammad and the relationship of the stories they told to the broader world in which Islam developed. I couldn't put it down."--Jack Tannous, author of The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers

"Sean Anthony breathes fresh insight into the study of the biography of Muhammad. His persistence in hunting down little-known sources and competence in analyzing well-worn texts make this an innovative work that has much to offer both neophytes and experts."--Robert Hoyland, Professor of Middle East History, New York University

Review Quotes

"This book should be required reading for any scholar or graduate student of early Islam or Late Antiquity."-- "Journal of the American Academy of Religion"

"This carefully researched book provides a thorough analysis . . . [as well as] a new perspective on the study of Muhammad and makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature. Recommended." -- "CHOICE"

About the Author

Sean W. Anthony is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University and author of The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the Origins of Shiism and Crucifixion and Death as Spectacle: Umayyad Crucifixion in its Late Antique Context.