The Emergence of Islam Classical Traditions in Contemporary Perspective By Gabriel Said Reynolds (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012. 226 pages.)

Abstract

Gabriel Said Reynolds’ The Emergence of Islam, with a new interpretation and
new (although somewhat critical and controversial) insights, is an illustrated,
lucidly, and comprehensively contribution to the study and history of the “emergence”
of Islam. Usually such an account is rather “straightforward,” whereas
the question of “how much of this story is historically accurate” is “less straightforward”
(p. ix). The book’s three parts – “The Prophet Muhammad and the
Rightly Guided Caliphs” (chapters 1 through 3), “The Qur’an” (chapters 4
through7), and “Contemporary Perspectives” (chapter 8) – discuss the emergence
of Islamic history from its origins to the contemporary views ...