Best known as the founder of a major religion, Muhammad was also Islams first great general. While there have been numerous accounts of Muhammad the Prophet, this is the first military biography of the man.
In Muhammad: Islams First Great General, Richard A. Gabriel shows us a warrior never before seen in antiquitya leader of an all-new religious movement who in a single decade fought eight major battles, led eighteen raids, and planned thirty-eight other military operations. Gabriels study portrays Muhammad as a revolutionary who introduced military innovations that transformed armies and warfare throughout the Arab world.
Gabriel analyzes the environment in which Muhammad lived and the religion he inspired as they relate to his military achievements. Gabriel explains how Muhammad changed the social composition of Arab armies by replacing traditional ways of fighting with a new command structure.
Muhammads transformation of Arab warfare enabled his successors to establish the core of the Islamic empirean accomplishment that, Gabriel argues, would have been militarily impossible without Muhammads innovations. Richard A. Gabriel challenges existing scholarship on Muhammads place in history and offers a viewpoint not previously attempted.
