Kamran Pasha

I have to come clean and say I was a little reluctant about reading this book. I picked it up not really expecting to get that into it as I usually avoid books revolving around religions. So imagine my shock when I did not want to stop reading this book. My disclaimer is I know extremely little about Islam and cannot agree or disagree with how characters or beliefs were treated. That said I did get completely drawn into Aisha’s story and could not wait to finish the book.

I did find certain show more parts disturbing like the fact that Aisha was only 9 years old when she marries Muhammad. Somehow it just seemed wrong to have her sleeping with him on one page and then playing with her toy horses in another. I also don’t know if Pasha meant to portray Muhammad in this way but the way he went about collecting his wives just ticked me off. I mean I can’t judge, maybe he did really have these revelations that he should marry so and so but to me he just seemed to make excuses that would allow him to marry and lie with women that caught his eye. Not the sort of behavior I would expect from a messenger of God.

Both of these issues were outweighed by the intricate dances Muhammad had to dance in order to protect his followers and spread word of this new religion. If you really think about how hard it is for new religions to really god mainstream and then go on to become a dominant force within such a short period of time it is mind blowing. I think even readers who are not religious will enjoy this story. show less

Few will argue the old cliché that there are "two sides to every story," or that truth requires consideration of both sides, especially when it comes to the study of written history. The tendency of history textbooks to present only one point-of-view brings to mind the famous Winston Churchill quote, "History is written by the victors." But the "victors," unfortunately, tell us only what they want us to know, and the losers generally have lost their right to argue the point.

Kamran Pasha's show more "Shadow of the Swords" is an opportunity for Western readers to look at the bloody Third Crusade of the late twelfth century through the eyes of Saladin, commander of the Muslim forces in Palestine at the time of Richard the Lionheart's invasion of the region. Note, however, that portions of the book are written from Richard's point-of-view, although Saladin's character remains the most influential one throughout the book.

Most intriguingly, at the time of Richard's quest to recover the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslim "infidels," the relative strengths and weaknesses of the European and Muslim worlds were near opposites of what they are today. The twelfth century Muslim world was well ahead of its European counterpart in the areas of science, mathematics, medicine, government and weaponry. Despite this, Europeans generally considered Muslims to be little more than barbaric infidels with no right to occupy the Holy Land, especially the city of Jerusalem. As Saladin and his people saw it, Richard the Lionheart was the terrorist of his day, leader of an army seeking to destroy Muslim and Jew, alike, in the name of Christianity. More than 800 years later, the roles and positions of the two cultures have largely reversed.

Just three years before, Saladin had successfully rid Jerusalem of the Christian army that had controlled it for so long. Now, while Saladin continues to fight remnants of that army along the coast, Jerusalem is a peaceful city within which people of all faiths live and work in relative harmony. Saladin, a bit surprised at how quickly the Europeans have been able to place such a large army in Palestine to challenge him, realizes that he and his people are faced again with a war that might very well change the course of history. This fight, though, is as much about Saladin vs. Richard the Lionheart as it is about huge conflicting armies and religious differences.

Pasha uses a combination of historical and fictional characters to tell his story. And his fictional characters are so vividly painted, and his historical ones so well fleshed, that it can be difficult for the reader to remember which are real and which are made up. Pasha, very helpfully, explains which are which in an attachment to the end of the book that also puts much of the story into its historical context. "Shadow of the Swords" is eye-opening historical fiction cloaked in a love story involving Miriam, the niece of Saladin's Jewish advisor and doctor, Maimonides. Fate gives Miriam a chance to charm both leaders and she makes the most of her opportunity, eagerly playing the spy on Saladin's behalf. The inclusion of a fictional character like Miriam allows Pasha to create more complete personalities for Saladin and Richard so that there is a very personal aspect to their clash as the two men meet on the biggest world stage of their day.

Readers may find this one to be a little bit of a slow-starter (and some may, perhaps, even be a little put off at first by the point-of-view from which it is written). Do not, however, give up on this one too early; if you do, you are going to miss out on one heck of an adventure and a very painless history lesson.

Rated at: 5.0 show less

Let me preface this "review" of my thoughts by stating that there were times when I had personal religious "issues" with this book, but had to tell myself to put all of that aside and simply read this as just a good story. So that's what I tried to do.

The story is told by the central character Aisha, who is known as the "Mother of the Believers", as she was the wife of the prophet Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim religion.

Aisha is an intelligent and strong-willed young child when we are show more introduced to her. Her father is one of the first followers of Muhammad, The Messenger of God who brought the Muslim religion to the world. The Messenger has a vision that reveals to him that Aisha is to be his wife. By their cultural "rules", Aisha cannot be married to him until she begins her cycles, which is at the tender age of nine.

The story goes on to follow the early years of the Muslim religion-- the battles that occurred, both on the field and in the private lives of The Messenger and his family and followers.

Moments of this book were very difficult to read. There were moments of incredible brutality, and most disturbing is knowing that this is not fantastical brutality, but that these are the types of things that do commonly occur in some other countries, especially areas like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Aisha's character is strong, courageous and full of life. As just a child, her older half-sister Asma chose the new religion over her own mother.

Aisha and Asma's father, Abu Bakr, is one of the first followers of Islam. He is an honorable man and a loving father who expects a lot of his children.

The Messenger, Muhammad, is a strange mixture. Generally just and peaceable, he can exhibit great cruelty and heartlessness in the name of God.

I know that I prefaced this by saying that I tried to put my own religious views aside and view this simply as a good story. However I have to say that the things that I couldn't get past were the contradictions. You have men professing their faith in God, and using violence and murder to push their agenda. Not simply in defense of themselves, but in offense to gain ground with their religion and to garner more power. This bothered me.

You also had men "preaching" piousness, and at the same time taking young girls as slaves and raping them as war trophies, and keeping mistresses and such. None of this did much in gaining my sympathy. I always viewed the Muslim religion as a peaceful and pacifist and most assuredly pious religion (excluding the extremists who use terror for their own benefit), but this book has actually changed that. Now I'm not sure how I feel about it or what the true nature of the Muslim religion is. However, when it all boils down, it comes to this very basic fact: We're all human. And the author Kamran Pasha does a good job at portraying these characters as very human, just as flawed and vulnerable as the rest of us. Even The Messenger was really just a man.

The book also tells a story of what inspired the "law" that required women to be sheltered behind a veil-- one dealing with a wife of the Messenger of God flirting mercilessly with other men after she allows her jealousies get the best of her. There is a passage that says:

From now on, my life was to become a prison, even when I was not confined to the tiny apartment whose mud walls seemed to be closing in on me. For whenever I ventured out into the sun, my face would be hidden away behind a veil. The bars of my jail would follow me everywhere and were unbreakable, forged from a tiny strip of cotton that was stronger than the mightiest Byzantine steel.

This passage really drove it all home to me-- what it's like to be a woman of this culture. Previously when I saw the elaborate hijab that women are required to wear in many middle eastern areas, I would mainly think of the physical discomfort of doing so: the weight of it, the heat in a stifling climate, the claustrophobia of having cloth sitting on my face all of the time, etc. I don't think that I fully appreciated the psychological/emotional discomfort. How stifling, to never be able to walk down a street and feel the sun on my face. To always feel the weight of the fabric would feel like a straight-jacket to me. It would be psychologically crippling for me. I just don't know how the women do it.

All in all, this was a good book. It was very well-written-- I can't fault the author in that. Most of my issues with the book are personal religious issues or moral issues. The book itself is well thought out and put together, with an exciting storyline that just keeps going and going. Very nice! show less

Ein auf jeden Fall gelungener historischer Roman, über die Entstehung und Verbreitung des Islam.
Das Buch gibt einem die Möglichkeit, den Islam aus einer anderen Perspektive zu betrachten. Man erhält einen Einblick in das Leben des Propheten Mohammed und das Leben seiner Frauen, allen voran Aischa, die seine Lieblingsfrau war.
Liebe, Eifersucht, Hass, Religion, Krieg und Politik werden in dem über 600 Seiten Schmöker behandelt.
Das ist mein erster historischer Roman zu dem Thema Islam show more und daher kann ich keine Vergleiche ziehen, jedoch finde ich dass "Aischa und Mohammed" ein sehr aufschlussreiches Buch ist, dass dem Leser die Möglichkeit gibt, das Herz des Islams kennen- und verstehen zu lernen.

Über den Inhalt des Buches möchte ich hier nichts schreiben, da ich ansonsten spoilern müsste. Daher am Besten selber lesen. show less