The New York Times Book Review has a glowing review of my new book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires, calling it ‘erudite,’ ‘informative’ and ‘ambitiously revisionist.’ Mustafa Akyol writes in his review, “Illuminating Islam’s Peaceful Origins” “Cole’s book, “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires,” is not just eruditely […]
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Islam
Christmas and Sufism: Rumi on the Nativity and the Christ Within
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The great medieval Muslim mystic and poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), interpreted the birth of Jesus as an allegory of the soul. Rumi was born in Balkh in northern Afghanistan, but his family fled the Mongol invasions and settled in Konya in what is now Turkey. Rumi was a refugee […]
Islamophobia and the Misuse of History: Iran, Alexander the Great and the Qur’an
As I mentioned earlier, an anonymous troll going by “Kirby” has attacked my new book Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires I have begun by addressing some of his substantive critiques ( here and here) – even though they may appear to be minor, because it is an opportunity to talk about […]
Review of Juan Cole, “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace” at The New Arab
The New Arab is carrying a review of my new book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires by Usman Butt, “multimedia television researcher, filmmaker and writer based in London. Usman read International Relations and Arabic Language at the University of Westminster and completed a Master of Arts in Palestine Studies at the […]
Islamophobia & the Misuse of History: Isaiah 29 and Attacks on my “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace”
When I wrote Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires, and published it with a trade press, I knew what I was doing. The book is history, and I genuinely had an open mind when I approached the writing of it. But trade publications seek to reach the wider public, and it was […]
History and Essentializing Muslims as Violent: More on “Kirby’s” attack on my “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace”
As I noted here, an anonymous operative going by “Stephen M. Kirby” who is otherwise a ghost on the internet attacked my book at a major hate site directed against Muslims (I won’t link precisely because it is a hate site). Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires Available at Nicola’s Books in […]
The Rightwing ‘American Spectator’ doesn’t Want you to read my ‘Muhammad: Prophet of Peace ‘
The good news is that The American Spectator reviewed my new book about the beginnings of Islam and the centrality to it of peace, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires. The bad news is that Andrew Harrod, the reviewer, appears not actually to have read the book. He just attended a talk […]
Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires (Juan Cole @MajorityFm, Video @SamSeder )
Juan Cole (@jricole), Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan joins us to discuss his book ‘Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires.’ The Majority Report with Sam Seder: “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires w/ Juan Cole – MR Live – 12/5/18” Note: There […]
On How Everything Sam Harris Says about Islam is Wrong (1)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sam Harris’s error-ridden and bigoted “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Religion” (Norton, 2005) singles out Islam for special opprobrium. Although Harris lambastes politicians of the Religious Right for having no special knowledge or credentials, the fact is that he himself has no credentials to write […]





