The Last Apostle

Over 1,300 years ago, Muhammad received God’s revelation, setting in motion a chain of events that would give rise to Islam and inspire centuries of devotion and debate. Now, historian Stephen Shoemaker follows the historical and archaeological evidence to recover a dramatically new story of Muhammad’s life and the century of crisis that followed his death. He shows how an obscure shepherd in a forgotten corner of Arabia united Jews, Christians, and Arabs in the fervent belief that the end of the world was imminent. With incredible speed, Muhammad’s followers destroyed the Persian Empire and seized from Rome the holy city of Jerusalem. But then the final hour never came, and what had been a diverse community awaiting God’s Kingdom suddenly found itself governing an earthly empire it had never planned to rule. With their prophet gone, the faithful fell into civil wars over who would lead them and what kind of community they would become. Written for secular readers and believers alike,The Last Apostletells the epic story of Muhammad and how his faith was transformed into the global religion and political force known as Islam.