Mohammed just picked up. It was pretty slow for a while and I was
considering blaming you as usual.
 
"The birth of a sect" chapter dragged on for too long. Especially the
part about the mystical experience of Mohammed getting the message
straight from above. Rodinson dwells on it for too long and gives it
too much credence otherwise. Psychoanalysis and the study of the
subconscious across thirteen centuries and no verifiable data is not
my idea of a good time. I was about to tell you what I think about
your taste in books as suddenly by the end of the, err, sura the
narrative picked up with the worldly events of persecuting Mohamed's
young sect by the Meccans, the formation of the early rites, the
inclusion then exclusion of the local deities and the likely reasons
for both. Went pretty nice. I am no the "prophet in arms" discussing
his sect's move to Medina, relationship to judaism. and the particular
realities of that town that contributed to the raise of islam.  Really
interesting. Oh, yeah, he did wed his second (well, third if dead ones
count) wife at the age of 9 (he was past 50).  She was allowed to keep
her dolls.  The quality of the text is rather nice as long as the
author stays within the confines of this world.

----------------

Its second part went pretty well. The conclusion is truly good. He
analyzes Mohamed's legacy and his impact on the world afterwards, from
world empires to simple peasants. He explores counterfactual history a
little (what would have happened if there were no Mohamed). Just
enough to make one think but without too much of a deviation from the
real events. He should teach a few how to write conclusions (or how to
write in general).

BTW, the prophet died in the bosom of his favorite
not-nine-year-old-anymore wife (not too bad a way to go if you ask me).
Until his last days he diligently kept visiting all his ten wives. One
each day so as not to make them jealous. Only when he got extremely
ill, he asked them to allow him to stay with his favorite one.

Oh, yeah, when his women started to give him crap about yet another
concubine. He did not see any of them for a month, and had a
revelation from high up that allowed him to summarily divorce all of
them and promised just as many new ones. So he and Allah kept them in
line pretty well.