The First Jihad

In the year 580, the Roman Empire still held sway in Syria, as it had for the previous five centuries. Its main enemy was Persia, with which it vied for supremacy. But times were changing. Within the space of a single lifetime, the Roman Empire would be pushed from the Middle East and Persia would be conquered. The conquerors came from an unlikely place - Arabia - and they brought with them the religion of a minor Meccan merchant named Muhammad.Maryam bint Ghassani was a Christian woman of Roman-Arab extraction who witnessed key events in the Roman-Persian wars and the rise of Islam. From the Persian pillage of Jerusalem, to factional riots in Antioch, to Muhammad's preaching in Mecca and Medina, Maryam sees and judges events with a cynical eye, all the while struggling to understand her own place in the world.Confused and disconcerted by religious edicts and moral conventions, Maryam must come to terms with marriage, mysticism and sexuality, and with the influence a single person can have on fate.If the first jihad waged by the militant arm of Islam had its dangers, Maryam will learn that the more difficult jihad is in knowing the self. Read more