Hijrah: In the Footsteps of the Prophet

This coffee-table book, packed with stunning visuals, captures a major exhibition at Saudi Aramco's Ithra cultural center that is the first ever to document the details of the Prophet Muhammad's historic eight-day, 450-kilometer migration in 622 CE from Makkah to Madinah, along Arabia's Red Sea coast. The work begins a with a contribution by Abdullah Alkadi, the world's leading authority on the Hijrah, who describes his own trips along the Hijrah route and other travel paths of the Prophet. Dazzling color illustrations take us along these journeys. Other chapters help retell the Hijrah story through literature and geography, surveying a wealth of Qur'anic and Hadith sources and exploring the many interpretations of the Prophet Muhammad's migration. Among the book's illustrations are both historic and contemporary works of art, including Qur'ans, textiles, calligraphy and multimedia works, all of which echo the spirit and reality of the Hijrah.

-ROBERT W. LEBLING