Muhammad: A Story of God's Messenger and the Revelation That Changed the World: 3 (Enlightenment Series, 3) Paperback – 20 Jun. 2011

I picked up this book mostly out of the curiosity to understand a culture about which you hear so much but never seem to get many details. For me, Islam, like Arabia in those times, has been ever shrouded in mystery, and with the association or stigma sometimes applied to the entire culture and faith due to 'current events' it is difficult to express an interest without quickly being rushed to judgement. The format of the book is good, in that its told from various perspectives of people in the prophet's life, which the author explains in the introduction the reasons for having done so - it works splendidly. In the end we are left with a novel in which Muhammad is certainly the protagonist, yet the reader can approve or disapprove of the choices he makes. He isn't presented as a hero, as such. Enough historical content is there to satisfy my quest to know how Islam came about but mixed with enough storytelling to provide an interesting fictional work.

Great book

difficult book to review cos it straddles fact and fiction so much, but purely from the point of view of another perspective then I think its worth reading. the language is still modern and an effort has been made to immerse the reader into the cultural backdrop that works well

Good,

There is only one valid biography of Muhammad and Islam, by Ibn Ishaq, whose remarkable original history was censored by Ibn Hisham. The English translation is The Life of Muhammad by Guillaume.Tabari recorded the uncensored Ishaq text his History.Read them both, with the relevant Hadith, traditional stories by Bukhari and Muslim.Guillaume made the fatal mistake of using the title God for Allah. Allah is not God.In Arabic, the Qur'an and Sharia, Almighty God is Ilah and Allah is ‘the god’ in English.Almighty God is Ilah, Ar Rahman, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious.Therefore the Qur’an was named The Criterion, the criterion between good and evil.Qur’an 41:84 It is He Who is the only God in the heaven and the only God on the earth.Ibn Kathir: This means He is the God of those who are in the heaven and the God of those on earth.Qur’an 43:84 It is He Who is Ilah, God in the heaven and on the earth.Qur’an 19:65 Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, so worship Him and abide patiently in His worship. Do you know of any other with His Name?Ibn Kathir: Ibn Abbas says, ‘There is no one named Ar-Rahman (the Most Beneficent) other than Him, Blessed and Exalted is He. Most Holy is His Name.’See Quran chapters 19, 21, 25, 26, 36, 37, 41, 43, 67, etc.Allah is always and only called Allah in Arabic.Qur’an 6:3 And He is Allah in the heavens and on the earth.Ibn Abbas: He is the One who is called Allah in the heavens and on the earth.The Qur'an states that the religion of Allah abrogates the religion of Abraham.The Shahada, the Muslim pledge of faith, denies God:La ilaha ill-Allah, there is no God/god but Allah.The sentence comprises a denial and an affirmation.Negation: 'La ilah' negates all forms of God or god.Affirmation: 'illAllah' affirms that there is only Allah.Before you can say ‘I believe in Allah’(illa Allah) you have to reject or disbelieve in any other god or God (La illaha).Question 179 Islam Q&A [...]Questions 114, 6703, 11819, 20239, 20815