الكتاب ككتاب سيرة مياخدش اكتر من 3 نجوم
لكن انصاف الكاتبة يستحق نجمة اخرى
نعم به شبهات ونعم كما علقت المترجمة ان كتب المستشرقين لا تخلوا منها ولكن معرفتنا المسبقة بالكاتبة تجعلنا نفترض حسن نيتها ولاسيما انها نقلت من كتب سيرة قديمة لكبار كتاب السيرة.
ومع ذلك ردت عليها بعقلانية وفسرتها على احسن وجه
والأهم من ذلك أنها كتبته لتزود عن الاسلام والنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم بعد الهجمات الشرسة التي تعرض لها بعد احدا 11 سبتمبر
أخيرا انصح بقراءته لمن قرأ كتب سيرة عربية مثل الرحيق المختوم وهو أيضا مفيد جدا مع غير المسلمين

Saya memiliki versi terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Pengantar versi terjemahan ditulis oleh Jalaluddin Rakhmat. Buku ini kembali menjadi buku serius yang saya baca. Sebelumnya saya lebih banyak membaca buku fiksi.

I think he didn't explain many things. It was not neutral in my opinion. It was biased.

I have to admit that the author in general is fair and trying to approach Islam with an open heart. However, there are serious misconceptions in some areas which I guess are mainly due to her lack of understanding of the Arabic language.
The book could've been more authentic, if she co authored the book with one of the well known and respected Islamic intellectuals such as Hamza Yusuf.

My first read for Karen Armstrong and Most certainly will not be the last. The book is Well researched, clearly written, unbiased and provide a realistic account of the prophet's life and his constant struggle (jihad) for justice, social reform and against the violent irascibility, arrogance and tribal chauvinism (jahiliyyah). Highly recommend for anyone wishing to learn more about early Islamic history and the life of the prophet.

Very engaging. I’m not a reader of biographies, but this one was well written and just really well told. She makes a world and a culture accessible.

It’s a very sympathetic view of Mohammed and I came away with tons of respect for what he accomplished and a new understanding of how much Islam was an innovation and that it was actually progressive and did lots of good for women and the society.

It’s only like 3-4 centuries later that things start getting problematic.

But yeah, I realized that Mohammed was a genius and someone who had genuinely good intentions and a solid moral compass.

This is a very lively book. I mean she does an amazing job of making things vivid and clear and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get some insight into Islam or Mohammed. It’s pretty hard not to fall a little in love with him.

It is very difficult to form an independent view on the life of the Last Prophet. This book is one various attempts to acheive this. However, I believe this attempt is the most successful attempt seen in our times. Karen Armstrong has also touched sensitive issues very successfully however based evidence of her views on few occassions seem flawed as she often went for the most old biography for the reference - again this is her view which we respect but she failed to reflect on other popular views and reason of her rejections.

Overall a very good read.

I was waiting for much more!

It was interesting to read more about the life of Muhammad, and the Qur'anic origin stories are quite insightful indeed, but I really wish there would be a less ''pushy'' kind of work written about Islam. Most writing on Islam or practically anything affiliated with it is almost 100% apologetic nowadays, but Armstrong has a very strong hand in guiding the narrative into a one-way-street of Muhammad's true nature and intentions.

There are only warm smiles, genius moments and unfortunate turns of events for the Brilliant Muhammad and all his beautiful wives, as he kind of seems to make everything up as he goes, for which Armstrong uses a Hadith where 'A'isha accuses the prophet of doing the same. I understand that Armstrong states at the start of her book that she wants to portray Muhammad the way Muslims see him, but it just felt too much at times. I'd love a work that would just balance out the conflicted areas with both positives and negatives, instead of just dumping a load of idealistic rhetoric and saying ''see! I told you there are no problems whatsoever!'' I understand that it's complicated, I'd like to know why exactly.

First of all, I listened to the audiobook. Fortunately, Karen Armstrong is great to listen to and I personally love the British accent; how can you get bored listening to that accent? :)

This is an excellent introductory book to Muhammad due to how it focuses on the revolutionary change the religion of Islam brought to its people, rather than implying Islam's perfection or by focusing on miracles a commoner would roll their eyes to. Unlike Martin Ling's biography of the prophet, Karen Armstrong approaches this topic in a humble fashion and focuses on what is important to keep in mind: Muhammad's message. Irrespective of you accepting his message to be divine or not, it was remarkable and worth listening to. Often Muhammad's teachings are presented without its context and thus cause confusion to people. For example, it boggles people's minds that Muhammad fought in wars, led armies, and killed people. What they do not recognize was that the starting wars were in self-defence, and the continuing wars were due to broken allegiances other tribes had given Muhammad. Or for example, people are skeptical if Muhammad cared for women at all due to the state of Islamic states in the 21st century, rather than recognizing how Muhammad drastically lifted the rights of women according to his time and faced harsh opposition for doing so.

With such a mentality, these same people should also loath Plato and Aristotle, since they lived in a state that relied heavily on slaves and they never questioned it. They should loath their ancestors that saw their race as superior and refused to accept advanced concepts such as equal rights. They should loath Catholicism's past teachings, where women were seen as trouble makers due to Eve causing Adam's first sin and causing human decent onto Earth. Choosing to understand an event ripped apart from its context yields little. This is exactly what Karen Armstrong successfully overcomes in her book.

She constantly reminds you of the customs and practices of the time and how Muhammad's philosophy was revolutionary. Keeping in context a barren desert where it was difficult to survive, where raids were common and disrespecting a tribe was reason to murder, Muhammad brings forth a message of caring for the weak and untying the strong bonds of the tribes and to instead focus on their people's common humanity. After listening to this book, it saddens me that people portray Muhammad in a poor light. I understand if you do not accept the Islamic faith; faith is more than just reasons. I understand if you believe Muhammad's teachings do not fit the time now. I, however, cannot understand why you would deprive yourself of Muhammad's philosophy.

For those desiring a better understanding of the Prophet Muhammad (please excuse my not using the phrase Peace Be Upon Him, and know I mean no disrespect), Karen Armstrong provides an accessible, enjoyable, and inspiring biography of his life.

I was able to interact with Ms. Armstrong at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 2015. She is no nonsense but incredibly kind and her intellect and expertise of the Qur'an and the Prophet of Islam is non-threatening, and on the contrary, incredibly inviting.

I found so many patterns in the life of Muhammed that felt like parallels to the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith:

* Both Joseph Smith and Muhammed emerged out of a climate of religious confusion. Arabs during Muhammed's time were seeking to get back to pure Abrahamic worship.

* Both Joseph Smith and Muhammed had try little education, yet both produced scriptural books filled with sophisticated complexities.

*Both Joseph Smith and Muhammed were chastened for fearing man more than God. Muhammed, to bring tribal leaders to Islam, encouraged their worship of daughters of God, to which the Angel Gabriel chided him, "You have recited to those people something I did not bring you from God." Joseph, after being told no several times, allowed Martin Harris to take portions of the Book of Mormon manuscript, which then fell into the hands of his enemies. Both men humbled themselves for their misgivings and repented.

Unlike the New Testament Greek, Muslims believe the language of the Qur'an is directly from the mouth of God just as the Hebrew is in Jewish scripture. Thus, the repetitive nature of the Qur'an is divinely poetic, like music from God, and, through the recitation, the listener is transported. The divine voice of Allah at times shifted from "we" to "he" and "I" and even to the feminine: al-Rahman (Compassionate), al-Rahim (Merciful). "This strong female presence was remarkable in the aggressive patriarchy of Mecca and may explain why women were among the first to respond to the message of the Qur'an (p. 48)."

What most westerners don't appreciate is that Muhammed was a proponent of peace and nonviolent policy. Westerners in general are still ignorant of the qualities of Islam and the message of their Prophet. Ms. Armstrong states beautifully, "If we are to avoid catastrophe, the Muslim and Western worlds must learn not merely to tolerate but to appreciate one another (p. 202)."

Through Karen Armstrong's work, we can more easily learn to appreciate this great man.

As an Arab and a muslim, it is interesting to read a book about our prophet from a western-researcher's point of view. I loved how genuinely immersed Armstrong is in the life of the prophet, which shows her true desire to learn about Islam.
What I liked best about her approach is the it is factual and subjective. It studies all aspects from a neutral light and gives you a wide view of the economic, psychological, and religious factors that affected that era, and what resulted from them.
I've always wanted to read a book about Islam with such an approach. And I was quite lucky to read this one. However, I didn't find the unfolding of the prophet's life- as I am fully aware of as most Muslims- smooth enough for non-muslims to follow. At first, I found it more appealing to read about this topic in English and from a different light. But as I continued reading, I found myself longing to read it from the original biographies in Arabic.
There is something about the Arabic language that cannot be delivered in foreign languages, that has to do mostly with Islam and the Holy Quraan. I get a sense that Arabic exists for the sole purpose of that.
Also, some of the facts were actually inaccurate or kind of misleading for a non-muslim to read. But overall, the book is the result of a great effort from the author to step into the Muslim- true Muslim- shoe, and deliver such an enriching portrait of Muhammed, the kind, loving, and most precious of all mankind.