I would challenge the historical accuracy of some notions and there is definitely too much trust in the ahadith, especially the sources of Ibn Ishaq and at-Tabari are not questioned (it seems) even a little bit. And also Muhammad is taken as the definite "good" guy of the story (in a relatively more modern moral compass).

But overall it definitely is a pleasant read and opens up new perspectives (especially on commenting the Qur'an) that I haven't considered before and far less far-fetched than many of the modern commentaries.

Especially considering historical evidence some of her comments are very precious. Pointing out (intentionally or not) inaccuracies in some of the modern narratives of the life of Muhammad.

A great book for learning the intricacies of the Prophet’s (PBUH) major life events & the struggle early Muslims had in cultivating the faith.

This book is actually difficult for me to evaluate because in order to do that I'd have had to read other biographies on Muhammad, and I haven't. Still, my stars count for something as I found Karen's style both clear and easily readable- and it did give me a good picture of what Muhammad's life must have been like.

Because of this, I find myself wanting to rate Muhammad himself instead of the book...and he's not fair game here.

A criticism I do have for Karen: she discusses and uses the Quran pretty extensively, along with other sources, but nowhere does she mention how often Allah threatens everyone with eternal damnation if they don't accept Him and Muhammad as His Prophet. Those threats are repeated literally hundreds of times, and not a word about them from Karen.

If those threats are true, nothing I say matters much anyway...I'm definitely burnt toast.

Armstrong has written a sympathetic biography of the founder of Islam for the non-Muslim reader. It is engaging and thoroughly researched, although she seems to go well out of her way to justify the actions and behaviors that Western audiences will find most troubling. Overall a good read. I've read it twice, several years apart.

I actually really liked this. I didn't think I would appreciate reading about Muhammad (swt) from someone who wasn't a Muslim, but what the hell?? This book was really good and I actually learned a lot of stuff I didn't even know about Islam in the seventh century.

Completely new perspective for me about my dear prophet Mohamed (Peace be Upon Him)... might not agree with the author's way of interpreting some events and actions.. but I admire it nevertheless.

Karen Armstrong's writing is neutral and her understanding and rationales is somewhat better than most of the average Muslims.

Muhammad (pbuh) was born in 570 CE, and over the following sixty years built a thriving spiritual community, laying the foundations of a religion that changed the course of world history. There is more historical data on his life than on that of the founder of any other major faith, and yet his story is little known.
Karen Armstrong's immaculately researched new biography of Muhammad (pbuh) will enable readers to understand the true origins and spirituality of a faith that is all too often misrepresented as cruel, intolerant, and inherently violent. An acclaimed authority on religious and spiritual issues, Armstrong offers a balanced, in-depth portrait, revealing the man at the heart of Islam by dismantling centuries of misconceptions. Armstrong demonstrates that Muhammad's (pbuh)life—a pivot point in history—has genuine relevance to the global crises we face today.

Although Karen has done a great work and briefly presented the history of Islam and the prophet Muhammed based on the Islamic references,I still believe pure objectivity is something impossible to achieve especially when studying religions.

The writer has made several interpretations that do not comply with the whole context of Islam. Before you try to understand the reason behind someone's act maybe you need to know fundamentals in the way he thinks. Karen was missing important fundamentals in Islam which lead her to wrong interpretations of many situations.

In this book the writer talks about controversial concepts like (Polygamy) and ( Jihad ) and did her best to explain them the way Muslims understand them given the circumstances at the early beginning of Islam.

In this book Islam was discussed as a religion founded and created by an intelligent great leader more than it was presented as a holy message given by Allah to the prophet Muhammed, and this leads to considering the prophet an inspirational leader worthy of respect, instead of taking the holy message itself and its values seriously by questioning its truthfulness as a matter of faith.

المختلف في الكتاب ده هو كاتبته .. كونها راهبة كاثوليكية .. و تكتب سيرة النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم بكثير من الإنصاف .. و حتى التعامل مع القضايا التي يستغلها المستشرقون للهجوم على الإسلام بعقلانية و رؤيتها في إطارها الزمني و الاجتماعي الصحيح ..

لكن الكتاب لم يخل من بعض الروايات التي لا يطمئن القلب لها ..

محستش إن الكتاب أضاف لي أي شيء كقارئ عربي مسلم أطلع على كتب مختلفة عن سيرة النبي الكريم صلى الله عليه و سلم .. بل بالعكس .. أفتقدت إحساس القلب الذي ما خلا كتاب سيرة منه .. على العكس السرد التاريخي لهذا الكتاب ..

أظن هذا الكتاب مفيد أكثر للغرب .. و هم الجمهور المستهدف الحقيقي منه .. و لكني لم أجد أي ربط فيه بين سيرة النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم و زماننا الحالي.

This was another audiobook selection of mine. The version I have I believe was read by the author. It was not bad as far as audiobooks go; the author's voice could be a tad bit irritating at times but it didn't bother me that much. I finished reading it on the last day of Ramadan which was nice timing. I used this book as an introduction to islam and to the foundation of what is today the muslim faith. I knew very little about Muhammad and feel this book gave me a fairly good portrait of who he was and what the times were like in which he lived. I would like to know more about the Qur'an and about the islamic faith as a whole and historically but this book was a good starting point and I'm glad I read it.

今年讀的第五本伊斯蘭藏書
突然覺得讀不完二十本了，剩下的藏書一本比一本厚...

究竟出的同作者書："穆罕默德：先知的傳記"
是我的伊斯蘭啟蒙書，第一次讀的時候還是國中生
高中時又讀了一遍
多年後作者又出了一本精簡版
台版剛出版的時候我還去台北清真寺的新書發表會：
台北清真寺導覽：認識16億穆斯林心中的「穆聖」（《穆罕默德》新書講座）
聽趙錫麟教長分享本書與先知生平
當場手滑買了紙本，後來換成電子書
放了三年總算拿起來看了XD

這本厚度大概是先知的傳記的七成
不像上一本花很多篇幅破解西方的偏見和分析當時的時代背景
這本著重在穆罕默德生平的精神層面
與宗教中宣揚謙卑、寬容與和平的面向
其實有點小失望，感覺太簡略了

不過八旗出的三本伊斯蘭系列裡
這本寫的最好，作者不愧是宗教研究出身的