This is by no means the only or deepest biography of Muhammad the prophet of Islam. Big part of its significance is that it comes from a non-Muslim female highly regarded historian and religious scholar. Karen Armstrong has put every effort in creating a view of Muhammad, and consequently of Islam, that emphasises his benevolent, tolerant, and pacifist side. This book is directed at Western audience who have very little knowledge of the man and the religion he creates.

Armstrong wrote a book where, against the view of the Western mainstream today, shows a side of Muhammad that has wanted to change the pre-islamic ethos (Jahiliya) of violence, vengeance, and tribalism into the Islamic one that emphasises peace and inclusiveness. She goes to show how he, while doing his attempt, has changed the situation of the poor and the vulnerable in society, particularly women at the time, to the better. It is almost ironic, given the view of women's treatment in Islam today, to think that Muhammad may have been the feminist hero of his day.

The author seems to imply that all the shortcomings and compromises, for example the admission that a husband is allowed to beat his wife, were compromises to the hardliners of early Islam that Muhammad had to accept grudgingly to keep his fragile Islamic society together. She also implied that some of the violence that happened (for example executing all 700 men of a tribe that betrayed Muhammad) were merely adhering to the norm of the day that he didn't address but couldn't oppose on every occasion although he did forgive and release others against the protests of his followers.

This, no doubt, stands against the image of Islam and the prophet that is prevalent today in the West. Islam, she tells us, is not a religion of violence but one of peace and tolerance. In the last pages, she explains briefly the rifts that followed the death of Muhammad and how they lead us to the current state of Islam. A short explanation that needs expanding for the reader, possibly through Armstrong's The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism.

Having said all that, I have a couple of issues with the book. First, Armstrong seems to have decided her conclusions a priori and found a way to support them with almost exclusively copying and pasting from Islamic historians and with very little analyses. This book does not conclude or uncover almost anything someone from an Islamic background already knows. This is not analytical history, it reads more like a simplified educational history... a sort of Islam for Beginners. Much has been written, including in the Arab world that is more analytical and has greater depth.

Another issue of contention in my opinion is that Armstrong has veered away, quite skilfully, from any thought on the accuracy of the spiritual/supernatural part of the story. This is a political biography of Muhammad not a religious one. She uses a lot of phrases like "it was revealed to Muhammad" without any thought on the truthfulness of such revelations. Asserting the accuracy of the prophecy and the personal relationship Muhammad had with him may not be the purpose of this book but never mentioning it leaves a gaping hole in the narrative.

As a paradigmatic personality, Muhammad has important lessons, not only for Muslims, but also for Western people. His life was a jihad: as we shall see, this word does not mean"holy war", it means "struggle". Muhammad literally sweated with the effort to bring peace to war torn Arabia, and we need people who are prepared to do this today.

This is an, *interesting* work of fiction. Bearing only the vaguest resemblance to an accurate biography, Karen Armstrong masterfully weaves a fanciful tale of the life of Muhammad the way she wished he really was. She does this through three separate but not unrelated strategies:

First, she does an excellent job of cherry-picking her sources. I have read at least one of her primary sources (Ibn Ishaq) and the picture he paints of the prophet is vastly different from what Armstrong would have you believe with her expertly selected quotes. (I have also read the Quran multiple times and again, it is not nearly the book of peace, equality, and justice she would lead you to believe).

Armstrong's second strategy is an abundant use of such phrases as "could have", "might have", "could possibly be", and even the occasional "one can imagine". Some of her fanciful paintings of what really happened or her rationalizations for what someone's motives were are about as likely as winning the lottery. It isn't gonna happen but, hey, you never know.

The third strategy is to gloss over or completely ignore some of the less savory aspects of Muhammad's life. Those that are less commonly known are not even brought up. The ones that cannot be ignored, like the fact this fifty-year-old man married a six-year-old, are given a sum total of two sentences. From that point forward Karen Armstrong speaks of the child as though she were an adult even though she was still only eighteen when he died in her arms more than a decade after their "marriage".

In all, this is a horrible biography. Just horrible. If you want to read a decent one from a Muslim perspective, I would suggest you go back to the source. Get a translation of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. It presents a much more realistic (while still biased) view of Muhammad's life without having to suffer through Karen Armstrong's shallow attempt to impute onto the man modern western sensibilities.

This biography was written mainly for non muslims,but I think muslims must give it a try,it's the most beautiful biography on Muhammad that I read till now ,very inspiring and spiritual.

A good argument to the Western society and clearify the picture of Religion after incident of 9/11.

I'm currently half way through this book. Thus far, I must say, it's been an interesting read. Of the many biographies of the Prophet (S)I've read, none have been told from a non-Muslim perspective. It is apparent that Armstrong has done her research, however, there are certain aspects of the book that I questioned, seeing that they were, as Roohe said, a bit sketchy.
Still, Karen Armstrong is a good storyteller and she is able to portray the Prophet (S) sympathetically and in a very human light. She brings forth the struggles he faced as a first an outcast and then a leader and allows us to appreciate the pre-Islamic Arabian culture which was his reality.

This was a great overview of the life of Prophet Muhammed and I learned lots about the connections between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism (Muhammed really saw Islam as a relative of the latter two -- all within the family of Abraham). What I missed most of, however, is more of Karen Armstrong´s wise commentary on religion. She is a great voice of wisdom in our time and I found myself wanting to hear more about her thoughts on Muhammed and Islam. I still recommend that we all read this book, though, because knowledge about all religious histories is vitally important to understanding our brothers and sisters around the world.

Learned and lucid

Finished reading this book #must_read book for all as it tells the prophet Mohammed story relating in facts and great storytelling. The source the author used are reliable, i would say. How inside each story the verses from Quran ,regarding it, are mentioned. And i liked her transparency when she mentioned a strange event and stated that muslim don't believe in this. I give 5 STARS for this book! توي مخلصة هالكتاب و أرى أن لازم يقرأه الجميع. أتمنى فيه كتاب عربي و من كاتب مسلم يحكي لنا قصة الرسول بهالطريقة الشيقة و المختصرة (٢٠٠ صفحة). الكاتبة أعتمدت على مصادر موثوقة مثل الطبري و ابن اسحاق مع إضافة الايات القرانية اللي نزلت بمناسبة هالقصة و متى نزلت. و فيه قصة غريبه مقد سمعت فيها و ذكرت أن المسلمين ما يؤمنون فيها فكانت عادلة في ذكر الأشياء و ختمتها بذكر تفرق المسلمين لفرق صوفية و شيعه و كل وحدة اي ش تؤمن فيه في صفحه وحدة. أعطي هالكتاب ٥ نجوم

Anyone who disparages the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) does so out of ignorance. Armstrong’s biography offers the truth of how Muhammad strove his entire life to guide people away from ignorance, arrogance, hatred, and intolerance. After he received God’s Word, Muhammad worked tirelessly to unite all races and faiths in order for them to accept each other with kindness and compassion within a just and decent society.

In his childhood Muhammad was orphaned, but by the time he reached adulthood, he earned respect as a trusted merchant with a reputation for honest, fair dealings. The success he attained, however, did not content him. Rather, he anguished over seeing his fellow Meccans fall easily into the greed of excessive wealth and the empty worship of pagan gods while also showing no regard for the suffering of the poor and underprivileged. Muhammad sought refuge from the woes of society in the caves around Mecca. One night the angel Gabriel visited him with the command to “recite” the Qur’an, which was God’s final message to humankind.

Throughout the remainder of his life, Muhammad received revelations from God about how to establish and sustain a peaceful, civil society where every man and woman lived equally. As a messenger of Allah (the Arabic word for God), Muhammad delivered God’s Word to the disparate and feuding tribes of Arabia, and his efforts established a community of inclusiveness for all people under Islam, whereby Jews, Christians, and Muslims surrendered to the one and only Abrahamic God of the universe.

Muhammad carried out his achievements amid the unrest of pre-Islamic Arabia referred to as jahiliyyah, a time of ignorance—an era rampant with volatility, reprisal, and bloodshed. Understanding what Muhammad confronted and struggled through makes his ministry to unify all people under God more remarkable. Armstrong’s research is inspiring with how she traces the origin of events and circumstances around which Muhammad received many of God’s revelations.

What becomes clear when studying the life and prophethood of Muhammad is that he was a great teacher and leader who God entrusted to deliver His final message to humankind. God’s Word both warned of the consequences of living with hatred, bigotry, violence, and egoism; and it furthermore shared God’s instruction of how humans received everlasting reward by ensuring their lives aligned with kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity.

Armstrong’s biography makes clear how Muhammad taught the value of humanity for all races and religions. He did not refute the Torah or the Gospels. He confirmed their divinity and also the divine guidance received by each of the Old and New Testament prophets who preceded him. He showed humankind the need to surrender with gratitude to God’s love and to the blessings God has bestowed us with.

Writing the biography of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from western point of view is a very difficult task untill a writer has wide knowledge of Islam including it’s history. Because most of the time the writers rely on very limited historical data not knowing how the islamic method works as a whole for authenticating information to be accepted. Secondly, many writers usually put his/her own assumption to justify an incident distract readers to understand the prophetic message in a right way. Karen armstrong seemed to have interest trying her best to avoid such error deserves appreciation from us. But the absence of a lot of information which definitely able to give the readers a genuine understanding of how Muhammad (peace be upon him) was really a true prophet reduce the weight of the book a little. Overall, her attempt was better than many western writers. If not all a lot can be learn from this book.

The most important thing I got out of this book is that the institutions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism don't matter. Being God-conscious is the important thing. Focusing on the institution is like shirk.

I also learned that the prophet had a hard time figuring out what he was supposed to do, and he had to set aside his expectations and adapt to changing circumstances. He had to reflect and try to see differently than he had before.

The biggest obstacle to peace in the prophet's time was the ideology of jahiliyya, which Armstrong describes as characterized by arrogance, aggression, ignorance, and violence. I agree with Armstrong's assessment that we live in a time of jahiliyya today. Obviously, the jahiliyya attitude is self-destructive and I think it's obvious, too, that we have to seek ways of reform just as the prophet did.