Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

Highly recommended. As a history enthusiast, I love reading about influential historical figures and leaders. One of my favorite aspects of this book is how vividly it captures the society and culture of the era.

When I first read this wonderful book by Martin Lings, I felt something I've never experienced before in biographies of early Islam -- a sense that I was actually there, experiencing the drama, tragedy and triumph of the early Muslim community. Lings is an incredibly gifted storyteller who makes you feel like you are an active witness to events unfolding right now, rather than reading 1400-year old stories. Some reviewers have criticized this book because it tells the story of the Prophet's life story without "critical" analysis. What these reviewers are really complaining about is that the book does not start off under the presumption that the Prophet was false in his claim to be the Messenger of God. This is a book that presents the earliest accounts of the Prophet's life, which were passed along by devout Muslims who believed in his Divine inspiration. These early accounts DO contain stories of remarkable miracles and list countless examples of the Prophet's piety and idealism. And, of course, if the Prophet was who he claimed to be, these stories are perfectly plausible as historical events. But if you are a non-Muslim bent on denigrating the Prophet, you have to presume that these stories are myths and hagiographies, because they do not fit into your predetermined worldview. So anyone who accepts them either is an apologist or deluded, and any book presenting these accounts without rejecting them as human inventions must be "uncritical." The truth is that you will approach the Prophet exactly the way you have already decided you want to -- as a believer or an unbeliever regarding his fundamental mission. But as you read this wonderful tale of a remarkable man who single-handedly changed human history, you must ask yourself -- what if, as one billion human beings already know in their hearts, the story is actually true...?

Beautiful book but the audio book is missing chapters and some good stories that are in the textbook

For anyone who would like to know more about the life of Prophet Muhammad, this is the book for you. As someone who had read and heard the arabic sources, i can comfortably say that this book is highly accurate and matched most what i already used to know about the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The author just studied and translated all the earliest reliable resources without trying to impose his point of view or give his opinion. He did occasionally leave some commentary here and there to explain some of the pertinent cultural habits or speech of the arabs who lived at that time. The author is not apologetic in any way nor does he try to distort or change the events to make it more appealing to the non-muslims reader. The author's honesty is evident by the fact that he mentioned in great details, and without modifications, all the "sensitive" or "controversial" issues such as the marriages of the Prophet or the wars and fighting that took place. So for any anti-muslim reader or writer, this is the book for you too. Finally, i wish if the author mentioned in more details the Last Sermon of the Prophet during the last pilgrimage. it was really a nice and eloquent speech and would only add one more page to the book. Anyway it can be found on the net just search for it. He also did not mention some of the famous last words of the Prophet before his death, specially when emphasizing about praying and the treatment of women: "By Allah ! the prayer ! the prayer ! and he kept on repeating those words until he said: O people, fear Allah in dealing with women, fear Allah in dealing with women, O people, I ask you to be good to your women". nb: Although this book is considered the most reliable source about the life of Prophet Muhammad, it still surprises me that it had less than 70 reviews, while the book of Robert Spencer, who is neither a schoolar of Islam, nor a speaker of arabic language, got 354 reviews till now..i have no answer for that.

Got this book in order to understand Islam and Mohammad, and learn about the beginnings . This book was very well written. I hope its very near the truth. It explains how Mohammad was changed, how he was told to 'recite' and how he 'saved' his people who after several generations, totally had forgotten about the God I Abraham and adopted Idol worship and held fast to it. It really helped me to understand what he was up against early on; the rejection he faced, the threats and armies chasing him and the first Muslims, hoping to destroy them. It goes to where he takes his last breath...and introduces one to the Holy Koran, which contains his recitations , of what God wanted him to write down. Is the Bible perfect? Is the Koran perfect? I don't know, but its a very good history about Mohammad.

This is a classical read about the life of Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him) by Martin Lings. This is by no means the review about the life of the Prophet but it is review about the book and author. Most famous books on the life of the Prophet were written in Arabic and then later translated into other languages including English, which sometimes looses the essence of the author’s perspective because of the limitation of the vocabulary and comprehension in the translated languages compared with Arabic language. This book was written in English by Martin who was an authority on Shakespearean work and which has heavily influenced his writing style to be more classical English and a little tough to read for modern readers. Nonetheless Martin’s emphasis on the authenticity via reference from Qur’an and the Prophet’s sayings and the reliance on earlier sources like Ibne Ishaq has produced this marvelous book which provides a unique biography of the greatest human being ever walked on the the earth (Muslim belief). I would highly recommend this book to anyone for academic or spiritual benefits. The other book on the similar topic I would recommend is “The Sealed Nectar” by Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarkpuri, originally written in Arabic. The kindle version has a lot of spelling errors which seems to be introduced by latinizing the people and places names from Arabic to English. I will not recommend kindle version until the spelling errors are fixed.

This book on the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Is well worth waiting for and very detailed about his life. There were quite a few chapters I did not expect but was quite thrilled to read. Also really nice being able to read this during the holy month. I will most likely be coming back to this seller for more of these insightful books on Islamic topics.

This biography of Muhammad can be thought of as comparable to Biblical stories, in that it takes at face value happenings that to a modern historian, would not be considered factual, such as miracles, divine interventions, and the like. That is what makes it especially helpful to anyone who wishes to learn from Muslim sources how mainstream (not radical) Muslims regard their Prophet and what they believe about him. The material in this book derives from the earliest preserved recollections of the first generation of Muhammad's converts to Islam, so there are many interesting anecdotes that shed light on his everyday life, personal relationships with wives, family and friends, qualities as a military leader, spiritual practices, abilities as a judge, diplomat, mediator and builder/organizer of a community. Readers can glean much about the cultural background and practices of the times as well. I came away from the book with a sense of the founder of Islam as a very charismatic man, a military leader, a wise diplomat skilled at minimizing conflicts within his society, attractive to and attracted by beautiful women, admired and revered by men, a fervent and sincere spiritual leader, a man of vision who preached tempering justice with mercy and living in peace among others insofar as possible. Although this biography does not fault him in any way, his full humanity 'warts and all' can be glimpsed in its pages by discerning readers not looking to find here 'the Perfect Man.' Not perfect, but unquestionably a very great man.

I have read this book and honestly I would recommend it to every Muslim and surely to anyone willing to learn about Islam. The story of our Prophet (pbuh), his life, simplicity, his perfection especially through his struggles and his teachings are inspiring. Martin Lings writes it beautifully, even though I am not good at completing books, i found this one an easy read.

The book arrived in excellent condition. No complaints! The work is incredible, an excellent introduction to those curious about Islam.

Based on original historical sources, the book tells a narrative like a novel. This is perhaps the best ever Seerah book in English.

One of the best Readable biographies of Muhammad.

Nice book