The Lives of Muhammad
The Lives of Muhammad

Author: Kecia Ali

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0674744489

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Recent outbursts sparked by a viral video and controversial cartoons powerfully illustrate the passions and sensitivities that continue to surround the depiction of the seventh-century founder of Islam. The Lives of Muhammad delves into the many ways the Prophet’s life story has been told from the earliest days of Islam to the present, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Emphasizing the major transformations since the nineteenth century, Kecia Ali shows that far from being mutually opposed, these various perspectives have become increasingly interdependent. Since the nineteenth century, two separate streams of writing, one hagiographic and the other polemical, have merged into a single, contentious story about the life of Muhammad. Protestant missionaries, European Orientalists, Indian and Egyptian modernists, and American voices across the spectrum, including preachers, scholars, Islamophobes, journalists, academics, and new-age gurus, debated Muhammad’s character and the facts of his life. In the process, texts written symbolically came to be read literally. Muhammad’s accomplishments as a religious and political leader, his military encounters with Meccans and Medinan Jews, and—a subject of perennial interest—his relationships with women, including his young wife Aisha, are among the key subjects writers engaged, repurposing early materials for new circumstances. Many of the ideas about Muhammad that Muslims embrace today—Muhammad the social reformer, Muhammad the consummate leader, Muhammad the ideal husband—arose in tandem and in tension with Western depictions. These were in turn shaped by new ideas about religion, sexuality, and human accomplishments.

Muhammad Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal

Author: Chad Hillier

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2015-07-10

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0748695427

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bringing together a diverse number of prominent and emerging scholars, from backgrounds in political science, philosophy and religious studies, this book offers novel examinations of the philosophical ideas that laid at the heart of Iqbal's own.

Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets
Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets

Author: Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan

Publisher: Islam International Publications Ltd

Published: 2024-01-22

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

‘Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness is measured, we may ask, is there any man greater than he?’ – Lamartine, History of Turkey It is only lately that Western scholars have embarked on serious objective study of the life of the Prophet of Islam. In studying his life, certain factors must be kept in mind: Was the world in need of a universal divine personal message? Was the life of Muhammad, before he laid claim to prophethood, of such perfect purity as would indicate that he had been chosen? Was the message that he brought illustrated in his life and conduct? The purpose of this study is to institute an appraisal of the life of Muhammad which should be fully descriptive of its diverse facets and should enable the reader to carry out his own assessment of the man as an exemplary human being and as a divine prophet.

Jesus and Muhammad
Jesus and Muhammad

Author: F. E. Peters

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-11-11

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0199780048

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Jesus and Muhammad are two of the best known and revered figures in history, each with a billion or more global followers. Now, in this intriguing volume, F.E. Peters offers a clear and compelling analysis of the parallel lives of Jesus and Muhammad, the first such in-depth comparison in print. Like a detective, Peters compiles "dossiers" of what we do and do not know about the lives and portraits of these towering figures, drawing on the views of modern historians and the evidence of the Gospels and the Quran. With erudition and wit, the author nimbly leads the reader through drama and dogma to reveal surprising similarities between the two leaders and their messages. Each had a public career as a semi-successful preacher. Both encountered opposition that threatened their lives and those of their followers. Each left a body of teaching purported to be their very words, with an urgent imperative that all must become believers in the face of the approaching apocalypse. Both are symbols of hope on the one hand and of God's terrible judgment on the other. They are bringers of peace--and the sword. There is, however, a fundamental difference. Muslims revere Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca as a mortal prophet. Although known as a prophet in his day, the Galilean Jew Jesus was and is believed by his followers to have been the promised Messiah, indeed the son of God. The Quran records revelations received by Muhammad as the messenger of God, whereas the revelations of the Gospels focus on Jesus and the events of his life and death. A lasting contribution to interfaith understanding, Jesus and Muhammad offers lucid, intelligent answers to questions that underlie some of the world's most intractable conflicts.

The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad
The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad

Author: Jonathan E. Brockopp

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-04-19

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0521886074

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A collection of essays by some of the most accomplished scholars in the field exploring the life and legacy of the Prophet.