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From Booklist
Armstrong's second biography of Islam's prophet is lucid and stylish, never condescending. It puts the best face possible on its subject. The Muhammad it projects gave his followers "a mission: to create a just and decent society, in which all members were treated with respect." Moreover, Armstrong's Muhammad behaved justly and decently while he lived, though perhaps a bit according to the stringent standards of Arab culture at the time. He taught tolerance toward Jews and Christians. Never mind--Armstrong doesn't--about denials of civil equality to non-Muslims and fulminations about them as "infidels." The Jewish clan whose men were exterminated after a particular battle? It wasn't that they were Jews but that they were traitors, and it wasn't Muhammad who decided they should be executed. The fact that, after declaring that Muslim men could have no more than four wives, Muhammad himself exceeded the limit? Hey, a leader has to make alliances with other groups. A nicely written book, but don't let it be the only biography of Muhammad you read. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Karen Armstrong’s sympathetic profile paints a portrait of a very human prophet (Wall Street Journal )
A good glimpse of how the vast majority of the world’s Muslims understand their prophet. (New York Times )
Respectful, knowledgeable, and, above all, readable. It succeeds because [Armstrong] brings Muhammad to life as a fully rounded human being. (The Economist )
A good glimpse of how the vast majority of the world’s Muslims understand their prophet. (New York Times )
Respectful, knowledgeable, and, above all, readable. It succeeds because [Armstrong] brings Muhammad to life as a fully rounded human being. (The Economist )
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Muhammad explained,
By Gemba (London Ontario) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time (Paperback)
Armstrong writes with her usual scholarly expertise. This book, written after 9/11, explains the prophet Muhammad for those whose impression of him has been sullied by the perverted and degenerate version of Islam presented by Islamic terrorism and Al-Quaeda. This is a very sympathetic account, that locates the prophet and his message within the problems that he was dealing with in his lifetime. But Armstrong also shows that these problems still exist within contemporary Islam, and to some extent within the wider world today. There is much food for thought here, and it is timely a book that will contribute to a greater understanding of Islam by those whose impressions are more negative.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A story of evolving visions,
By
This review is from: Muhammad:a Prophet for Our Time (Paperback)
Armstrong's brief biography quite impartially records both accomplishments Westerners can easily admire, and events which seem utterly foreign to Western society. She helps us sense how Muhammad's visions could electrify Arabian society, and shows how much they evolved over the course of his career. But some aspects of the story are as difficult to explain as anything found in the Old Testament, and Armstrong does not second guess the sources from that age. For example, I was simply astonished by the reasoning given for rejecting the traditional goddesses of Arabia: "Why did they attribute daughters to Allah, when they themselves preferred sons?" Yet the archangel Gabriel was deemed the messenger of the Quran, and this was considered perfectly godly. Armstrong leaves us to ponder the paradoxes of a man who seemed to combine the roles of Moses, David, and Amos, within a different social world.If we assumed we knew what kind of community Muhammad tried to build, this book raises many reasons to look again. Concerning the peaceful victory over Muhammad's deadly enemies in Mecca, Armstrong explains: "It was a strange conquest, and an impartial observer might have wondered why the Muslims and the Quraysh had fought at all. Muhammad kept his word and returned to Medina with the Emigrants and the Helpers. He did not attempt to rule Mecca himself; nor did he replace the Qurayshan officials with his own companions; nor did he establish a purist Islamic regime." --author of Correcting Jesus
21 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
William Bernard,
By
This review is from: Muhammad: A Prophet For Our Time (Hardcover)
It is one of most authenticated book available on the history and life of Muhammad founder of the religion of Islam. In the present environment where the muslims and and the western world are at odds, this book may help most of the western people in changing their distorted perception about religion of islam, which is being misrepresented by the Western Media and writers to an extent that today Islam and West is standing at the crossroad of clash of civilization.
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