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(More customer reviews)In the current political climate, with extremists in Muslim and non-Muslim camps, there ought to be intense interest in understanding Islamic culture. There seems to be a general ignorance in the US of what Islam stands for, unless it stands for rejection of Jesus as the son of God, of feminism, of pacifism. But if we are to come to some understanding of the religion and the culture, it only makes sense to try to understand its founder. Thus it is timely that _The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography_ (HiddenSpring / Paulist Press) by Barnaby Rogerson is now available. A vivid, living portrait, it will do excellent service for anyone who is interested in initial instruction in the life of the prophet. Rogerson does not make his own religious beliefs plain in the book, but he is clearly enthusiastic about the Islamic world and the ideas the Prophet gave to us. When he started asking questions about Muhammad, his fellow travelers might reply "Are you a Muslim" or "Do you intend to become a Muslim?" It was clear they wanted to know what side he was on. "I was on the side of a good story," he says, and a good story he has told here.
Muhammad was born in 570 in Mecca to a noble family. He was a shepherd as a boy, graduating to the lucrative and essential camel trades. He grew to love the incense which was the most lucrative item of trade, and his other great physical delight was women. He strongly disapproved of celibacy and he liked women for their chatter, wit, advice, and wisdom. When he started, at age 40, to have religious visions, his wife was his first convert. After his death, he took ten other wives. Rogerson does not neglect to tell about Muhammad's possible moral deficiencies. Perhaps the greatest moral quandary for us is that Muhammad went to war against the rest of Arabia for purely religious reasons. His visions also included eternal torture for whoever Allah condemned, a morally corrupt scheme. But his teachings included disclaimers of racism that would have been good for other scriptures to include, and exhortations toward scholarly knowledge.
What is best about Rogerson's biography is that it reminds us that there is a wealth of available detail about the life of its subject. Besides his enjoyment of physical pleasures of scent and sex, the Prophet liked cats. He retained humility, refusing to associate himself with miracles except for his revelations. He liked other people and enjoyed humor. He disdained possessions, always giving things away and refusing to accumulate wealth, but he liked shopping for household needs. An experienced camel-trader, he would cheerfully ride on the humble mount of a donkey or mule. He deliberately lived as a poor man, an example of saintliness that must embarrass the rest of us. He loved simplicity, and would have been appalled at mosques ancient and modern, whose architectural magnificence others find inspiring. There are contradictions, some of them distressing, in his actions, but it is remarkable that we have such a full record of his words and acts and enthusiasms. This humane portrait comes in a time when we sorely need better understanding of its subject.
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The Prophet MuhammadIn this fascinating and insightful biography, Barnaby Rogerson explores the life and times of Muhammad. Vividly describing the sixth-century Arabia where Muhammad was born, Rogerson charts his early years among the flocks, the caravans and the markets of his native Mecca; the night he received his religious vision; the perilous years of reciting the revelations in Mecca; his escape to Yathrib (Medina) and his subsequent battles.In his lifetime Muhammad established a new religion, Islam; a new state, the first united Arabia; and a new literary language-the classical Arabic of the Qur'an. A generation after his death, he would be acknowledged as the founder of a world empire and a new civilization. Any one of these achievements would be more than enough to permanently establish his genius, but Muhammad also managed to stay true to himself and retained to his last days the humility, courtesy and humanity that he had learned as an orphan and shepherd boy in central Arabia. If one looks for a parallel example in the history of Christianity, one would have to combine Paul the Apostle with the Emperor Constantine and Francis of Assisi. In a world where the understanding of religions is ever more essential, Barnaby Rogerson's book could not be better timed. A sharp, thoughtful, open-minded account, it brilliantly captures the historical resonance and spiritual significance of this leader, visionary and prophet.
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