The Life of Muhammad
Product Description: Alfred Guillaume's authoritative translation of the Sira of Ibn Ishaq presents in English the complete history of the life of Prophet Muhammad. No book can compare in comprehensiveness, arrangement, or systematic treatment with Ibn Ishaq's work.
Subjects: Islamic studies, Other prose: classical, early & medieval, History, Biography / Autobiography, History: World, ASIA, Asia - General, Religious, History / Asia, Biography, Muhammad,, Muslims, Muòhammad,, Prophet,, Saudi Arabia, d. 632,
Excellent Reconstruction of the Sira
Guillaume's reconstruction of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah is possibly one of the best biographies written of anyone, though it is not for the novice or uninitiated regarding Islamic history. His attention to detail is sufficient that he retains the isnads, or links of transmission, for the various narrations of witnesses to the Prophet's life, allowing the reader to track the backgrounds of various characters and participants. While Ibn Ishaq's work might contain what some would call legends or impossible stories, nevertheless, one gains an excellent picture of the Prophet's life and deeds. The material below might be a little too technical for most, but considering the detractors and the nature of this book, it is necessary to use the appropriate terms and concepts in Islam.
The principle argument of the critics posted on Amazon is that the translation distorts the original text. This has significant problems here, especially since their argument is primarily based on one passage. First, Ibn Ishaq's original text is lost. Thus, the account of the Prophet reciting a Sura that Gabriel did not bring to him (p166) regarding compromising with polytheism would not be found in the "original Arabic." What one critic is instead probably referencing is Ibn Hisham's heavily edited Sira which removed this account and many others he considered to be "embarrassing" to the dignity of the Prophet. Second, the account in question is attested to by al-Tabari in his Ta'rikh, or History, pp 1192-93. Third, Ibn Sa'd in the al-Tabaqat also accepts the hadith that relate this account, with only slight changes (Vol I, pp 236-37). Fourth, Ibn Kathir, on the basis of following al-Tabari's lead, also accepts the essentials of the account, though edited down (Tafsir, Vol. VI, pp 597-98). In this he cites "Fath al-Bari 8:292" in support of Allah removing falsehood that got into the Prophet's speech. Fifth, Qadi 'Iyad, in the Ash-Shifa, discusses this issue at length in an effort to refute it (pp 300-306). One of his arguments is that the hadith in question is not in the sahih collections, and that it is considered "da'if," or weak. Of course, if this is so, then the same goes for the phrase "the Greater versus the Lesser Jihad," where some claim that the greatest jihad is the fight against one's inner evil and not engaging in warfare. Ibn Taymiyyah cites this hadith as not only da'if, but even considers it a forgery. This hadith at least meets the same criteria as cited by Qadi 'Iyad for the one in question in Ibn Ishaq's work, so should we discard that as unauthentic as well?
Of course, in his effort to refute this passage Qadi 'Iyad opens other cans of worms, such as stating that al-Shaytan (Satan) could deceive transmitters of hadith (which makes all hadith suspect) or that al-Shaytan could even be lurking nearby to speak like the Prophet and thus deceive the listeners, thus making the very Qur'an suspect. Naturally, neither of these possibilities are acceptable to Muslims.
The evidence presented above demonstrates that Guillaume's reconstruction is at least faithful to the documents he had, and thus this rendition of Ibn Ishaq's Sira is accurate and acceptable. It is up to the reader to then sift through the material to see what he or she thinks is the most accurate, and what is possibly legend.
As for the rest of the material, there are numerous nuggets of gold nestled in here, and if one does some serious thinking as they read they can pick out all sorts of fascinating material about the Prophet, his companions, and his campaign to subjugate neighboring tribes, and Makkah itself.
If you are getting serious about studying Islam, you must study this work. But if you want a more simplistic and yet sympathetic biography of the Prophet that is still accurate, then read Sir John Glubb's "The Life and Times of Muhammad."
Great Primary Resource
This book is a translation Ibn Ishaq's SIRAT RASUL ALLAH, the original version of which has been lost to history. A. Guillaume translated an abridged edition by Ibn Hisham for his translation. THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD is the result.
The book is not in the form of an integrated narrative. Instead it's a series of stories, poems, accounts, recollections and other scraps of information collected by Ibn Ishaq bearing on the Prophet and his life and times.
Don't plan on sitting down and reading this cover to cover. It's a scrapbook of information. To his credit, Ibn Ishaq attributes the bits and pieces of information he collects. In that sense, he's trying to do what professional historians still try to do, reconstruct the past and preserve it as best he can.
And, he did a good job. There's a huge amount of information preserved in THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD. If you're interested in learning more about Muhammad, you'll appreciate this book. I like it and gave it five stars.
If you want to know the truth about Muhammed..
Read this book as this is considered authentic and most revealing about Muhammed and his cruelty!! Excellent resource for debunking and exposing Islam and Muhammed! I highly recommend this tome!!
Probably the best resource out there
Ibn Ishaq was the earliest, and probably the most thorough, of Islam's historians. He never claimed that everything he heard was the perfect, absolute fact; rather, he very frankly writes "so-and-so said this, but so-and-so said that." Most of the discrepancies he cites are minor, and the vast majority of the incidents he cites are surprisingly consistent with what other Muslim historians say.
Later, Ibn Hisham produced a "rescinded" version of Ibn Ishaq's work, including in his work an introduction that explains frankly that he cut parts that others might find offensive. It is actually this work that survives -- to date no complete copy of Ibn Ishaq's orginial work has been found.
Meanwhile, however, other Muslim historians commented on Ibn Ishaq's work (before it was rescinded and lost) and quoted from it extensively. Guilliaume has taken these pieces and added them back in, and has indicated clearly what has been added, diligently citing the source of the addition in each case.
While this book is not exactly light reading, it is fascinating, and essential for understanding the context of the Quran. The Quran and the Life of Muhammad should be read side by side to really get an understanding of how Islam developed over the course of Muhammad's life.
Don't be put off by the extremely thorough names -- clan and lineage was an integral part of life in sixth-century Arabia so a person's name often is listed as "A son of B son of C son of D son of E of the clan F." It's even worse when they list four or five people that way, taking up two-thirds of a paragraph before getting to a verb, but just skip over this and read the great stories. This is a fascinating read and a fabulous academic resource.
If you want something a little easier to read, get Martin Lings' book: Muhammad, His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. A work of impeccable scholarship, this book is shorter, easier to read, and, while it is largely based on Ibn Ishaq, it also includes some other sources considered authentic by Islamic scholars. Lings won awards in Pakistan and Egypt for the book, which is in its third printing and is sold all over the Muslim world.
Again, the frustrating thing about any book on the life of Muhammad will be keeping track of who's who -- there are so many characters and many of them share the same name, so you have to make an effort to keep track of which Abdullah and which Sa'd they are talking about. (For example, at one point both of Muhammad's personal bodyguards were named Sa'd.) To add further confusion, the most polite way to address someone in Arabic is "Father of so-and-so" or "Mother of so-and-so" but Martin Lings is pretty good about using one form or the other consistently throughout the book. Also, there is a helpful index in the back of both Guillaume's and Lings' book for when you can't remember who's who.
Either of these books is essential reading if you are studying the Quran or Islam.
An extremely important primary source
If you really want to learn more about the early years of Islam and its founder, this book is superior to almost all modern interpretations of Islam, which are invariably tainted with pcism. This is the oldest "sira" (biography) of Mohammad and, as such, is very authoritative amongst Muslims. As for the comments made by some reviewers that the translation is "tainted," this is a false assertion. Regarding the issue of the Satanic Verses, the reason it's included in Ishaq's book is because it is found in the great historian, al-Tabari's volumes. And as Guiliame (sp?) makes clear in his intro, the original biography of Ibn Ishaq's is no longer extant and exists only in recessions, al-Tabari's being one of them. So Guilliame makes it a point to include al-Tabari's excerpts, with, if I rightly recall, an asterisk and in parantheses. That's what's called "scholarship"; the whining made by the (apparently mostly Muslim) reviewers are called "smokescreens."
