Islam is perhaps one of the most wantonly misunderstood religions and culture in the West, and few outside of the religion I am sure, would know anything about the life and times of its greatest prophet Mohammad. I for one before I read this book, was certainly one of that ignorant mass.
So I am so much more educated now for reading this concise but nonetheless highly illuminating outline of the prophet Mohammad. It's the nature of these short introductory books that a lot of stuff seems at times airbrushed, but having said that, Ziauddin Sardar has done an admirable job at making the subject matter both immediately interesting as well as setting out enough intriguing points to encourage further investigation.
Coming at the subject matter with few preconceptions as, to be perfectly honest, I knew next to nothing about the life of Mohammad, I must say how struck I was by the overall 'humanity' of the man. Yes he was a warrior, yes he did take multiple wives, but he was very much a product of his time [as is any historical figure] and at the end of the day, one cannot help but be struck by the drive of the man to create a fairer, more tolerant society in a fractious Arabia full of not just Arab tribes, but active Jewish and Christian ones too, something else I hadn't appreciated about this period in Middle Eastern history.
There has been much criticism of Islam the past couple of centuries amongst the western intelligentsia- some of it I must say warranted, as you can see some of the germs of the contradictions inherent in the religion even in this small book- but as the author quite rightly points out, Christendom is in no position to cast stones. At the end of the day, the West seems obsessed with studiously misunderstanding what is clearly a religion based squarely in tolerance, social justice and love, and that is very much our loss. I hope small, accessible books like this can keep up the good work needed to change those mis-conceptions.
