Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources Book

Like Abraham, Moses and Jesus before him, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) came to unite not divide. From one vantage point the religion known as Islam is an evolution, culmination or perfection of expression regarding the One essence that is also known as the Real. From another perspective it shows how much nothing has changed. "Islam" or "submission to God" is simply a return to the true nature of who we are. Past all the religious externalities that have accumulated over centuries, Submission is nothing more than unity with the only reality there is or ever was. It is discovery of the Self at the deepest level.

Muhammad as a human represents symbolically the perfection of this unity in all aspects of lived human experience. As the doctrine of original sin doesn't exist in Islam, the life of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) is taken as the ultimate example of how everyday activities are sanctified. Doctrinally, Muhammad becomes the symbolic Universal Human - the single universal exemplar of how to live the good life.

This is my second read of Lings' classic biography, and after reading several other works from the same author, it becomes obvious how the universal essence which he sees also shines through in how he views the life of the Prophet (s.a.w.). Like Islam itself, Lings threads this essence through the various religions back to the primordial reality as expressed in the Qur'an delivered by Muhammad (s.a.w.): "for the revealed book itself was the central miracle of the Divine intervention now taking place, just as Christ had been the central miracle of the preceding intervention". (70) The function of the Qur'an and by extension its example in the life of Muhammad was to "re-awaken in man his primeval sense of wonderment which, with the passage of time had become dimmed or misdirected." (71)

Islam as a culmination and return is circular, unifying and universal. Muhammad's life from start to finish gives examples in every area of the spiritual and profane and his passions are sanctified in every circumstance. Lings illustrates these examples from the start of Islam, which he states to be founded "on the basis of the ritual purification and prayer" (47) through the establishment of the ideal community at Medina. In between we see Muhammad as a human, a human who loved women, perfume and prayer (according to the Hadith) and a human who was firm in defending the sacred in his community from those who would seek to destroy it, but who also saw the greatest expansion of Islam in his lifetime through peaceful diplomacy in the truce at Hudaibiyah.

Lings remains faithful to the classic biographies of the Prophet, dating back to the times of the companions, and incorporates Qur'an verses and Hadith seamlessly into his narrative. Highly recommended as a readable, authoritative account of the Prophet's life.