Muhammad, Man of God Book

This is a wonderful little biography of the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him and his family. Seyyed Hossein Nasr mentions in the preface that he wrote this to enlighten young readers with historical facts, and more importantly to elucidate the spiritual significance of these facts from traditional sources in contemporary manner.

At first, the book struck me as too short considering the complexity and greatness of the subject matter, but when I began reading I was surprised at how skilfully Nasr covers enough breadth to give a complete overview of the Prophet's life and more than sufficient depth in matters necessitating that. The dates, the events, the important figures are all there, and so is the superb commentary.
The contemporary manner that Nasr employs is one that addresses the increasingly humanistic and scientistic attitudes of modernised Muslims who down play certain aspects of the Prophet's life in order to fit a more "rational" view of the world/religion. (Nasr refers to this process as reductionism) Nasr assures the reader that there is nothing illogical about events like the nocturnal ascent (mi`raj). He reminds us that " the conditions which modern physical science sets upon itself in its study of physical reality [must not be mistaken] for conditions and limitations
of reality itself."
These small "interventions" Nasr peppers throughout the book made it one of the elements that made me appreciate this book so much. Others are the inclusion of lengthy hadith/riwayat (like that of mi`raj and the farewell pilgrammage) as well as the mentioning the differences in significance of particular events or figures between Sunni and Shi`i thought.

The only thing I am critical of is the lack of sourcing, especially when Nasr recounts unorthodox hadiths non-verbatim. I know citing everything in a biography would be tedious, but I think it should be expected at least when we're talking about things like having icons in the Ka`bah.

All in all, I believe Seyyed Nasr successfully achieved the aim he set out with.
I would recommend this book to those in want of a short introduction to the Prophet pbuh and to the more seasoned who still wish to get a nuanced perspective on the spiritual significance of some of the most important events of the Prophet's life.