Muhammad Book

Such an incredibly odd collection of fragmented tid bits in, for lack of a better descriptive term, myth making around the Prophet Muhammad. I was amused by the content, and a little disturbed by the lack of proper citations for the claims presented within the work.

Apparently the bulk of this work must come from outside material, like Hiyat al Qulub by al-Majlisi because I ran into very little that i recognized from my own extensive reading of biographies, albeit modern, of the Prophet. While Weinberger suggests drawing from the Quran and Hadith, I feel certaint that if proper citation work be done, the bulk of this work will not be from within that authentic Islamic tradition. Which leads me to conclude that it comes more from Abbasid era fantasy, when al-Majlisi was writing then from traditional schools of thought.

Maybe its meant to be ironic. Or that it channels that weird lyrical Arabic style found in manuscripts from that period. Maybe the whole this is just a farce to show how silly religious communities are and not really a work to bridge cultures as put into context by Weinberger is the Afterword, where he lists works he cites as well. Maybe I am taking this whole read too seriously and just should shut up, because really who reads leftist Verso publication stuff anyway?

Dont let that stop you from reading it. It is poetic and lyrical and if anything will engender you to some very silly legends that have cropped up around the persona of the Prophet Muhammad. In that way you get a chance to figure out what is the man, the myth, and legend.