A review by maketeaa
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

it must take true skill to encapsulate the life of our prophet (pbuh) within a finite number of pages but lings does it wonderfully. in an accessible narrative, lings recounts not just the life hazrat muhammad (pbuh), but also the life of islam through its final messenger, creating a timeline of the major religious progressions made and how the prophet led them. he takes the time to explore the tribal complexities of arabia, the politics entrenching the religion, the impact of emigration on the community and their interactions with outsiders. but instead of a detached, impersonal account, we are told the story through the intensively human lens of the actors involved -- the love of abd al muttalib for the prophet, the prophet's shock at his meeting with gabriel, his deep friendship with hazrat abu bakr, his adoration for not just his family, but also his followers. lings humanises islam -- he shows the life of the prophet, the last messenger of allah swt, as both being breathlessly pure as its connection to the words of allah, but also strikingly simple and relatable. interspersing the text with revelations brought down to the prophet, lings produces a work that acts not just as an informative biography but almost as an instructional guide on how to live, on the most beautiful way to be human as demonstrated by the prophet (pbuh).