Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam

Author's name: Michael Kookdar Publisher: Al-Rafidain for Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2017 Literary classification: Religious study Brief about the book: It is unlikely that Muhammad would have been enthusiastic about the series in which this book appears, or would have cared to be included. Its title alone carries a flavor of shirk; and the name "Lord" is not suitable to be applied except to Allah alone. Perhaps he would also have been annoyed by the flattery of intellectual originality in it. As a messenger of Allah, it was his duty to deliver a message, not to chase his own fantasies. There are various reasons for my personal reservations regarding writing this work. Muhammad left a great impression on subsequent generations, making it not easy to place him in his natural context. This is a matter of a historical site, and as we will see, it is also a matter of sources. The result is that the only feature of this book that I do not feel guilty about is the brevity imposed by the form of this series. My attempt to write about Muhammad within this scope has made me face issues I would not have encountered otherwise, and in ways I had not encountered in other cases. I thank Patricia Crono, Eitan Colberg, Frank Stewart, Keith Thomas, and Henry Hardy for their comments on a draft of this book; and Wlrits Zimmermann for his critical reading of what could be considered a final version, and for his strong influence on my understanding of Islamic theology.