A Biography of The Prophet of Islam , In the Light of the Original Sources An Analytical Study

by Mahdi Rizqullah Ahmad, Syed Iqbal Zaheer (Translator), Kamarul Bin Ahmad

This work on the life history of the Prophet (S) stands out from other works in quite a few ways. First, every detail mentioned has been traced back to original sources, whose authenticity has been discussed extensively in the footnotes. Second, the events of the Prophet's life have been related to modern times and lessons drawn for the benefit of those who happen to face similar situations in their struggle to spread the Prophetic message.

Genres: Islam, History, Biography

936 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Akif Zaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is perhaps the most authentic English-language biography of the Prophet (PBUH) you'll ever lay your hands on. Yeah, it's more authentic than the sealed nectar or Lings's Biography of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The book is very well-researched and you can realise that with the insane amount of footnotes present and the number of citations they provide, but one has to realise it isn't really an easy work to read. Not that it's complicated, but it's very dry literature as its main purpose is to be accurate; so when one reads this, one should keep that in mind.

The translation is mostly on point and the language is succinct, but if you were to read something more say- interesting, I heard Martin Lings and The Sealed Nectar are better for that purpose.
I'd only recommend this work to you if you're strict on authenticity, but it was personally not very enjoyable to plow through 900 pages of what is basically a history book which also includes a lot of unnecessary information that would frankly, be pretty useless for most of us.

[Yunis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took the journey through the work of Dr. Mahdi Rizqullah Ahmed and it is was the journey of a lifetime. The work is great source of footnote. The work uses modern footnote to get through the sources of the Prophet's biography.

[جلجامش Nabeel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took this book as a challenge with a Muslim friend from Syria. I found volume 1 good, in terms of history. It is my first reading on Mohammed. I learned a lot. I found some good stuff and disliked other things. I found many irrational stories as well, yet they defend them as miracles.
The second volume was just a list of wars and invasions. I found it boring. However, I should show respect to their insistence on following and tracing the source of each narration. They did it in a good historical approach.
It was a good reading on history in brief.

[Muhammad Ilyasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indonesian translation version: Biografi Rasulullah, Sebuah Studi Analitis Berdasarkan Sumber-Sumber yang Otentik.

[Rahmansha]

How to read please , I see no link

[Muhammad Rafeeq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems well researched by the stacks of citations below almost every page. But the books are filled with language errors, spelling mistakes, grammar, etc.

[Um Ziyad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a great book! I find it written well and easy to refer to, I refer to it quite often in my research.