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Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad
An expert in the study of Islam answers thirty important questions about Muhammad, offering a clear and concise guide to his life and religious significance. This companion volume to the author's A Concise Guide to the Quran answers many of the key questions non-Muslims have about Muhammad, reveals the importance of Muhammad for Christian-Muslim and Jewish-Muslim interfaith relations, and examines Muslim and non-Muslim primary sources. This introductory guide is written for anyone with little to no knowledge of Islam who wants to learn about Muslims, their beliefs, and their prophet.
240 pages, Paperback
Published May 17, 2022
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87 people want to read
About the author
Ayman S. Ibrahim
12 books9 followersAyman S. Ibrahim(PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary; PhD, Haifa University) is Bill and Connie Jenkins Professor of Islamic Studies and director of the Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He was born and raised in Egypt and has taught in various countries in the Muslim world and in the West. His articles on Islam and Christian-Muslim relations have appeared in the Washington Post, Religion News Service, and First Things, among others. Ibrahim is the author of The Stated Motivations for the Early Islamic Expansion.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 17, 2025
This is an excellent primer on not just Muhammad’s life but also the basics of Islam. D.R. Ibrahim lays out the foundational tenets in plain English, and gives helpful commentary.
May 17, 2022
Muhammad is the world’s most common personal name. This reflects the honor that Muslims give the founder of their religion. Indeed, Islam’s confession of faith requires affirmation of two propositions: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God.”
To understand Islam, then, it is necessary to reckon with Muhammad. Helping readers do that is the goal of A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad by Ayman S. Ibrahim. Drawing on both “Muslim primary sources” and “recent scholarly research,” Ibrahim examines “Muhammad’s History” in Part 1 of the book and “Muhammad’s Message” in Part 2. The title of each chapter asks a question the body of that chapter answers.
Ibrahim is a Coptic Christian and a professor of Islamic Studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and author of A Concise Guide to the Quran, as well as other books on Islam. He strives to present a historically accurate portrait of what can be known about Muhammad’s life and teaching.
The first three chapters are foundational to the book:
Chapter 1 (“Who Was Muhammad?”) outlines Muhammad’s biography as it is presented in Muslim tradition (Arabic, Sunna).
Chapter 2 (“What Are the Major Muslim Sources for Muhammad’s Life?”) describes the variety of written sources that constitute the Sunna. These include the sayings (Arabic, hadith), raids (maghazi), biographies (sira), and religious conquests (futuh) of Muhammad, along with the histories (tarikh) of Islam.
Chapter 3 (“What Do Scholars Say about the Reliability and Accuracy of Early Muslim Sources?”) identifies reasons for scholarly hesitation about the historical value of Muslim tradition and categorizes contemporary scholars as either “sanguine” or “skeptical.”
The reason for scholarly hesitation is twofold: “internal contradictions” among the sources and “their late compilation.” Muhammad lived in the late sixth and early seventh centuries (A.D. 570–632), but his first biography and the earliest Muslim histories began to appear only in the mid-eighth century. The most trusted accounts of Muhammad’s sayings and deeds began to be collected only in the mid-ninth century.
Contemporary scholars recognize these problems, but assess their relevance along a spectrum. “While sanguine scholars might hope to find a kernel of truthful material in the Muslim sources,” Ibrahim writes, “skeptic scholars approach them as documents with descriptions of the time of their writing, not the time of Muhammad.”
This tension between Muslim tradition and contemporary scholarship threads its way through all 30 chapters of A Concise Guide, requiring readers to exercise discernment about what can be known of the historical Muhammad.
Readers interested in the relationship of Islam to Christianity should pay special attention to the following four:
Chapter 17 (“Did Muhammad Launch Raids Against Christians?”) describe three military expeditions Muhammad personally led or instigated against territories governed by Byzantine and Arabic Christian forces.
Chapter 20 (“What Are Some of the Early Non-Muslim Views on Muhammad?”) draws on the writings of seventh- and eighth-century Christians who encountered Muhammad and/or his followers and message.
Ibrahim notes that “while Muslims emphatically presented Muhammad as the final prophet sent by the deity, … non-Muslims, in general terms, were unwilling to grant Muhammad such a status based on what they knew of his deeds and teachings.” In the words of Doctrini Jacobi, likely written in July 634, just two years after Muhammad’s death: “He [i.e., Muhammad] is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword.”
Chapter 23 (“What Is Muhammad’s Message about Jesus?”) surveys both the Quran and Muslim tradition. “While Jesus is honored and respected,” Ibrahim summarizes the Islamic sources, “he was not crucified, nor was he a god or a savior. He will come again as a last judge and will rebuke Christians who did not accept Muhammad.” This Muslim understanding of Jesus is incompatible with Christian orthodoxy.
Chapter 24 (“Where Is Muhammad Mentioned in the Bible?”) evaluates Muslim arguments that claim the Bible prophesies about Muhammad. Ibrahim’s conclusion is that “there is no explicit reference [to Muhammad], and the implied mentions are hardly plausible.”
Ibrahim rounds out his book with a bibliography of English translations of Muslim primary sources, helpful websites regarding Islam, and a glossary of key terms. These appendixes are especially helpful to readers who want to conduct further research on Muhammad and his religion.
Although Ibrahim wrote A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad for a general audience, I read and am reviewing it as a Christian minister. It broadened and deepened my understanding of the founder of Islam, along the way heightening the differences that exist between his religion and my own.
I believe that such an understanding is necessary to any religious encounter with Muslims, although the book offers no advice about how Christians should conduct such encounters. Nevertheless, I recommend Ibrahim’s book to missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and laity with a heart for Muslim evangelism. Christians cannot share the gospel with people whom they do not understand, so if we want to reach out to Muslims, we must reckon with Muhammad.
Book Reviewed
Ayman S. Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad: Answering Thirty Key Questions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2022).
P.S. If you liked my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
P.P.S. This review is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.
To understand Islam, then, it is necessary to reckon with Muhammad. Helping readers do that is the goal of A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad by Ayman S. Ibrahim. Drawing on both “Muslim primary sources” and “recent scholarly research,” Ibrahim examines “Muhammad’s History” in Part 1 of the book and “Muhammad’s Message” in Part 2. The title of each chapter asks a question the body of that chapter answers.
Ibrahim is a Coptic Christian and a professor of Islamic Studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and author of A Concise Guide to the Quran, as well as other books on Islam. He strives to present a historically accurate portrait of what can be known about Muhammad’s life and teaching.
The first three chapters are foundational to the book:
Chapter 1 (“Who Was Muhammad?”) outlines Muhammad’s biography as it is presented in Muslim tradition (Arabic, Sunna).
Chapter 2 (“What Are the Major Muslim Sources for Muhammad’s Life?”) describes the variety of written sources that constitute the Sunna. These include the sayings (Arabic, hadith), raids (maghazi), biographies (sira), and religious conquests (futuh) of Muhammad, along with the histories (tarikh) of Islam.
Chapter 3 (“What Do Scholars Say about the Reliability and Accuracy of Early Muslim Sources?”) identifies reasons for scholarly hesitation about the historical value of Muslim tradition and categorizes contemporary scholars as either “sanguine” or “skeptical.”
The reason for scholarly hesitation is twofold: “internal contradictions” among the sources and “their late compilation.” Muhammad lived in the late sixth and early seventh centuries (A.D. 570–632), but his first biography and the earliest Muslim histories began to appear only in the mid-eighth century. The most trusted accounts of Muhammad’s sayings and deeds began to be collected only in the mid-ninth century.
Contemporary scholars recognize these problems, but assess their relevance along a spectrum. “While sanguine scholars might hope to find a kernel of truthful material in the Muslim sources,” Ibrahim writes, “skeptic scholars approach them as documents with descriptions of the time of their writing, not the time of Muhammad.”
This tension between Muslim tradition and contemporary scholarship threads its way through all 30 chapters of A Concise Guide, requiring readers to exercise discernment about what can be known of the historical Muhammad.
Readers interested in the relationship of Islam to Christianity should pay special attention to the following four:
Chapter 17 (“Did Muhammad Launch Raids Against Christians?”) describe three military expeditions Muhammad personally led or instigated against territories governed by Byzantine and Arabic Christian forces.
Chapter 20 (“What Are Some of the Early Non-Muslim Views on Muhammad?”) draws on the writings of seventh- and eighth-century Christians who encountered Muhammad and/or his followers and message.
Ibrahim notes that “while Muslims emphatically presented Muhammad as the final prophet sent by the deity, … non-Muslims, in general terms, were unwilling to grant Muhammad such a status based on what they knew of his deeds and teachings.” In the words of Doctrini Jacobi, likely written in July 634, just two years after Muhammad’s death: “He [i.e., Muhammad] is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword.”
Chapter 23 (“What Is Muhammad’s Message about Jesus?”) surveys both the Quran and Muslim tradition. “While Jesus is honored and respected,” Ibrahim summarizes the Islamic sources, “he was not crucified, nor was he a god or a savior. He will come again as a last judge and will rebuke Christians who did not accept Muhammad.” This Muslim understanding of Jesus is incompatible with Christian orthodoxy.
Chapter 24 (“Where Is Muhammad Mentioned in the Bible?”) evaluates Muslim arguments that claim the Bible prophesies about Muhammad. Ibrahim’s conclusion is that “there is no explicit reference [to Muhammad], and the implied mentions are hardly plausible.”
Ibrahim rounds out his book with a bibliography of English translations of Muslim primary sources, helpful websites regarding Islam, and a glossary of key terms. These appendixes are especially helpful to readers who want to conduct further research on Muhammad and his religion.
Although Ibrahim wrote A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad for a general audience, I read and am reviewing it as a Christian minister. It broadened and deepened my understanding of the founder of Islam, along the way heightening the differences that exist between his religion and my own.
I believe that such an understanding is necessary to any religious encounter with Muslims, although the book offers no advice about how Christians should conduct such encounters. Nevertheless, I recommend Ibrahim’s book to missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and laity with a heart for Muslim evangelism. Christians cannot share the gospel with people whom they do not understand, so if we want to reach out to Muslims, we must reckon with Muhammad.
Book Reviewed
Ayman S. Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad: Answering Thirty Key Questions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2022).
P.S. If you liked my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
P.P.S. This review is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.
February 6, 2023
I am getting ready to lead a trip to predominantly Muslim nation. As a seminary-trained, multi-degreed pastor, I know an embarrassingly little about Islam. In preparation for the upcoming trip, I picked up a copy of this book. Only a month or so later, a friend invited me to have lunch with the author, Dr. Ibrahim. I was already enthralled by his book prior to the luncheon. After, having measured the sincerity of the many and the earnestness of his concern for the Islamic world to know Christ, I devoured the rest of the book. This book is a great primer about the life of Muhammad. Laid out in 30 shorter chapters, it is easy to digest the book slowly if preferred. I found some of the chapters to be incredibly engaging while others did not appeal to questions or concerns that were as important to me. If I had a critique of this work, it would be that the glossary (there is one already!) needs to be expanded for the reader who is new to Islam and the life of Muhammad. This book can wax and wain a bit academic, but I will definitely use particular chapters to help equip teams headed to predominantly Muslim nations.
October 19, 2024
Karya Ayman S. Ibrahim ini menghadirkan perspektif kritis yang berani mengenai kehidupan Nabi Muhammad, yang disusun dengan cermat dan berbasis penelitian mendalam. Penulis mengupas berbagai aspek kehidupan Nabi Muhammad dengan pendekatan yang hati-hati, terutama ketika mengulas kontradiksi antara Hadits dan ayat-ayat Al-Qur'an. Pembaca yang mencari analisis yang lebih dalam dan akademis akan menikmati cara Ibrahim menggali berbagai perbedaan dalam sumber-sumber utama Islam, yang jarang dibahas secara terbuka. Pendekatan kritis penulis ini memberikan sudut pandang baru yang menarik dan menantang, terutama bagi pembaca yang ingin memahami lebih baik dinamika sejarah dan agama Islam. Secara keseluruhan, buku ini memberikan wawasan yang penting dan sangat layak untuk dijadikan bahan bacaan bagi mereka yang tertarik pada studi biografi Muhammad.
May 17, 2025
This was an excellent, objective, critical view of the life of Muhammad. While A.S. Ibrahim is not Muslim, his writing provides a very rational, logic-driven insight into the person of Muhammad and the skepticism surrounding the authenticity of the documentation of his life.
I began this book knowing very little about Islam and finished having a much broader understanding of what both traditional and progressive Muslims believe about Muhammad. I am very excited to read the other two books in his Understanding Islam series. I plan on finishing this series before reading the Qur'an later this summer.
I began this book knowing very little about Islam and finished having a much broader understanding of what both traditional and progressive Muslims believe about Muhammad. I am very excited to read the other two books in his Understanding Islam series. I plan on finishing this series before reading the Qur'an later this summer.
February 21, 2025
The author meticulously explains the important historical/religious significance of Muhammad in a relatively easy to understand manner. If you’re interested in critically examining Islam, the Qu’ran, and Hadiths, this is a great first start in my humble opinion. It took me a while to read because it is extremely detailed, but I appreciate the dedication Ibrahim had by consulting the numerous, trusted Muslim and non-Muslim sources in order to answer 30 key questions around the important figure of Muhammad.
March 26, 2024
Excellent Source
Dr. Ibrahim’s book strikes the perfect comination of accuracy and simplicity. He doesn’t dumb anything down, yet his presentation is not at all tedious. In addition, his footnotes and bibliographies are very helpful for those that wish to dig a little deeper.
Dr. Ibrahim’s book strikes the perfect comination of accuracy and simplicity. He doesn’t dumb anything down, yet his presentation is not at all tedious. In addition, his footnotes and bibliographies are very helpful for those that wish to dig a little deeper.
March 2, 2025
Phenomenal!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews