I enjoyed reading this book and revisiting the stories I learnt from childhood in a different light. Some stories I couldn't verify through the sources mentioned or other sources I looked at, other stories I found mentioned a bit differently in the sources I looked in. But all in all it was a very good book and provided an analysis of the events throughout the life of the prophet that gave me a better understanding of his personality.
I think a deeper search on the incidences related to the Jewish villages around Madina is definitely warranted. ( )

I liked the book for its perspective on Muhammad as it is similar to my own--an outsider, nonbeliever who has an avid interest in Islam. Hazleton presents Muhammad as a human--at times reluctant, calculating, gentle, cruel, mindful...I liked seeing this whole version of the man. However, this was a little bit of a bumpy ride for me as my interest waxed and waned throughout the book. The beginning and end had my attention, but the middle was a little hazy. Part of this may be due to feeling hesitant at times about the reader, Deepti Gupta. I would get stuck on the moments where she seemed to miss some of the humorous writing and others where she used an inflection that was flat and repetitive. Also, since I'm not as familiar with the history and language of the region, I may have followed a little better if I had read and not listened. Still, Hazleton fed my curiosity to study further topics in Islam, and I'll be interested to read more of her work as well. ( )

This is a pretty good book. It is not a scholarly book and shouldn't be judged as such. I think it paints a fair picture and is a good read for nonbelievers that may know nothing like myself. ( )

A cunning and self-seeking 'prophet'
By sally tarbox on 22 June 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
I knew next to nothing about muhammed when I picked up this book at the library. I'd HEARD a lot - almost worship from the muslims, a lot of very negative stuff from the Right Wing (violent, married a child...) So I was interested to find an even-handed report on his life from someone without an agenda.
This takes us right through mohammed's life: his father died before he was born; he was fostered out by Bedouins then - briefly- returned to his mother, who also soon died. Successful in the family caravan business in Mecca, and contentedly married to an older wife, I found myself unexpectedly warming to him, as he began adopting the life of a 'hanif', focussing on spirituality, meditation and a rejection of multiple gods. Lesley Hazelton uses contemporary sources to describe his first visitation, and the shock it inspired:

"Trembling, shuddering almost convulsively, he begged Khadija to hold him and hide him under her shawl. "Cover me, cover me", he pleaded, his head in her lap...Even as he still shook in Khadija's lap, Muhammad found his voice and the first revelation of ther Quran formed into words that another human being could hear."

Like a latter-day Christ, muhammed is reviled for his new ideas and flees to Medina with a group of followers. And still he seems a persuasive character, striving to engage with local Jews, holding resolutely to his beliefs.
But absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this reader's empathy for him swiftly started to evaporate as his consummate political nous turns him into a rather Machiavellian character. Launching raids on his foes in Mecca - less for religious reasons than to seize the luxury goods being transported in their caravan; turning cruelly on those same Jewish locals with whom he once was on friendly terms (much beheading); a handy divine revelation that reversed the prohibition on marrying the wife of an adopted son - just in time for him to do just that. The 'Satanic verses' (no, not the Rushdie book) in which muhammed pragmatically acknowledged the local goddesses (to the joy of the locals - but Allah bid him remove them) proved his fallibility. Also his decision to take nine wives - although the quran only allows four (and warns against that), divine revelation allowed the prophet as many as he wished (and concubines besides.) I increasingly disliked him, comparing his warmongering and political manoeuvring unfavourably with the first Christians. There wasn't even a steady purpose - after massacring one lot of Jews (miffed that they wouldnt accept him as 'prophet') he later instructs his followers to show tolerance for those who wouldn't convert!!

As I neared the end, I have to say my sympathies were with his arch-enemy, a woman named Hind, who urged the people to "kill that fat, greasy bladder of lard."
I think he did have some sort of visitation. But whether divine or satanic - the reader must decide. ( )

Readable introduction to the life of Muhammad. Probably the Muslim version of a Jesus Seminar interpretation of his life, but even so, it reads as self-aware and attempts to be even-handed. From where I am standing, the work doesn't have any signs of arrogance that are often found in liberal Jesus biographies. ( )