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The Lives of Muhammad
Recent outbursts sparked by a viral video and controversial cartoons powerfully illustrate the passions and sensitivities that continue to surround the depiction of the seventh-century founder of Islam. The Lives of Muhammad" delves into the many ways the Prophet s life story has been told from the earliest days of Islam to the present, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Emphasizing the major transformations since the nineteenth century, Kecia Ali shows that far from being mutually opposed, these various perspectives have become increasingly interdependent.
Since the nineteenth century, two separate streams of writing, one hagiographic and the other polemical, have merged into a single, contentious story about the life of Muhammad. Protestant missionaries, European Orientalists, Indian and Egyptian modernists, and American voices across the spectrum, including preachers, scholars, Islamophobes, journalists, academics, and new-age gurus, debated Muhammad s character and the facts of his life. In the process, texts written symbolically came to be read literally. Muhammad s accomplishments as a religious and political leader, his military encounters with Meccans and Medinan Jews, and a subject of perennial interest his relationships with women, including his young wife Aisha, are among the key subjects writers engaged, repurposing early materials for new circumstances.
Many of the ideas about Muhammad that Muslims embrace today Muhammad the social reformer, Muhammad the consummate leader, Muhammad the ideal husband arose in tandem and in tension with Western depictions. These were in turn shaped by new ideas about religion, sexuality, and human accomplishments."
Since the nineteenth century, two separate streams of writing, one hagiographic and the other polemical, have merged into a single, contentious story about the life of Muhammad. Protestant missionaries, European Orientalists, Indian and Egyptian modernists, and American voices across the spectrum, including preachers, scholars, Islamophobes, journalists, academics, and new-age gurus, debated Muhammad s character and the facts of his life. In the process, texts written symbolically came to be read literally. Muhammad s accomplishments as a religious and political leader, his military encounters with Meccans and Medinan Jews, and a subject of perennial interest his relationships with women, including his young wife Aisha, are among the key subjects writers engaged, repurposing early materials for new circumstances.
Many of the ideas about Muhammad that Muslims embrace today Muhammad the social reformer, Muhammad the consummate leader, Muhammad the ideal husband arose in tandem and in tension with Western depictions. These were in turn shaped by new ideas about religion, sexuality, and human accomplishments."
352 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2014
12 people are currently reading
399 people want to read
About the author
Kecia Ali
16Ìýbooks72ÌýfollowersKecia Ali is an Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University. She writes on early Islamic law, women, ethics, and biography. Her books include Sexual Ethics and Islam (2006), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam (2010), Imam Shafi'i: Scholar and Saint (2011), and The Lives of Muhammad (2014). She co-edited the revised edition of A Guide for Women in Religion (2014), which provides practical guidance for careers in religious studies and theology. An expanded tenth anniversary edition of Sexual Ethics and Islam is forthcoming in early 2016. She is currently at work on Women in Muslim Traditions, geared toward students and general readers.
Ali is active in the American Academy of Religion and serves as president of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics. From time to time, she blogs at feminismandreligion.com, cognoscenti.wbur.org, and huffingtonpost.com.
Ali is active in the American Academy of Religion and serves as president of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics. From time to time, she blogs at feminismandreligion.com, cognoscenti.wbur.org, and huffingtonpost.com.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 30, 2017
A great book. The author, Kecia Ali, has produced an academic work that does everything it is supposed to do and more. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the life of Muhammad, Islam, as well as to anyone interested in either reading or writing biographies or histories. It would make a great how-to text for a class on historiography. In spite of all of that, The Lives of Muhammad is extremely readable. (And the bibliography is wonderful for anyone wanting to make an attempt at understanding the life (lives) of Muhammad.)
The aim of the book is simply stated in the Introduction. "It is not a book about the life of Muhammad but about the ways in which his life has been told." Taking a thematic approach, the book looks at the various approaches that have been taken by would be biographers Muslim and non-Muslim, Western, Indian, Christian, early through modern and more. The reader is rewarded with a multifaceted panorama which tells us more about biographers than it does about Muhammad.
What becomes clear is not just the ways in which these various views have opposed each other but the ways in which these views have both changed and melded into each other. Early hagiographies, confronted with Western Christian polemics, often sneering and vulgar, gave way to responses aimed as much to the Christian reader as to the Muslim. In the process Muslim biographers started framing their responses writing styles and terms of the West. In turn and over time, Western academics started giving greater credence to the original Muslim writing as they started to look for the man, Muhammad behind the prophet. More recently we have seen a response to both 9/11 and certain sympathetic and spiritual attempts to find common ground with Muhammad in the West. Similarly, certain Muslim writers have sought to give Western and Muslim readers a newly "constituted modernity in which different traditions [within Islam] converge."
Finally, we are left with a multiplicity of Muhammad. He is a prophet, a husband, a family man, a leader, a strategist, an recently "The Super Leader Super Manager". What Ali wants her reader to understand is that we are all subject to the warp and weft of history. Looking for the man behind the multiplicity of images of history is an ongoing, never ending process which no biographer/ historian can ever end. No one can get beyond their own place in history, dig through the various and thickly layered intentions of their predecessors to find the real Muhammad, Jesus, Nietzsche, Washington or Nixon. The myths, contradictions, and gaps are too many.
I love this book because, as a reader, I have been given a clear view of the forest while the trees have been counted and named. What is most amazing is that so little of Kecia Ali is visible on the other side of the forest. Just an occasional flicker through the trees.
"In the twenty-first century it makes no sense to speak of Muslim views of Muhammad in opposition to Western or Christian views. Instead, the images of Muhammad that contemporary Muslims hold fervently and defend passionately arose in tandem and in tension with Western European and North American intellectuals' accounts of his life. At the same time, Muslim sensibilities and beliefs have affected the way that many non-Muslim authors write his life."
January 12, 2021
This is not a biography of Muhammad. Instead, it is a critical analysis and comparison of many of the classic/popular bios that are out there. Kecia Ali covers a series of topics in the life of Muhammad: his calling, his marriage to Kadija, his other wives, his prophethood, etc and he compares what various authors, both Western and Muslim, have written on the issue. I wouldn't recommend this for someone who is just entering into the field, but it is a fairly unbiased examination (albeit a bit dry at times) of the many different views others have had on Muhammad's life.
Here are some quotes I have pulled from the book, but please note that most are not KA's words but rather quotes he has also pulled from others. Many of which he might disagree with...
"Muhammad performed no miracles. His supposed miracles are the fruit of the imagination of his crude and barbaric adepts. The Quran, far from being a miracle, is an incoherent and contradictory assemblage of doctrines borrowed from here and there. As to Muhammad's moral conduct, it is a tissue of debauchery, of carnal pleasures, of lies, and of blood."
"Pedophilia is not (as polygamy once was) merely sensuality or lustfulness unrestrained. Nor is it (as polygamy came to be) an indication of a woman's low status or the broader oppressiveness of Muhammad and Islam toward females. Here Muhammad's practice is viewed as justification for evil meaning that in order to progress, one must reject his legacy."
"Despite common impulses in Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, the distinctions matter more."
"It is difficult to make a fair comparison of Muhammad with Jesus. Even if religious reverence towards 'the Son of God' did not restrain us, how could we compare the licentious polygamist, the robber, the fiery warrior, the inexorable bigot, with the benevolent majestic 'Son of Man?' "
"Muhammad was a leader of Arabian plunderers: Jesus went about doing good. Muhammad became a warrior at the head of armies: Jesus was the 'Prince of Peace'. Muhammad was a man of unbounded sensuality: Jesus was 'holy, harmless, undefiled, set apart from sinners'. Muhammad was ambitious: Jesus was meek and lowly in heart. Muhammad rests his claims on secret revelations: Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Muhammad was a destroyer: Jesus is the Saviour"
"If Islam has failed in raising the hearts of men to the high level of Christianity, it must be because it does not possess in the character of Muhammad what Christianity possesses in the character of the Divine Jesus - a living example of purity and truth."
Here are some quotes I have pulled from the book, but please note that most are not KA's words but rather quotes he has also pulled from others. Many of which he might disagree with...
"Muhammad performed no miracles. His supposed miracles are the fruit of the imagination of his crude and barbaric adepts. The Quran, far from being a miracle, is an incoherent and contradictory assemblage of doctrines borrowed from here and there. As to Muhammad's moral conduct, it is a tissue of debauchery, of carnal pleasures, of lies, and of blood."
"Pedophilia is not (as polygamy once was) merely sensuality or lustfulness unrestrained. Nor is it (as polygamy came to be) an indication of a woman's low status or the broader oppressiveness of Muhammad and Islam toward females. Here Muhammad's practice is viewed as justification for evil meaning that in order to progress, one must reject his legacy."
"Despite common impulses in Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, the distinctions matter more."
"It is difficult to make a fair comparison of Muhammad with Jesus. Even if religious reverence towards 'the Son of God' did not restrain us, how could we compare the licentious polygamist, the robber, the fiery warrior, the inexorable bigot, with the benevolent majestic 'Son of Man?' "
"Muhammad was a leader of Arabian plunderers: Jesus went about doing good. Muhammad became a warrior at the head of armies: Jesus was the 'Prince of Peace'. Muhammad was a man of unbounded sensuality: Jesus was 'holy, harmless, undefiled, set apart from sinners'. Muhammad was ambitious: Jesus was meek and lowly in heart. Muhammad rests his claims on secret revelations: Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Muhammad was a destroyer: Jesus is the Saviour"
"If Islam has failed in raising the hearts of men to the high level of Christianity, it must be because it does not possess in the character of Muhammad what Christianity possesses in the character of the Divine Jesus - a living example of purity and truth."
December 3, 2023
nicey nicey,
"Modern (Salafi) Islam is a very protestant tradition" - Kecia ali.
Rise up Sufi bros.
"Modern (Salafi) Islam is a very protestant tradition" - Kecia ali.
Rise up Sufi bros.
March 6, 2015
I thought this was a brilliant book. Obviously it is not possible to completely survey the topic in 300ish pages, and the author's biases did subtly show (as far as I could tell she was mostly feminist, which I enjoyed), but within the bounds of reason, it was very good.
Basically this book sets out to show how the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has historically been seen and interpreted throughout history, both by Europeans and Muslims, by polemics and apologists. It is clear that views on the Prophet have been very fluid throughout history, with certain things considered faults (such as marrying for political reasons) later being seen as praiseworthy (justification for polygamy and showing strategic insight). When paganism was a concern, the Prophet was a pagan idol or a god. When heresy was a concern, he was akin to a Christian heretic. When fraud and impostors were a concern, he was a fraud. Similarly, when Muslim empires were powerful, the Christian world looked at his life for justifications of why 'the enemy' had worldly success. When Christians became dominant, the earlier views changed, and they looked at his life to show why 'the enemy' was so backwards. Today, things like polygamy, divorce, or 'lustfullness' are no longer seen as horrible faults, whereas charges of 'intolerance' or 'pedophilia', that were not seen as particularly problematic in the past, are used by opponents of Islam.
The part I liked the most (as a practicing Muslim) was when the often laughable weaknesses of Muslim biographies of the Prophet were shown. One particularly memorable part was showing how numerous Muslim biographies cherry picked (basically word for word) passages from European biographies of the Prophet (from centuries earlier!) to justify certain actions (such as people maturing earlier in 'hot' climates). At the same time, in modern times narratives have changed from the earlier way of showing the Prophet as similar to Biblical Prophets, to showing him as a successful leader or as someone with something to offer the world, and extensively removed any mentions of the supernatural seen in previous works. Ultimately the Prophet's life was often shown as an perfect example of some virtue valued during that time period.
Interestingly enough, the 'non-Muslim' and 'Muslim' narratives have increasingly become interwoven into one. Many earlier parts of the Prophet narrative (such as many things involving his birth) are now omitted, whereas in early Islamic texts there were conflicts of certain things (like the age of Khadija), there is a fairly uniform narrative shown today, and often the points of view of non-dominant sects are not covered. However ultimately, there is not, and was never, a single 'Muslim' or 'non-Muslim' narrative either, with conflicts within each group always existing.
I would recommend every thinking Muslim to read this (do not have to accept everything said, but important to be exposed to it), as well as any Islamic scholar wanting to write something in English.
Basically this book sets out to show how the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has historically been seen and interpreted throughout history, both by Europeans and Muslims, by polemics and apologists. It is clear that views on the Prophet have been very fluid throughout history, with certain things considered faults (such as marrying for political reasons) later being seen as praiseworthy (justification for polygamy and showing strategic insight). When paganism was a concern, the Prophet was a pagan idol or a god. When heresy was a concern, he was akin to a Christian heretic. When fraud and impostors were a concern, he was a fraud. Similarly, when Muslim empires were powerful, the Christian world looked at his life for justifications of why 'the enemy' had worldly success. When Christians became dominant, the earlier views changed, and they looked at his life to show why 'the enemy' was so backwards. Today, things like polygamy, divorce, or 'lustfullness' are no longer seen as horrible faults, whereas charges of 'intolerance' or 'pedophilia', that were not seen as particularly problematic in the past, are used by opponents of Islam.
The part I liked the most (as a practicing Muslim) was when the often laughable weaknesses of Muslim biographies of the Prophet were shown. One particularly memorable part was showing how numerous Muslim biographies cherry picked (basically word for word) passages from European biographies of the Prophet (from centuries earlier!) to justify certain actions (such as people maturing earlier in 'hot' climates). At the same time, in modern times narratives have changed from the earlier way of showing the Prophet as similar to Biblical Prophets, to showing him as a successful leader or as someone with something to offer the world, and extensively removed any mentions of the supernatural seen in previous works. Ultimately the Prophet's life was often shown as an perfect example of some virtue valued during that time period.
Interestingly enough, the 'non-Muslim' and 'Muslim' narratives have increasingly become interwoven into one. Many earlier parts of the Prophet narrative (such as many things involving his birth) are now omitted, whereas in early Islamic texts there were conflicts of certain things (like the age of Khadija), there is a fairly uniform narrative shown today, and often the points of view of non-dominant sects are not covered. However ultimately, there is not, and was never, a single 'Muslim' or 'non-Muslim' narrative either, with conflicts within each group always existing.
I would recommend every thinking Muslim to read this (do not have to accept everything said, but important to be exposed to it), as well as any Islamic scholar wanting to write something in English.
December 12, 2014
Prof. Ali's book discusses all the different narratives of the Prophet's life (including novels), from the time following his death down to the current day, She shows how the contemporary cultural and religious and political issues inform how the Prophet's life is narrated, and what variant traditions are included or excluded (or all inserted into the narrative). Of particular interest to me were the two chapters on "The Wife of Muhammad" and "Mother of the Faithful", which focus on Khadija and Aisha. Prof. Ali's book is essential reading for any one reading a life of Mohammed, so that the reader is aware of the variations in the narratives and the point of view (or motive/s) of the author of the particular life; it is important to know that there are so many different narratives of the Prophet, and that one cannot just limit one's reading to a particular life.
March 26, 2016
Have only read partway so far.
Its a good book for what it is I.e. more of an academic work on the biographies of the Prophet (pbuh).
The only other book by her that I've read is Sexual Ethics in Islam and I found that pretty accessible and engaging as a lay reader. This one seems more geared towards those in the field.
Its a good book for what it is I.e. more of an academic work on the biographies of the Prophet (pbuh).
The only other book by her that I've read is Sexual Ethics in Islam and I found that pretty accessible and engaging as a lay reader. This one seems more geared towards those in the field.
March 2, 2023
Professor Ali gives us a very interesting examination of how the structure, themes, and arguments of many modern (19th-21st centuries) biographies of the Prophet written by Muslim authors (primarily Indian and Egyptian), whether aimed at fellow believers or at non-Muslims, reflect their response to the shifting agendas of Western (typically negative or hostile, often polemical Christian) biographies of the 19th-20th centuries, creating a "desacralised" life of Muhammad. She looks at the way that their response to Western polemics led to focus on Muhammad's relationships with his wives, especially Khadija and 'A'isha, and critiques of polygamy and child marriage.
Although the bulk of the book was centred on a relatively small number of Muslim male scholars, I found particularly intriguing the relatively brief references to two Muslim women, 'A'isha 'Abd al-Rahman [Bint al-Shati], an Egyptian Sunni scholar (pgs 100, 212), and Amina bint Haydar al-Sadr [Bint al-Huda], an Iraqi Shi'i scholar (pp 122-123). 'Abd al-Rahman's "The Wives of the Prophet" has been translated into English, so has been added to my "wish to read" list, but it seems that al-Sadr's work, sadly, can only be "read about", not "read" in English.
A shorter section of the book drew comparisons with modern biographical treatments of Jesus and the Buddha, which have also been characterised by "desacralisation", which puts the biographies of Muhammad into the broader context of modern thought.
To be clear, "The Lives of Muhammad" is not an actual biography of the Prophet, it is a book about the writing of modern biographies of the Prophet, and as such I would recommend as a very useful read if one is considering the choice of a biography of the Prophet. For myself, after reading this book, while a number of the modern biographies seem interesting, the ones that I have added to my personal reading list (in addition to 'Abd al-Rahman) are Tariq Ramadan's "In the Footsteps of the Prophet" (described in some detail, pp 223-226) and Eliot Weinberger's "Muhammad" (described briefly, pp 229-230).
Although the bulk of the book was centred on a relatively small number of Muslim male scholars, I found particularly intriguing the relatively brief references to two Muslim women, 'A'isha 'Abd al-Rahman [Bint al-Shati], an Egyptian Sunni scholar (pgs 100, 212), and Amina bint Haydar al-Sadr [Bint al-Huda], an Iraqi Shi'i scholar (pp 122-123). 'Abd al-Rahman's "The Wives of the Prophet" has been translated into English, so has been added to my "wish to read" list, but it seems that al-Sadr's work, sadly, can only be "read about", not "read" in English.
A shorter section of the book drew comparisons with modern biographical treatments of Jesus and the Buddha, which have also been characterised by "desacralisation", which puts the biographies of Muhammad into the broader context of modern thought.
To be clear, "The Lives of Muhammad" is not an actual biography of the Prophet, it is a book about the writing of modern biographies of the Prophet, and as such I would recommend as a very useful read if one is considering the choice of a biography of the Prophet. For myself, after reading this book, while a number of the modern biographies seem interesting, the ones that I have added to my personal reading list (in addition to 'Abd al-Rahman) are Tariq Ramadan's "In the Footsteps of the Prophet" (described in some detail, pp 223-226) and Eliot Weinberger's "Muhammad" (described briefly, pp 229-230).
March 21, 2024
A super interesting survey of portrayals of the life of Muhammad, whether devotional, biographical, academic, polemical, or a combination of these. All throughout, Ali is curious to understand the cultural contexts, presuppositions, and aims of both Muslim and non-Muslim writers that cause them to zero in on or filter out details of the Prophet's life, as well as evaluate aspects of his character either positively or negatively.
December 19, 2022
This is not a biography if the Prophet. It was more of a academic study of various biographies written about the Prophet and their correlation with the socio political condition and moral resonance of the society the writers were living in, and how, over the centuries different biographers, both Muslim and Non Muslims have grappled with the intricacies of the Prophet's life.
March 27, 2015
This isn't the book I thought I wanted-- I was interested in a book that would compare collections of haditha, mainly to force me to confront the broad outlines of Muhammad's life enough times that they would stick with me. At least Ali was upfront about this: her intro spells out that this is not the book she wanted to write.
Instead, Ali is engaging in a kind of comm studies approach, the way the stories of Muhammad are used. Instead of theoretically unmediated hatditha, Ali looks at different "lives," self-conscious presentations of Muhammad's story for particular purposes. And of course, this engages some fruitful cross-cultural dialogues between Muslim and Christian polemicists. Ali says her real focus is the last two hundred years or so, and she's mostly interested in texts produced by and for Indian and Egyptian readers as they confront colonialism. But it takes a while to get there (not that I minded the slow pace as we marched toward the colonial era-- it's all fascinating) and this could be revealing my ignorance, but I didn't quite grok the cultural context, especially in Egypt, that needed mediation over questions of marriage.
Still, I found it really fascinating-- the subject matter and Ali's interpretation were both rich and intriguing. The ending felt kind of abrupt, but it probably means something that I could have gladly read two more chapters on a topic of Ali's choice.
Instead, Ali is engaging in a kind of comm studies approach, the way the stories of Muhammad are used. Instead of theoretically unmediated hatditha, Ali looks at different "lives," self-conscious presentations of Muhammad's story for particular purposes. And of course, this engages some fruitful cross-cultural dialogues between Muslim and Christian polemicists. Ali says her real focus is the last two hundred years or so, and she's mostly interested in texts produced by and for Indian and Egyptian readers as they confront colonialism. But it takes a while to get there (not that I minded the slow pace as we marched toward the colonial era-- it's all fascinating) and this could be revealing my ignorance, but I didn't quite grok the cultural context, especially in Egypt, that needed mediation over questions of marriage.
Still, I found it really fascinating-- the subject matter and Ali's interpretation were both rich and intriguing. The ending felt kind of abrupt, but it probably means something that I could have gladly read two more chapters on a topic of Ali's choice.
November 10, 2018
Ali's books are really worth the time you spend on them. In this book, the main idea is to show how the life of Muhammad has been written differently throughout history especially when Muslims were under pressure of polemic attacks or in need of reconciliation with ideas different from their own orthodoxy. Most biographies and the approach of their authors are covered within the book but this doesn't mean that the coverage is going to be an all-encompassing or even a comprehensive one. For one thing, the book is not that long which I think is a real bonus as it correlates to its content. I would've loved to see at least a short focus on the Shia biographies of Muhammad and the different accounts of his biography especially after the 19 century and into the 20th. It's fascinating to see how the biography of Muhammad has found its varieties by its encounters of apologetics, criticism and social and political discourses. I will no doubt read this book again.
November 12, 2016
This is a powerful account on the comparison of various depiction of Muhammad across several centuries both from Muslim and non-Muslim writers. It focuses on the controversies of Muhammad's life, particularly concerning his prophethood, polygamy, and marriage with Aisha. This is the first time I read a book that treats Muhammad fairly.
December 27, 2014
I regret that I can not give this book any fewer stars.
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February 23, 2015297.63092 A3984 2014
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