Muhammad according to Al-Quran
PREFACE
By Dr. Ahmed Moosa
Capetown, South Africa
A synopsis of the life of Muḥammad (peace be upon him)
the Messenger of Allāh, exclusively from Al-Qur’ān
Chapter 8 verse 27 states
“O ye that believe! Betray not the Trust (i.e. Al-Qur’ān)
of Allāh and the messenger (i.e. Muḥammad), …”
For decades, numerous books have been written on the life of Prophet
Muḥammad, but to my knowledge, and I am open to correction, I have not
come across a single book focusing on Muḥammad based exclusively on
Al-Qur’ān.
Let me be very clear, for anyone truly interested in knowing about
Muḥammad, one must read the complete Divine Book a number of times to
get a fair idea of his life. Al-Qur’ān explains his life in much detail, but
serious study is needed. Let me say at the outset that this document is but a
small part of his life that I have compiled from within the Divine Book.
My reason for writing this book: In January 2018, I met a person who was
doing his doctorate on the Life of Prophet Muḥammad. On inquiring what
books he was consulting for his doctorate, he said that he was taking his
information from William Muir. I inquired if he was using any other
sources, and he said proudly that Muir is “more than sufficient as he has
written so many volumes” on the Prophet’s life, that it is more than
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Chapter 37 verse 181: “And peace on all the messengers!”
Allāh has already placed peace on all His messengers – there is no distinction among
Allāh’s messengers, as stated in Chapter 2 verse 136; Chapter 3 verse 84; Chapter 2
verse 285; Chapter 4 verses 150–52. Refer to Al-Qur’ān for the full verses.
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sufficient, and in his opinion, “no other source was needed”. He then went
on to say that Muslims do not really know much because they have not
researched Islamic history, so we have to rely on western writers.
He quoted various western authors who I never heard of and I could see he
was conceited and condescending, because he raved about these authors as
if they were so great that anyone who had not read their works were not
intelligent. I did not want to get into an argument, as this took place at a
function of a very close friend whom I hold in very high esteem, and it was
not the place for it. However, as a person who is supposed to be intelligent,
surely he should have realized that Muir, who lived about one thousand one
hundred years after Muḥammad, could never have known anything about
him unless he consulted writings by others, and I am quite sure Muir must
have consulted the works of Muslims, for how else could he know anything
about Muḥammad? And those writers he consulted also lived hundreds of
years after Muḥammad. Now if Muir had studied Al-Qur’ān and
understood the message, then he would not have quoted information from
unauthentic sources, which the Divine Book condemns as idle tales
(Chapter 31 verse 6). Muir followed blindly, and so do those who accept
his writings as authentic, just like a flock of sheep. But as I always say,
when one has blinkers on, it is almost impossible to get one to understand,
especially when they think they know it all. A very sad situation indeed!
Anyway, for many years I had this notion of writing a book on the life of
Muḥammad, but always put it off because I felt that Muslims who claim to
love the Prophet, and believe in the Divine Book would study Al-Qur’ān to
know about his life. How wrong I am, as this person was completely
unaware that Al-Qur’ān contains aspects about the life of the Prophet! The
majority of Muslims read books written by many authors on this very
subject, but almost all these authors quote from other sources and very little
from Al-Qur’ān. That is why most are unaware that the life history of their prophet is in Al-Qur’ān. I hope that this modest effort of mine will open the way for more serious research into the life of Muḥammad from Al-Qur’ān exclusively, by research scholars from the dār al-`ulūms and universities.
Will that happen? I have my doubts.
As stated above, one must study the Divine Book to see how Allāh
explains the life of Muḥammad in numerous verses in His Book. Only
when one studies Al-Qur’ān for oneself seriously will one see and
understand more of his life.
Ahmed Moosa
February 2018
