Islam and ChristianMuslim Relations

ISSN: 0959-6410 (Print) 1469-9311 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cicm20

Muhammad: a very short introduction

Douglas Pratt
To cite this article: Douglas Pratt (2011) Muhammad: a very short introduction, Islam and
ChristianMuslim Relations, 22:3, 364-366, DOI: 10.1080/09596410.2011.586520
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2011.586520

Published online: 29 Jul 2011.

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364 Book reviews

Muhammad: a very short introduction, by Jonathan A.C. Brown, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, 2011, xviii + 140 pp., 7.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-19-955928-2
This new book in the Oxford Very Short Introduction series is a gem. Aided by some very
helpful illustrations, Brown takes the reader into the heart and soul of Muslim apprehension of
Muhammad. The Prophet is not simply the long-ago messenger of God, or a merely historical
founder as such, who is given appropriate honour by Muslims. Rather, and even allowing for variations of Muslim interpretation and understanding, Muhammad is for Islam the effective human
interface with God. He is the one who, whilst yet only ever a human being, was, nevertheless,
called into a unique and close relationship to God. Therefore, he is the one par excellence to
whom a Muslim can look with confidence for clues, instruction and exemplary guidance in
order to attain a right relationship with God. And it is by virtue of the divinely appointed
role he played historically, and the divinely inspired and inspirational nature of his perfect
personhood necessary on account of that role that Muhammad is that one.
The person of the Prophet is thus elevated almost beyond measure, and the fund of Islamic
accounts concerning his life, personality and actions reflects this. Legend is ineluctably

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Islam and ChristianMuslim Relations 365

intertwined with history. To the outsider it seems that fantasy overrides fact. To the believer, the
insider who, as with any faith, indwells the narrative of that faith, the superlative descriptions and
miraculous ascriptions simply give testimony to the profound reality of the personhood of the
Prophet. Muhammad is the last Prophet, and there is none like unto him.
By drawing upon the most famous of all Muslim biographies of Muhammad, the Sira of Ibn
Ishaq (d. 767CE), Brown sketches a modestly comprehensive (some 64 pages) digest of what he
refers to, appositely, as the Muslim sacred narrative of Muhammads life (p. 1). Islam is replete
with many biographies, and not all the details agree. Nevertheless, in terms of a broad synthesis of
the major aspects and salient themes, Browns summation is perfectly satisfactory. Following a
caveat concerning the inevitable confusion of legend and history, the reader is taken into an evocative description of the geographical, social and historical contexts into which Muhammad was
born; an outline of the principal features of his early life and call to prophethood; the challenges
and vicissitudes that accompanied his first years in the prophetic role; and the various events,
developments and interpersonal interactions that mark the Medinan years, concluding with an
account of his eventual death.
The second of the three chapters of this little book examines the historical tradition of the
reception and, indeed, development of the persona of the Prophet in terms of what that
persona means for Muslims on the one hand, and for scholarly historical investigations of
Islam on the other. The reader is thus gently introduced both to Islamic understandings of
Muhammad and to the scholarly discussion of sources and narratives about the Prophet.
A discussion of the modern study of Muhammad is accompanied by comment upon
questions of historicity, historical reliability, the challenges of revisionist history, and
controversial matters such as the so-called Satanic Verses. Throughout, the reader is introduced to many stories, illustrations and accounts that emanate from within the Muslim
world. This is no dry and dusty introduction. Hyperbole may be the stuff of religious narrative, but there is a deep and powerful reality at play behind, in and through the narrative
tradition.
And the Islamic narrative is clear. Muhammad is a mere mortal, but one in and through whom
the greatness of the divine was made manifest. This gives the clue to Muslim receptions of
Muhammad and the high value and significance that is placed upon him. There is a profound
emotional and spiritual connection between the Prophet and the Prophets people. He may have
perished an earthly mortal, but the significance of his exemplary life has conferred a form of
immortality: his spiritual persona remains palpably present. Thus, in the third chapter, Brown
explores the contemporary perception of Muhammad within Islam and the ways that has played
out in recent events when the persona of the Prophet was deemed to have been vilified.
Muslim reaction has been visceral. The secularized West is perplexed by the apparent inability
of the Islamic world to take a joke or to accept criticism and caricature. The Muslim world is
dumbfounded by the sheer hubris of the West in its persistent lack of respect for, and sensitivity
towards, the deeply held convictions and feelings of a faith community for a key figure of that
faith. Brown explores the whys and wherefores by situating the figure of Muhammad within
the context of Islamic apprehension of him.
The persona of the Prophet pervades the ritual life and the whole range of virtues and values
of Islam. The connection to him is profound and ubiquitous. Awareness of him, and what he
means for Muslims, is carried closely; to cast aspersions on the Prophet is to insult the Prophets
people. It is little wonder that Muslim reactions to derogatory depictions of Muhammad are as
they are. And so Brown concludes his very short, but by no means short-changed, introduction
to Muhammad with discussions of the link to Muhammad of the mystical quest within Islam,
his role in dreams and popular religion, the celebration of his birthday the Mawlid and his
remembrance in song. All in all, a thoroughly competent and pleasantly presented treatment of

366 Book reviews

Muhammad, this introductory text by Brown will be of great benefit for both the freshman
student and the casual interested reader.

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Douglas Pratt
Universities of Waikato, New Zealand
dpratt@waikato.ac.nz
2011, Douglas Pratt