Muhammad the Messenger of Allah

The book under review is the English rendering of Ruh-i-Athar, and like many other Sirah works, it enumerates, specifies and spells out the “terrestrial genesis” of the Prophet’s noble spirit, his birth, early life, Divine revelations, promulgation of Islam as the chosen faith, expeditions and encounters with the disbelievers of Makkah and Madinah, the setting up of the nascent, and blossoming Muslim state, the Farewell Hajj and the Prophet’s final journey to his Lord’s abundant mercy. The translator has diligently tried to present the message and demonstrate the Prophet’s conduct of mercy to all creatures with examples from his life in his capacity as an individual, as Allah’s Prophet, and as the head of the new Muslim state. The Prophet was ‘mercy-personified who cannot be quoted to have prayed ill against even his foes’. (p. ii) Usually all Sirah works discuss chronologically the life of the Prophet from his birth to his death, with some chapters on the conditions of Arabia at the time of the Prophet’s birth and other related events. But the book under review is different in the sense that it discusses the life of the Prophet (pbuh) as a “mercy unto mankind”, as it becomes clear from its title as well as from its various chapters as for example: ‘We sent you not but as a mercy for all creatures’ (chapters 6 and 8), ‘Manifestation of the Holy Spirit of Rahmatun lil-[Alamin’ (chap. 9).