The Life of Mohammed: The Sira

by Bill Warner

Mohammed's life is an epic story. He was an orphan who rose from poverty to become the first ruler of all of Arabia. He created a new religion, new methods of war and a new political system including a legal code, the Sharia. Mohammed was the world's greatest warrior. Today no one wages war in the name of Caesar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon or any other military leader. However, every year many people die because of Mohammed. After 1400 years, Islam is more powerful than it has ever been. Mohammed said that one day all of the world would live under his rule of law. To understand Islam, you must know the life of Mohammed. Every Muslim's desire is to live a life identical to his. His every word and deed are the perfect model for being a Muslim. Every Muslim is a Mohammedan. The religion of Islam is not about worshiping Allah; it about worshiping Allah exactly as Mohammed did. This book is unique. It is concise, but it is completely authoritative. The reference system allows you to verify all information.

Genres: Islam, Religion, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics

108 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2010

About the author

Bill Warner is the pen name of Bill French (born 1941, United States), a writer, critic of Islam, and the founder of the Center for the Study of Political Islam. He is a former Tennessee State University physics professor. He is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as part of a core group of 10 Anti-Muslim hard-liners.

Warner has said that his focus is on the political aspects of Islamic doctrine related to kafirs (non-Muslims) rather than on the beliefs of contemporary Muslims. He differentiates Islam as a religion and what he refers to as Political Islam. Warner defines "political Islam," which he also calls Islamism, "as a belief that Islam should control society and politics, not simply personal religious life."

Reviews

[Cav · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent short read, and summary of the historic texts. I read "The Life Of Mohammed" and its companion piece, "The Hadith" one after another. Quite a lot of the information overlaps, and is mentioned more than once.
Both book are written in a bare-bones, no frills manner, ie; he doesn't interject too much of his own commentary or other unrelated writings to the historical texts he cites.
I have been following author Bill Warner for a few years now, and listened to many of his lectures.
While these two books are not the full unabridged versions of the original scriptures, I was not willing to devout the dozens of hours of monotonous reading required to go through the full versions.
Warner has written these books from the viewpoint of the kafir, and he directly mentions this at the start of both. He has, of course, cherry-picked the scriptures to forward his narrative, but rightly doesn't try to pretend otherwise.
Both books detail a brief history of the wars of Islamic conquest that would see the entire Middle East, North Africa, and eventually Spain fall to Islamic rule. He covers jihad and all its accoutrements in great detail here; sex slaves, deceit, seizure of property, and dhimmitude, among others.
Most of what Warner covers in here was not new to me - although I did find these books interesting, nonetheless.
I would definitely recommend these short reads to anyone unfamiliar with Islamic scripture, especially Western apologists who romanticize an intolerant religion that decries them as borderline subhumans.
4 stars.

[Alexander Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping analysis of the Life of Muhammad, Mohammed, or whatever spelling you choose to use.

Bill Warner clearly has one view on the world, and he isn't apologetic about it. He is a fierce critic of Islam. That said, he's done his research. Rarely did I look up a more jarring passage and not find it had been quoted verbatim.

That said, there were some expansions I didn't care for, and some selections of more violent translations which obviously benefited the author.

The book also lacks a refutation of some of the more obvious challenges lobbed against Islam. A small section would show the author cares for back-and-forth analysis. Given his degree of study I think he could of disposed of complaints easily, and it would have really bolstered his credibility.

Instead, we're left with a solid and horrifying read. The real history which is admitted by the holy texts in the Islamic faith is at times nauseating. Anyone who approximates Islam with other world faiths will have a hard time doing so as they look up the passages the author highlights.

While uncomfortable, it is important people in the West get a clearer idea as to the pathology of those in the Middle East. However, Bill Warner doesn't provide a comprehensive analysis in this one volume. It is short of a great work, and will likely get supported mainly by those who have already have made up their mind.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't have to search on the internet or ask Muslims if you want to understand the true nature of Islam. Just read the biography of Mohammed(Sira)- Every Muslim has to follow the perfect example, which is the Prophet (Sunna) -So read the Sira(Biography of Mohammed by Ibn Ishaq), the Hadiths (Words and acts of Mohammed by Bukhary and Muslim) and at least you can start with the Quran
-That's it!

[SC · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a completely disjointed and poorly organized account of the life of Mohammed. The author has an anti-Islam agenda, but even if you agree with his views I would not recommend this book.

[Willem-Pierre Viljoen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Short. Insightful. Yet, very very disturbing at the same time.

Will definitely come back to this book often in the future. Such a great tool to have in understanding the basics of Islam.

[Mitch Dubeau · Rating 1 out of 5]

Telling the truth and presenting information with bias are not mutually exclusive. Warner claims to take a scientific approach to unpacking the Sunnah for non-Muslims, yet he frames Muhammad as a villain and concludes by comparing him to Hitler while listing the death tolls of non-Muslims caused by Muslims. His bias is so pervasive that he seems incapable of recognizing it.

That said, a surface-level fact-check of a few of his claims shows that he isn’t necessarily lying. Muhammad was a complex historical figure whose actions were both good and bad. I do not personally consider him a moral exemplar. However, I also refuse to take a pretense of objectivity while portraying Islam as an apocalyptic monolith coming to distroy the west.

[Jason E. Fort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative; great intro for those who know nothing of Islam

I would give it 5 stars, except that I just thought it would be even more in-depth than it was. But it was very informative with a very small grammatical error once in a while. Great introduction to Islam for those who are unfamiliar. Glad I read it. Thanks, Warner, for what you do.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise biography of Mohammed.
"Islam is a civilization of dualism and submission. Equality and freedom have no basis in duality and submission. You can't submit and be free. There is no equality in submission."

[Sunny Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very quick read about Muhammed. Very informative. I read this because I tried to read the Koran. I quickly learned that the Koran was very confusing to read. I also learned that I needed to read the Sira before I could understand the Koran.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well documented research, this, together with the Quran, makes it clear that any Muslim who takes seriously the books on which Islam is based, ought to be considered a threat to every Khafir or non-Muslim. Wish it wasn't so. Please look into this for yourself.

[Azik Kunou · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is shit. The shittest of shit.
The writing is biased and means nothing to how thousands of books compare itself to this writer's shit. Prolly why only the same xenophobes read this author's book.

Best let him write about shit to make it look good.

[Michael Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If everything in this book is true, than it is truly disturbing. Muhammad as described by this book marries Aisha as a child, and has sex with her when she is at the age of 9. He takes female slaves, permits his disciples to have sex with the slaves as part of the spoils of defensive wars, steals from his opponents caravans after defensive killings. He embarks on a number of skirmishes and assassinations on his political enemies, as revenge and protection against the breaking of peace treaties. There are beheadings, martyrdoms, concubines, the marriage of 11 wives. The Hadith also has descriptions of his semen, penis, white armpit skin and of dust on his belly. The Arabs at the time were incredibly detailed at writing hagiographical details in their Hadith. It is kind of an interesting text, but not really someone I see worth mimicking, or someone who I would consider to be a "perfect prophet". He is considered to be perfect by Muslims, and his example is to be repeated, which makes it all the more disturbing. Obviously, most Muslims will focus on the peaceful aspects and how he dealt with those who submitted to the Islamic teachings, but nevertheless, you do have the side where he kills unsubmissive kaffirs. If I were in Saudi Arabia writing this, I would probably be dead now. Muhammad was more influential than Hitler, which is kind of of interesting. And his followers range from peaceful types, to violent extremist types. He has 1.9 billion followers today in the religion of Islam devoted to the God Allah. Whether the Muslims believe this version of events, or even know if it happened, or see it as a defensive war, is unknown.

[Simon Hepple · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered this book because I wanted to read more about Islam but I didn't know anything about the author or topic at hand before making this order. This is not a book written by a Muslim to show you a window of early Islam. I felt uneasy going through this book right to the end. Whilst the author says that there aren't opinions in the book and it is covered by the Sira, I found the argument a little lopsided.

I have never read the Koran, Bible or Torah, but nor have I read Mein Kampf or The Communist Manifesto, but I can imagine all these books of religion will have horrible aspects to them in places. I strongly doubt the Sira, written 1400 years ago, will be highly relative to today and I honestly believe change their opinions as cultures evolve and become more developed.

But I did enjoy the snapshot into early Islam, told by a non-Muslim. But I don't for a minute think this is how Muslims today behave or think is the ideal Muslim, despite what the author says. I actually felt a little offended that this was the insinuation.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book about Muhammad written for the perspective of the kafir(non believer/muslim) or infidel. A condense translation of historical events taken from the Sira(Muhammad’s biography), the Hadith(List of laws and actions permitted by Muhammad) and the Quran the word of Allah for Muslims written by Muhammad.

Long story short every “Good” Muslims must live a life like Allahs messenger the Prophet Muhammad. Okay, so what? Christian’s are called to live a life like Jesus are they not? Well yes but Jesus wasn’t a warlord pedophile who murdered an enslaved thousands in his lifetime.

So many people don’t like this book because they say it’s lies. But if they would read the Hadith, sira and Quran it’s present who the individual Muhammad was….

Looking forward to reading all the other books in this collection.

[Hossam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of mistakes. He does not tell you that killing was only for those who stood against the divine message. He does not tell you the real reason behind every battle. He focuses on marrying nine years old girl but does not tell you the average age for marriage during that time.

He told you that according to Islam Mary is the sister of Moses which is far away from the truth. He uses weak Hadith to prove his point of view of torturing people while this is far from the truth. Mohammed has killed several people in the name of God yes, but never tortured anybody.

Killing people who are against the message is common among the prophets like Moses when killed the pharaoh with his army, when prophet David killed Goliath. Condemnation of wrong religions is common among the prophet just like what Abraham and Jesus did before. But things become hard to accept if it came from a successful man like Mohammed. I am most certain that Bill Warner had to read about Islam not to learn but to discover questionable cavities.

[Mark Simmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of pseudo-scientific claims that could not withstand basic logical or empirical scrutiny. Certainly not a balanced presentation of the topic. However it may be the best presentation of the anti-Muslim perspective available in the USA as not many US citizens bother with learning about Islam. This is worth reading or listening to if you balance it with other authors, but should not be you sole source as you may never sleep again.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise and helpful summary of the official Islamic Sira (littered with official references throughout) aimed at the non-Muslim. Although Bill Warner is by no means politcally correct, his work is extemely helpful in terms of understanding Mohammed and his legacy on the world. I found it fascinating and disturbing at times.

[Karen Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and Hard hitting

I found this book informative and disturbing at the same time. It is high time we confront this ideology for what it is.

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Its biography(sira) of mohammed. Here its talk about Sira(biography), hadiths(words and act of mohammed) and sunna. In this book you will get the basic of Islam and life of mohammed. It also talk about kafirs, jews and christian. This book has answered my questions. I think all people who believe in the golden rule should read this book.

[Judy Bartle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read

Did not seem organized too well. It jumps around a lot. Interesting tidbits of knowledge. Good place to start research vCard h of Islam