Prophet Muhammad: The First Sufi of Islam

by Farzana Moon

Islam, the religion of peace and reconciliation, as taught and practiced by the Prophet, comes alive in this book, preserving the pearl of truth from the heart of Qur'an and Prophet. Adeptly researched facts, free from the rust of lies and distortions are a fresh challenge to the reader; to discover lies about truth, if not truth blackened by lies. The message of his prophetic vision delineates the agony and ecstasy of his passion, which made him not only the Messenger of God, but the lover of the beloved. Many books have been written about the Prophet of Islam, but none so candid as to explore his spiritual heart filled with the light of love, compassion and understanding. The example of his life, as lived in loving-kindness and in perfect harmony with nature and mankind, are the living emblem of his message in this book. Prophet The First Sufi of Islam strives to fill a gap within the historic arena of Islam by touching the fabric of Prophet’s life as a family man, a loving father and husband.

Genres: Islam

473 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2012

About the author

Farzana Moon is a teacher and a bibliophile/Masters in Education. A poet, historian and playwright, she writes majestic Sufi poetry, historical, biographical accounts of the Moghul emperors and plays based on the stories from religion and folklore.

She has also participated in author/panel discussions at Columbia University. A collection of her plays are archived at Ohio State University. Many poems, plays and short stories have been published in literary journals and in cyberspace. One of her skits, The Dancing Shiva, is staged by LCC Productions in New York. Born and educated in Pakistan, Farzana is now a United States citizen.

Reviews

[Munahal Nasim]

I highly recommend this book. Loved every bit of it! I am a Muslim but I wanted to learn more about our prophet’s life and this book kind of moves you and makes you realise what are the true teachings of Islam.

[Kris]

Prophet Muhammad: The First Sufi of Islam was interesting, and I learned a lot from the book. The book wasn't quite what I had expected though. I was expecting more of an academic account of Muhammad's life, how he was recognized as prophet, his works, and a biography about him. Farzana Moon designed the book as more of a live account of the prophet's life, beginning to end. The reader experienced aspects of his life with corresponding versus from the Qur'an. Although I found this approach interesting, I found some of it confusing or a bit overwhelming since I am not really familiar with Islam. I almost needed a layman's version or 'Cole's notes' along the side to better explain the why's. That being said Farzana Moon took great care to try and explain the relationship between men and women and marriage in Islam. She also attempted to promote the desire for peace, learning, and understanding within Islam.

[Lumturi]

Overall I'm thinking I would not recommend this.

Positive Points

1. I did learn a lot about the sahaba

2. She focuses a lot on the stories of the wives of the Prophet (PBUH) and other women and in this process includes interesting stories that would be intentionally excluded typically, such as Aisha tricking a woman so the Prophet divorces her and Zaynab the Jewess attempting to position the Prophet and killing another man

Negative points

1. There is a lot of fictionalized dialogue put into the mouth of the Prophet. It's confusing to tell what is an invention of the author and what is a real event or hadith.

2. This fictionalized dialogue has made the book excessively long

3. I noticed factual errors. She repeatedly refers to the Negus as "King Negus" as if his name is Negus. This is the Ethiopian word for "king". His name was Armah or Ashamah. Page 384 says Abdullah ibn Masud died at the Battle of Mu'tah. This was Abdullah ibn Rawaha. Abdullah ibn Masud died twenty years after the Prophet. She writes Suhayl ibn Amr approached the Prophet and converted with Khalid ibn Walid (381). This is not true, that was Amr ibn al-As. Suhayl ibn Amr didn't convert until the Conquest of Mecca. This makes me suspicious there are other errors I did not notice.

4. Very anachronistic. It's reading Sufi ideas that developed later back into early Islam. Qur'an verses are interwoven into the narrative without regard for when they were revealed i.e verses might be cited that were not sent down at that time yet.

5. She does include sources but there are no footnotes. The sources are strangely eclectic - Ahmadiyyat, Idries Shah, Orientalists, Inayati, Shi'as, Andrew Harvey, Lex Hixon, Martin Lings, Amina Wadud. How were these sources used? We can't know as there are no footnotes. It's a strange collection of books. It's like someone was tasked to write a seerah using only books they could get at the public library.

[Fred Kohn]

Farzana Moon is a voice crying out in the vast wilderness between fanatical Islam on the one side and Islamophobia on the other. In this biographical novel, Prophet Muhammad vividly leaps off of every page into the reader's imagination as a champion of love over hatred, and acceptance over bigotry. Moon writes as a Sufi, and some may quibble with her use of some hadiths considered false or weak by most scholars, and her free paraphrasing of the Qur'an in places. But she is not writing for quibblers, but for those that love peace and justice.

[Farzana]

this side of Islam as love I have never heard about. after reading it on kindle I can't wait to get the paperback so that I can write notes. fabulous and enlightening.

[Md Monwar Hossain Jony]

It is an excellent book.

[Trista Carter]

I absolutely loved this book. It has become one of the few that gets loaned out for others to enjoy every time it gets returned to me.