An inquiry into the religious environment of the person Muslims hail as the "Envoy of God" and an attempt to trace his progress along the path from paganism to that distinctive form of monotheism called Islam.
An extremely well-written and comprehensive look at the life of Muhammad and the sources of knowledge about his life upon which historians rely. Peters provides an exceptional treatment of the conflict and interaction between paganism, the pre-Islamic Meccan cult and 'Abrahamism' in the early development of Islam and the Quranic verses.
Very powerful and convincing book. Peter connects dots between in the history of 7th century Arabia through the texts that is regarded as authentic by Muslims, including Quran and early Muslim historians. He doesn’t rely on ahadiths which is a disputed reference. Peters divides Quran in Meccan and Medinese sections and this makes the history much more sense. Extensively researched work by Peters. It portrays Muhammad as a powerful military general and master of strategy but doesn’t shy away from discussing his weaknesses as a man