The Life and Legacy of Muhammad cover art

The Life and Legacy of Muhammad

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Life and Legacy of Muhammad

By: Maria Dakake, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Maria Dakake
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

New religious movements aren’t earthquakes - they’re not generated by blind natural forces, and they’re not inevitable. Social and spiritual change requires a catalyst to set it in motion. And in the case of Islam, that catalyst has a name: Muhammad.

He was a charismatic individual, born of the existing culture of sixth-century Arabia and yet somehow alienated from it. He drew on existing religious ideas in radically new ways that would change his world - and ours - forever.

Join Maria Dakake of George Mason University for a riveting exploration of Islam’s founding prophet. The Life and Legacy of Muhammad leads you through the earliest historical accounts of the prophet’s life and personality. Along the way, you’ll examine struggles over Muhammad’s legacy in the centuries since his death. You’ll also examine the ways Muslims have understood the meaning of Muhammad in their religious lives and the ongoing debates among scholars and Muslims over his life, example, and teaching.

The Sufis have a saying: “Muhammad is a man, but not like other men; he is a ruby, while other men are stones.” These 10 illuminating lectures are your chance to discover just what that means.

©2022 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2022 Audible Originals, LLC. Islam Middle East

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The New Testament cover art
A Pope and a President cover art
Ancient Rome cover art
Brigham Young cover art
A Modern Heathens Guide to Norse Paganism cover art
Norse Paganism cover art
Asatru, the Heathen Path cover art
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution cover art
Achaemenid Empire: A Captivating Guide to the First Persian Empire Founded by Cyrus the Great, and How This Empire of Ancient Persia Fought Against the Ancient Greeks in the Greco-Persian Wars cover art
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World cover art
Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician cover art
The Right Side of History cover art
The Bible Is a Catholic Book cover art
The Prince cover art
Reflections on the Psalms cover art
Our Oriental Heritage cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
note this is my first real introduction to Muhammed but I found this a very interesting, concise, history of the Prophet himself and the world around him. Inevitable glimpsing of Islam as a faith, but very much about the Prophet which is exactly I was hoping. Very well paced also.

Glad I listened to it.

Concise History

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’ve listened to many many of the Great Courses audio books and this was one of the best. Thoroughly enjoyed every lecture, perfectly presented and very interesting

Very well presented

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Eolas suimiúil ar scéal Mhahamad agus cúpla gné dá oidhreacht ó shaineolaí i léann an reiligiúin (seachas staraí per se). Ní miste cuimhneadh gur i scríbhinní an reiligiúin féin a thagann nach mór gach cuid den eolas céanna anuas chugainn, rud atá fíor faoi Íosa freisin dála an scéil, agus nach gceileann ár leachtoir orainn. D'fhéadfaí sraith léachtaí dhá nó trí oiread chomh fada a dhéanamh ar an ábhar seo. Tugtar léargas dúinn ar an bhfáidh mór agus ar staid iardheisceart na hÁise lena linn

Gairid go leor ach fiúntach

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Covering the Prophet's life this is generally a very good biography.

Minor complaints when it comes to after his death concerning Ali. Saying that he was dissapointed having to wait to be Khalifah, or that he had issues with Abu Bakr. It's a narrative easily disproven.

Overall though, it worth a listen. Particularly for non-Muslims as it was also written by one.
It's free on Audible Plus, so go beyond the orientalist agenda driven narratives, have a listen and learn why this person means so much to over one and a half billion people around the world.

Good biography for beginners

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found these studies very interesting, educational and easy to listen to. I’ve learned much that I didn’t know about the foundation of Islam.

Very interesting, educational and easy to listen to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A balanced account of the life of Islam's central figure by a Westerner that neither seeks to demonize or white wash this important historical person.

It portrays Mohamed as Muslims see him for his virtue while also discussing the controversial aspects of his life that sit uneasily with the modern Western mind and its values, like his child bride and polygamy. Though the author could have mentioned that the true age of Aisha is actually subject to debate, she may have been older or that much of the hadith is up for debate with some schools of Islamic thought rejecting it. But this casts a shadow as uncomfortable and perplexing as the trinity in Christianity or possible anti semitism of the Bible which religious adherents and the non religious struggle to make sense of so it is good the author did not shy away from issue. Indeed all religions have their problems but at the same time the great and the good should not be dismissed or judged solely by this which has become a norm in cancel culture or the way New Atheists view religion.

I also appreciated the perspective of offense to cartoons, would magazines be allowed to caricature black people or Jews as evil according to the worst historical prejudices there are? Well, they used to but imagine that now if you will and would you be rushing to defend such cartoons in the name of freedom of expression and would they be allowed in the modern world? There seems to be a double standard on all sides but those angry should remember that freedom of expression is sacrosanct in the West and that it protects all but also that religion is sacred in other parts of the world. With this contradiction maybe we should all listen to what the Koran itself says, which tells its followers to respect the laws of the society they live in.

Overall a good and valuable course book and very well narrated.

A decent and balanced account

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you’ve even listened to an academic religious discussion by Bart D. Ehrman you’ll know that it’s possible to talk about what is know historically and objectively about a time period without dismissing or being disrespectful to religious beliefs. This account seems to have no real engament of that sort. and seems to accept this rather credulously.

Not a bad effort but presented uncritically

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well narrated but there’s only a superficial examination of the animosity of Islam to none Muslim.There are many who are oppressed due the frightening hold of sharia law.

Poor

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A soppy panegyric in the form of a largely narrative account that accepts fictional events as historical reality. No critique is offered on the oral transmission of most of the evidence. Not for those who want a critical study of an important individual and the religion he established. At best, a comforting account for believers, who would already know what is being related.

A not so Great Course

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was a good overview, but in many points she purposefully hides violent actions committed by the early Muslims. In some cases, she outright lies about Muhammad not committing certain violent acts, when all biographies about Muhammad show that he did. As someone who’s already studied the biography of Muhammad, I could spot her dishonesty, but most won’t.

Too biased towards Muslims

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews