{"product_id":"2940014553223","title":"The Life Of Mohammad","description":"PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_An existence, so full of stirring events as that of the Prophet\u003cbr\u003eMohammad, cannot be described by us in all its details. As there are\u003cbr\u003elimits to all books, we have had to rest content with a selection of\u003cbr\u003ethe most important episodes, so that each might be developed as we\u003cbr\u003edeemed necessary. Thus we present to the reader a series of pictures\u003cbr\u003eand not a complete history._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Our scaffolding and sketches are borrowed from very ancient authors\u003cbr\u003esuch as Ibn Hisham, Ibn Sad, etc., without forgetting a more modern\u003cbr\u003ewriter, Ali Borhan id-Din Al-Halabi who, in his book known by the\u003cbr\u003etitle of \"Es Sirat'al Halabia,\" gathered together different versions\u003cbr\u003efrom all the best-known historians. An incontestable proof of their\u003cbr\u003everacity, in our opinion, is that these narratives, some dating as far\u003cbr\u003eback as twelve centuries, fit in perfectly with the manners, customs,\u003cbr\u003ehopes and language of the Moslems of the desert; those who at the\u003cbr\u003epresent day, by their mode of living, are more akin to the Arabs of\u003cbr\u003ethe Hijaz among whom Mohammad accomplished his Mission._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_These remarks will serve to warn the reader that in this work will be\u003cbr\u003efound none of those learned paradoxes destined to destroy traditions,\u003cbr\u003esuch sophisms delighting modern Orientalists by reason of their love\u003cbr\u003eof novelty._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_The study of innovations introduced in this way into the Prophet's\u003cbr\u003ehistory has caused us to note that they were often prompted by\u003cbr\u003efeelings inimical to Islam which were not only out of place in\u003cbr\u003escientific research, but were also unworthy of our epoch. As displayed\u003cbr\u003eby their authors, they generally denoted strange ignorance of Arab\u003cbr\u003ecustoms, notwithstanding that these commentaries were accompanied by\u003cbr\u003econsiderable erudition, although too bookish. In order to refute such\u003cbr\u003enew-fangled assertions, it was enough to check each in turn. Being so\u003cbr\u003econtradictory, one killed the other. Their extreme improbabilities,\u003cbr\u003efrom the standpoint of Oriental psychology, only served to enhance\u003cbr\u003ewith still greater clarity the perfect likelihood of those traditions\u003cbr\u003esanctioned in the world of Islam._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_We have been guided by them. We have been satisfied to choose those\u003cbr\u003ethat seemed most characteristic, setting each in its proper place,\u003cbr\u003ethanks to information gleaned in long interviews with pilgrims\u003cbr\u003evisiting the Holy Cities of the Hijaz, while reviewing these episodes\u003cbr\u003ein the light of our experience of Moslem life, in the Great Desert of\u003cbr\u003eSahara, where one of us two had lived from birth and the other for the\u003cbr\u003elast thirty years and more._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_In strict agreement with the Qur'an, the only indisputable book\u003cbr\u003eaccording to the Moslem Doctors of the earliest times and those imbued\u003cbr\u003ewith the modern liberal spirit, such as the celebrated Shaikh Abdu, we\u003cbr\u003ehave put aside all the posthumous miracles attributed to the Arab\u003cbr\u003eProphet and which only serve to blur his true physiognomy._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Among all the Prophets founders of religions, Mohammad is the only\u003cbr\u003eone who, relying solely on the evidence shown by his Mission and the\u003cbr\u003edivine eloquence of the Qur'an, was able to do without the assistance\u003cbr\u003eof miracles, thus performing the greatest of all--the one which Ernest\u003cbr\u003eRenan, forgetting his example, declared to be utterly impossible. \"The\u003cbr\u003egreatest miracle,\" said he, speaking of Jesus Christ, \"would have been\u003cbr\u003eif he had wrought not any. Never would the laws of history and popular\u003cbr\u003epsychology have been more violently infringed.\"_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_On the other hand, we have taken care not to turn a deaf ear to tales\u003cbr\u003ein legendary shape. A legend, and above all, an Oriental legend, is an\u003cbr\u003eincomparable means of expression. It serves to paint mere facts in\u003cbr\u003elasting colours and make them stand out in bold relief, far removed\u003cbr\u003efrom the icy and so-called impartial account of an up-to-date\u003cbr\u003ereporter._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Our readers, enlightened by the foregoing warning, must therefore not\u003cbr\u003elet themselves be the victims of the numerous errors committed by\u003cbr\u003eHellenism, Latinism and Scholasticism, when interpreting \"literally\"\u003cbr\u003ethe sacred books of the East, while beneath seeming magic allegories\u003cbr\u003escattered here and there in this narrative, will easily be discerned\u003cbr\u003erealities, poetically transposed, but not at all disfigured by the\u003cbr\u003eimagination of the Arabs._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_With still more reason, the Qur'an should be read in the same way,\u003cbr\u003efor is it not written:_ \"God setteth forth these similitudes to men\u003cbr\u003ethat haply they may be admonished.\" (THE QUR'AN, XIV, 30.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_It may also seem strange that in the illustrations accompanying the\u003cbr\u003etext, no portrait of the Prophet will be found, nor any picturing of\u003cbr\u003eevents in which he figured as the hero._","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47146130735344,"sku":"2940014553223","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014553223_p0.jpg?v=1763610839","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014553223","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}