Saturday 12 January 2019

Book Review: War and Peace in the Life of the Prophet Muhammad, by Zakaria Bashier

This book is the last in a four-part series on the life of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) by Zakaria Bashier. Like the other books in the series, this book is not meant to be an exhaustive survey on the life of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) but instead picks some key events to focus on and discuss. The focus in this book are the battles that Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and the early Muslims engaged in with the Quraysh after the Muslims' migration from Makkah to Madinah up until the eventual surrender of the Quraysh. That and the political implications of the surrender on wider Arabia.

The author argues a number of times in passing that peaceful co-existence is the rule in Islam and war is the exception. However, arguing this way or that is not the primary aim of the book; presenting the events as they happened together with the verses of the Quran that were revealed during each of these major events I'd say is the primary aim. Personally, I liked this blending of Quranic verses together with the telling of events and thought it worked well. That said, I'd say this approach makes the book more appealing to Muslim readers than those outside of the faith.

Overall, I thought the book was written and structured well. If you're not already familiar with the life of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), then this is probably not the best book to start with. However, if you are already familiar with the life of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), then I think you'll find some good insights here to add to your existing knowledge.