The Life and Legacy of Muhammad

By: Maria Dakake, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Maria Dakake

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Informative and Clear

This audiobook is an extremely clear, well researched, easy to follow, concise introduction to Islam. I enjoyed listening to it and I look forward to more books from this author!

Good cource

I like that this study is not biased. It contains pure history and the author tries to be objective in every aspect. Very good cource.

Very Illuminating Book

Over the past few years I have been very intrigued by Islam and Muhammad himself, mostly because of the knee jerk reaction that everyone has against Muslims. Being a Christian, raised a Roman Catholic, and seeing how the United States of America believes itself to be a God fearing nation, and better than everyone else, I felt it was time to expand my religious education. Christianity is lacking when it comes to following in the footsteps of Jesus. So, is Islam any better? And I found this book in the Plus Catalog - and I was not disappointed!!! I learned a GREAT deal about Muhammad, how he developed Islam, how it evolved after his passing, and how it has also been manipulated by human beings. This book has been an incredible eye opener into seeing how human beings screw up the intentions and the teachings of the founders of their religion. I would like to say I was surprised but I am not. I would recommend this book to anyone that is actually seeking to gain knowledge about a peaceful religion that seems to have been hijacked through the centuries, Great book!!!!!

This audiobook is good content and narration

Often, we don't get an audiobook looking in from another perspective or angle on Islamic history and religion

Life and Legacy of Muhammad PBUH

There is something to be said for emotional intelligence, a space for ethics and personal integrity in framing the context of scholarly or academic work.
I believe the the author really went out of her way to incorporate those components in this piece.
As a reader/listener, that goes a long way in how effective the material is.

She was able to pack alot of biographical information including space for nuance taking into consideration factors of times, traditions, and social underpinnings.
It would be of great benefit to take a look at her sources which appears to have been incredible. How did she vet the oral history and cross reference and validate the material.

The Life and Legacy of Muhammad from a bird's eyeview delivers a pretty overarching landscape of the preface plus it gets kudos for holding your attention.

Great teaching/lecture

I learned a lot about the origins of the Muslim religion. The lectures were very informative and unbiased.

Muhammad is a man among men

Not a god many misconceptions about Muhammad. He is a Sapphire among stones. Read it

A Lot of Detail Enriches this Book

This short Great Courses book on Muhammad and very early Islam is a great supplement to the quick coverage this subject matter usually gets in surveys of the medieval world or the origins of Western Civilization. Muhammad was obviously a fascinating man but important moments in his life like the first revelations from the Angel Gabriel, the move to Medina, the return to Mecca, and the succession after he passed away, are usually painted in quick brush strokes that fail to help the reader understand the intricacies of what was happening around him. The succession of Abu Bakr after Muhammad’s death illustrates this point quite well. It’s usually presented as the faithful gathering to pray and elect a successor. And yet, this succession was decided while Muhammad’s family was burying the prophet and one of the main contenders to succeed him, Ali, was not even present. And some of the actions Abu Bakr took next (like confiscating the prophet’s wealth to distribute to the poor instead of letting it be inherited by his family) certainly looks like an attempt to suppress the ability of Ali to challenge his rule. Details like these enrich history and let us see a little bit behind the simplistic curtain that popular histories often draw over complicated events.

very interesting

loved how the author tried to give a different point of view, to analyze and discuss the Muslim religion and culture. also how she tried to explain the historical weight of Mohammed both as political and religious influencer

A great introduction for anyone interested

Enjoyed listening to this. the author does a great job taking you through life and legacy of the Prophet. it was easy to follow through and you learn to appreciate and understand the life this great Man lived. I felt sad, inspired, happy and most of all tried to understand what would it be like living at the early days Islam and challenges that came about. would definitely recommend to Muslim and our non-muslim friends.