Muhammad: His Life based on the Earliest Sources 5-CD Set

This is the audio version of Marin Lings' acclaimed biography "Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources", considered the definitive biography of the Prophet Muhammad in the English language. Based on Arabic sources of the eight and ninth centuries, it owes the freshness and directness of its approach to the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

Sean Barrett brings the biography to life, speaking sometimes in hushed tones, sometimes rapidly and often in a melancholy monotone, as if narrating to a group of campers sitting in the dark of the night around a camp-fire. This is a special narration, very much from another time another place perhaps, very unlike the "business presentation" style we have become accustomed to in this day and age.

He begins with the story of Abraham, quoting from the Book of Genesis, and follows the fortunes of Hagar, his second wife, from the expulsion from Canaan with her son Ishmael, to the finding of Zamzam and the establishment of the holy centre in the Valley of Becca (later to become known the world over as Mecca). We are given a brief chronology of the noble ancestry of Muhammad (may God’s peace and blessings be upon him), taken through his childhood to the eminent position he held as ‘Al Amin’ (the Trustworthy), in Meccan society before receiving Prophethood. The trials and tribulations of the early Meccan period followed by the triumphs of the first Islamic state in Medina are told in a manner, which engage the emotions of the listener. The work ends recounting the death of the ‘beloved of God’ in Medina.

Author: Martin Lings/ Sean Barrett

Size, Format: Audio CD [5 CDs in slipcovers, no album]