BIOGRAPHERS OF THE PROPHET

BIOGRAPHERS OF THE PROPHET The True Mission Overlooked M USLIM scholars, past and present, have tried to author books on the life of the Prophet of Islam, some compressed into small booklets and others as comprehensive books consisting of several volumes. They studied extensively all available records on the life of the Prophet of Islam. But strangely, no Islamic scholar has been able to discover and present a true representation of the Prophet of Islam. The word rasulullah (the Messenger of God) itself denotes that the Prophet was a messenger of God. His sole duty was to convey the message of God to mankind. The Quran is very clear about this role of the Prophet. Sadly these Islamic scholars and biographers seem unaware of this fact. An analysis will reveal the reason for this tragedy. Studying the books of these Islamic scholars, it becomes apparent that their compositions on the Prophet’s life were mainly for seeking reward (sawab) from God. An objective study of this subject was not their interest. One well-known scholar has admitted that he compiled his book on the life of the Prophet to get himself included in the golden list of the Prophet’s biographers. Another scholar says, ‘When God Almighty asks me on the Day of Judgement, ‘Do you have something to present here?’ I will present my book on the Prophet’s life’. These Muslim biographers of the Prophet composed their books to inform Muslims about their Prophet’s personality, to establish their glory with reference to their Prophet and to defend their Prophet against the so-called allegations made by Western writers. The primary desire of these scholars was to glorify their Prophet, in other words, they wanted to feed their sense of pride. No wonder they failed to discover the true picture of the Prophet as one who was on a mission, the messenger of God to mankind. The sole duty of the Prophet was to convey the message of God to mankind.