The Life of Muhammad
(Allah's peace and blessing be upon him)

by Muhammad Husayn Haykal

Translated by Isma'il Razi A. al-Faruqi

Contents

	Foreword to the English Edition
	Foreword to the First Edition
	Preface to the First Edition
	Preface to the Second Edition
	Preface to the Third Edition
	Arabia before Islam
	Makkah, the Ka'bah, and the Quraysh
	Muhammad: from Birth to Marriage
	From Marriage to Prophethood
	From the Beginning of Revelation to the Conversion of `Umar
	The Story of the Goddesses
	The Malevolent Conduct of Quraysh
	From the Violation of the Boycott to al Isra'
	The Two Covenants of al `Aqabah
	Al Hijrah, or the Prophet's Emigration
	Beginning of the Yathrib Period
	The First Raids and Skirmishes
	The Great Battle of Badr
	Between Badr and Uhud
	The Campaign of Uhud
	The Effects of Uhud
	The Prophet's Wives
	The Campaigns of al Khandaq and Banu Qurayzah
	From the Two Campaigns to the Treaty of Hudaybiyah
	The Treaty of Hudaybiyah
	The Campaign of Khaybar and Missions to Kings
	The `Umrah or Lesser Pilgrimage
	The Campaign of Mu'tah
	The Conquest of Makkah
	Campaigns of Hunayn and a1 Ta'if
	Ibrahim and the Wives of the Prophet
	Campaign of Tabuk and the Death of Ibrahim
	The Year of Deputations and Abu Bakr's Leadership of the Pilgrimage
	The Farewell Pilgrimage
	The Prophet's Sickness and Death
	The Prophet's Burial
	Conclusion in Two Essays Islamic Civilization as Depicted in the Qur'an Islamic Civilization and the Western Orientalists
	Supplementary Readings

Translator's Preface

Haykal's Hayat Muhammad has a long and strange story. Its translation into English and publication by the University of Chicago Press was discussed by numerous western experts in the forties and early fifties. Obvious as the need for a scholarly sympathetic biography of the Prophet may be, negotiations took years to complete. Agreement, however, was not reached until 1964. When in 1968 the translation was completed, approved by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Cairo, Egypt, and the University of Chicago Press, the manuscript copy edited, and its actual production begun, mysterious forces intervened and the University of Chicago Press unilaterally withdrew from its agreement.

Another agreement was negotiated de novo between the same parties and Temple University Press, on practically the same terms as Chicago, in 1969. Five years passed with little or no action. Then, mysterious forces again intervened and resulted in the unilateral withdrawal of Temple University Press from its agreement.

This Determined opposition to the publication of the work did not dissuade the translator from preparing this new translation with the encouragement of the Muslim Students' Association of the United States and Canada, an agency interested in the promotion of Islamic scholarship.

Temple University

"God and His angels bless the Prophet. O men who have believed: Invoke God's peace and blessing upon him" (Al-Qur'an, 33: 56)

Praise be to God, Lord of the universe,
The Gracious, the Merciful,
Master of the Day of Judgment.
You alone we worship; You alone we implore for help.
Guide us unto the straight path
The path of those whom You have blessed,
Those who have not incurred Your displeasure,
Those who have not gone astray.

Amen

(Al-Qur'an, 1:1-7)

Translator's Acknowledgments

The assistance of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt, in making the translation of this work possible; of Professor Roger Parsell in copy editing; of Professor Erdogan Gurmen, Sr. Freda Shamma, Miss Andree Coers, Mrs. Margaret Peirce, Dr. Lois Lamiya' al Faruqi, and Dr. Kaukab Siddique in proofreading; of Sr. Anmar al Faruqi in preparing the index; of Dr. Lois Lamya' al Faruqi in preparing the maps and illustrations; and of the North American Islamic Trust in the production of this book is gratefully acknowledged.

I wish to acknowledge with thanks the financial help and encouragement extended to this work by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Saudi Arabia.