The Expeditions: An Early Biography of Muhammad

This is an excellent supplement to the usual research materials on Muhammad's life. Ibn Rashid was a contemporary of Ibn Ishaq and he throws fresh light on Muhammad's courtship of Khadija, the conversion of Umar, the conflicts with the Jews and the Quraysh, and the succession to Muhammad. The translation is engaging and the waffle is cut.However, I don't recommend this book for beginners. The chronology is non-existent, not only in the random sequencing of chapters, but also with the arrangement of events within chapters. Overall, it won't make any sense unless the reader already has a pretty good grasp of Muhammad's life-events.If you know what the main events were, and you don't have time to read Ibn Ishaq or Tabari, you should read this instead.

Book arrived as described. An early classic that I've started to sink my teeth into.

Great account of real history

Great for students of Arabic as it provides the English translation along the Arabic text and for anyone who can't understand Arabic but wants access to this old Arabic text. Customer service from Library of Arabic Literature is great, emailed the managing editor a question and got a response the same day.