Review of The Personality of Allah's Last Messenger
While Muslims may tire of feeling compelled to defend Islam or Muslims generally from criticisms that insult and slander the entire community, the desire to see the Prophet's good name not dragged through the rhetorical dirt is our strongest passion. Abdul Waheed Khan has offered his contribution to the apologia on behalf of the Prophet, and his book 'The Personality of Allah's Last Messenger' (...

Students Remember the Prophet
Last Friday, Muslim students greeted their peers and faculty with flowers. From 11 a.m. to noon, roughly 40 Muslim students, spread throughout various campus locations, handed out red and white roses to passers-by. Attached to each rose was a short quote from the Prophet Muhammad. "The project began in New Zealand and our national organizers hoped to get as many cities as possible to partici...

Being Trustworthy
Saying in one hadith, "Anyone who is not trustworthy has no faith," the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) pointed out that one of the most important traits of a believer (or muqmin) is his trustworthiness. Well, what does being trustworthy mean? In the Quran the term trust is generally used to mean the duty of a servant, divine responsibility and duty stipulated in revelation. "We did indeed...

Jonathan Brown Addresses Misunderstandings
Jonathan Brown examines the historical misunderstandings about the Prophet Muhammad's life. Jonathan AC Brown is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies in the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He received his BA in History from Georgetown University in 2000 and his doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civil...

Umar: The Man Satan Feared
Tradition and stubbornness tied his hands. Five years passed before these ties were broken. The sun rose and set hundreds of times during five years. He slept and awoke hundreds of times. But his hands were always bound.  His being able to easily move his hands and arms fooled him. The acts of pulling his sword, putting a water jug on his head and brandishing his spear did not allow him to see th...

What If There Is No Afterlife?
LastProphet regular writer Fatma Bayram offers some thoughts on the Islamic understanding of the Hereafter (akhira), presented as a dialogue between a friend [E] and herself, discussing the precepts and confusing perceptions which are sometimes offered on the subject. What if there is no afterlife? E: The people around me seem to have the hardest time in believing in an afterlife. And I think to...

The Love of Prophet Muhammad in Ottoman Society
According to a widely-held belief by researchers - one which even Western Orientalists voice from time to time - the Ottoman dynasty was the dynasty most respectful to Islam. Professor of Ottoman history Dr. Mehmet İpşirli answered some of our questions on the topic of "Ottomans and the love of prophets." İpşirli shared some interesting historical events relating to the issue along...

To Remember Prophet Muhammad: "Why Does the Prophet Matter?"
Interview with Omid Safi One of the things that was important to me was that as contemporary Muslims we should be able to take a look at what our past has been and be able to say that we have had some Muslims who have preferred not to have any images and we have had some Muslims who have preferred to have images with the face. Muslims are having hard times today in explaining themselves to the w...

Not Knowing What to Say
In daily life, we may face objections and questions having to do with religion that are not well-intentioned. Don’t object immediately thinking, “How can you know someone’s intentions?” What gives people with such attitudes away are their expressions, their raised eyebrows, a belittling and mocking tone, and instead of the usually intrigued wide eyes, there are half-closed  eyes that seem lik...

Ummu Salama: Our Mother Who Ran
First she ran to Arkam's house with her husband Abu Salama; she had heard about the Prophet (pbuh)'s call to Islam. Later she went to Abyssinia with her husband because she was called to migrate. Just as she was getting accustomed to this land where Zainab had been born, she went to Mecca because of a new invitation... But Mecca was on fire, and the Prophet was pointing to Medina. This time she w...

Khadija: The Woman to whom God Sent Greetings
He draws on the ground with a branch. His students carefully watch his hand and lips. What they see is four long lines. What they hear is: "Do you know what these are?" The lines flow to their eyes from the ground which has become an endless black board.  The question takes them by the hand and leads them to the familiar sentence they say in unison at times like this: "Allah and His Messenger kno...

The First British Guest of Allah
digg_title = "The First British Guest of ALLAH"; var sburl7404 = window.location.href; var sbtitle7404 = document.title; At a time when  Britain had major political and economic interests in the Middle East, Hedley Churchward had only one concern in mind while going on a pilgrimage to Mecca; the pleasure of Allah. Hedley Churchward, later known as Mahmoud Mobarek, was th...