Strife was the only fruit...

Strife was the only fruit, carrion the only food, fear the only motto, the sword the only clothing." In another speech Imam Ali describes the "Age of Ignorance" that prevailed before the prophetic mission: "Allah sent Muhammad when the people were astray and in confusion, lost in strife. Their vain desires had overcome them, and arrogance had brought them down. The ignorance of the times had made them make light of the ignorant ones.

They were helpless, caught in the earthquake and calamity of ignorance. So Muhammad went to great lengths to give wise counsel and walked the right path and called to wisdom and fine preaching." It was with this kind of background that the Prophet of Islam began his mission to teach and educate the masses, to promote virtue and prohibit vice; to encourage them to reflect upon and therefore reform their state of affairs and determine their destiny.

This work is a small presentation of events in which the prophet was involved, to help reflect on the supreme personality that has left its mark on the course of humanity, and it shall continue to do so for as long as man lives on this planet.

On some occasions in this work some of the events may be similar or the same, this is because it was decided that the chapters that were taken from the various books by the author remain in tact as much as possible and with minimum alteration, although some minor editing were made. In the majority of cases the events are cited without much or any comments or analysis.

This is due to a number of reasons: o To keep this work as short and brief as possible, and not lengthy and tiresome; o To allow the reader to draw his/her own conclusion(s), which in most cases are self- explanatory. Even the quotes from western intellectuals that have been cited by the editorial board have been placed towards the end of the book, so that these may not influence the mind of the reader prior to reading this work. The book is comprised of six chapters.

Chapters Two to Five are extracted from the author's original works. Chapter One presents a short outline by the editor, of the biography of the . This part was included to give the reader a glimpse of the life of the Prophet from his birth up to his death.