The Life and Religion of Mohammed

by J.L. Menezes

Fr. J.L. Menezes knew Islam up close: as a priest in India, he devoted his priestly life to introducing that nation’s tens of millions of Muslims to Christianity. With this life of Mohammed, he left us the record of his appeals: a frank, honest, and exhaustively researched exploration of the life of the "prophet" of Islam, the development and contents of the Koran, and an introduction to various Muslim sects.

Working from the earliest Islamic sources, Fr. Menezes provides a complete account of Mohammed’s life, from his days as a simple merchant to his triumphs as a leader of armies and revered prophet. Menezes delved so deeply into his subject that he was even able to describe Mohammed’s physical appearance. He explains why Mohammed couldn’t possibly be a true prophet, and reveals the true sources of his "revelations."

Fr. Menezes could be writing about today’s Muslim terrorists when he explains that "Mohammed posed as the apostle of God, the seal of the prophets; as the destroyer of idolatry; as preacher of one true God, and the reformer of morals: while his life is marked by innumerable marriages; and great licentiousness, deeds of rapine, warfare, conquests, unmerciful butcheries, all the time invoking God’s holy name to sanction his evil deeds, ordering prayers and alms deeds and at the same time propagating Islam everywhere by fire and sword."

Turning to the Koran, Fr. Menezes delineates the distinctive teachings of Islam, explaining the elements of the Muslim holy book that make it so difficult for Muslims to convert to Christianity — and showing how the Koran, when read honestly and without Islamic preconceptions, nonetheless depends upon and leads to Christianity.

Fr. Menezes concludes with an "appeal to candor and common sense," inviting Muslims to think critically about their religion, and to embrace Christ instead. With Islam on the march everywhere and Muslims streaming into the U.S. in record numbers, the candor, common sense, and solid Christian faith of this book are needed more than ever.

Your guide into the dark mind of Mohammed:

• The bizarre circumstances of Mohammed’s "revelations": "it was a painful sight to behold the nervousness of his features, the distortion of his countenance and the anxiety of mind portrayed on his face"

• How worldly ambition gradually blinded Mohammed’s mind and overwhelmed his early searches for the true God

• How Mohammed borrowed many of his ideas of Paradise from contemporary Jews and Christians — and mixed them with base and lewd imaginings

• How Mohammed again and again justified his rapine and licentiousness with new "divine revelations"

• Why Mohammed grew so bitter against both Jews and Christians, after initially courting their favor

• Mohammed’s fateful order that all churches and synagogues in his domains be demolished

• How Mohammed ordered the assassinations of several of his chief opponents

• How even Mohammed’s replies to his critics in the Koran are insufficient to refute the charge that he was a false prophet who fabricated revelations

• Why Mohammed adopted — and later discarded — many Jewish customs and ritual observances

• Islamic tolerance: Mohammed let Jews and Christians live in his domains — if they paid tribute and accepted second-class status

• What the Koran really teaches about Christianity and Christ

• What Mohammed learned from heretical Christian sects — and incorporated into the Koran

• The early history of Islam: just as bloody as the life of its founder

• How the Koran doesn’t limit Muslims to four wives, as is widely believed, but actually sets no real limit

• Why the new religion Mohammed taught became so commonly identified with war and politics

• The crisis caused in Islam by the death of Mohammed’s only son — which continues to this day

• Sunnis, Shiites, Sufis, Motazalites and more: the differences between the various Muslim sects
•