Prophet Of Death

The oldest Islamic biography of Muhammad, written in the mid-eighth century, relates that the prophet died at Medina in 632, while earlier and more numerous Jewish, Christian, Samaritan, and even Islamic sources indicate that Muhammad survived to lead the conquest of Palestine, beginning in 634-35. Although this discrepancy has been known for several decades, Stephen J. Shoemaker here writes the first systematic study of the various traditions. Using methods and perspectives borrowed from biblical studies, Shoemaker concludes that these reports of Muhammad's leadership during the Palestinian invasion likely preserve an early Islamic tradition that was later revised to meet the needs of a changing Islamic self-identity. Muhammad and his followers appear to have expected the world to end in the immediate future, perhaps even in their own lifetimes, Shoemaker contends. When the eschatological Hour failed to arrive on schedule and continued to be deferred to an ever more distant point, the meaning of Muhammad's message and the faith that he established needed to be fundamentally rethought by his early followers. The larger purpose of The Death of a Prophet exceeds the mere possibility of adjusting the date of Muhammad's death by a few years; far more important to Shoemaker are questions about the manner in which Islamic origins should be studied. The difference in the early sources affords an important opening through which to explore the nature of primitive Islam more broadly. Arguing for greater methodological unity between the study of Christian and Islamic origins, Shoemaker emphasizes the potential value of non-Islamic sources for reconstructing the history of formative Islam.

The Death of the Prophet is a book, "channeled" by Jason Leen, which completes Kahil Gibran's immortal trilogy that started with The Prophet. Gibran stated before his death, "I go, but if I go with a truth not yet voiced, that very truth will again see me & gather me, though my elements be scattered throughout the silences of eternity; & again shall I come before you that I may speak with a voice born anew." This powerful & poetic presentation tells the dramatic story of the prophet Almustafa as the priests of Orphalese challenge the prophet's teachings about the love of God. He tells them, "And so I did speak of unity with God, a unity which is not an idle promise, but an ever present reality. For where else does God dwell if not also within our very being?" The priests stone him for this blasphemy & Almustafa's spirit is released to "dance upon the wind." "Anybody who loved Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet and/or The Garden of the Prophet will like this new addition. It is truly Gibran's masterful writing, & I love it!" - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

A book of poetic essays written in English, Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet is full of religious inspirations. With the twelve illustrations drawn by the author himself, the book took more than eleven years to be formulated and perfected and is Gibran's best-known work. It represents the height of his literary career as he came to be noted as ‘the Bard of Washington Street.’ Captivating and vivified with feeling, The Prophet has been translated into forty languages throughout the world, and is considered the most widely read book of the twentieth century. Its first edition of 1300 copies sold out within a month.