Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland

3. “And Muhammad Is His Messenger”
FROM the Christian perspective, Jesus is God’s final
revelation, the fulfillment of what had earlier been
promised in the Bible, and the meaning of that revelation
unfolds in the events of his life as described in the
Gospels. His followers accept only the four Gospels
that the Church as a whole had received as authentic
and believed were inspired: the four canonical Gospels
are consequently regarded as veridical accounts of the
great work of redemption. Muhammad’s life bears no
such theological weight for Muslims. The Quran is the
revelation, not Muhammad, who was merely its messenger,
the mortal who delivered God’s warnings and
promises to audiences in western Arabia early in the
seventh century c.e. Events reflect the difference in the
Muslim and Christian perspectives: it was the Quran
that was collected and preserved from the outset, not
the life of the man who delivered it. People recalled
Muhammad, of course, but no one thought to compose
those recollections into a formal Life until well
after his death, and once done, no one version ever
gained canonical standing or even remotely approached
the status of revelation.
The Muhammad of History
A Life of the Prophet was eventually composed. Not
only do we possess various biographies of Muhammad