... the compartmentalisation of religion and politics is fairly recent and it is accordingly anachronistic to look at Muhammad in such simple terms. This provokes the question, how are we identifying Muhammad? Are we looking at him, or representations of him made over thirteen centuries. Is posterity providing our subject matter? The sources we look at might grossly misrepresent Muhammad. In his biography of the prophet, 'Muhammad at Medina', Montgomery Watt provides us with an authoritative account of Muhammad's life. In 610 at the age of 40 Muhammad received his first vision from God. From this point until his death he had frequent visions and revelations. He began trying to understand the messages with his wife's cousin, a Christian. They concurred that the messages were identical to those received by Jewish and Christian prophets. Muhammad believed he was being commissioned by God to communicate God's message. Friends, mainly relatives, who believed ...

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