ABSTRACT
Little is known of the origin and youth of Muhammad. Apart from the many details about his later life and works, which appear to be established facts, there are so many points open to varying interpretations that practically every biographer presents a different picture of his life; for instance, he has been depicted as an epileptic, a forerunner of the Mormons, and a socialist agitator. Although such obviously distorted, or one-sided, portrayals and biographies are generally considered inaccurate, it cannot be denied that every biography of Muhammad betrays a more or less subjective tendency. Moreover the approach and appreciation of Western scholars, who assay the biographical data on Muhammad according to Western scientific methods, differ vastly from the devoted and reverent description given by Muslim biographers, whose views are formed by age-old traditions and scriptural studies. No true portrait of Muhammad as man and as prophet can be given until both these diverging attitudes have been assimilated in the mind of one great historian.
