There are two reasons why this book is a must-read. Firstly, it is dedicated to the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, who united the masses of people around himself with peaceful preaching and then, as a politician and commander, created a powerful state that laid the beginning of the Arab Caliphate. Secondly, it was written by the outstanding writer Washington Irving, who is commonly called the father of American literature. In Russia, Irving is known as the author of the famous “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” but his historical works are still practically unknown to the domestic reader. The Life of the Prophet Muhammad was published in 1850, but despite the many studies that appeared in subsequent years, this book still remains one of the best biographies of the founder of Islam. Printed from the Russian edition of 1857 with minor abbreviations. The spellings of names, names of tribes, peoples and nationalities, geographical names, quotes from the Koran, etc. were preserved - with a number of exceptions - in the 1857 edition. Translation into Russian was carried out by the famous Slavophile Peter Kireyevsky.