By Arsalan Iftikhar, Special to CNN
Date Posted: September 22, 2010
Editor’s note: Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and legal fellow for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington.
It was nearly one year ago – in November 2009 – that Deepak Chopra first told me about his upcoming historical fiction novel about the Prophet Muhammad. It was during a coffee meeting of ours at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington right before Deepak’s attendance at President Obama’s first official state dinner at the White House.
Deepak mentioned that his latest fictional novel was part of his desire to complete a “religious trilogy” of such books. He’d previously written about Jesus and Buddha.
I received my advance copy of Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet in the mail during the last days of Ramadan this year. I thought it fitting that I would read and review the book without the distractions of food or water during the Muslim holy month.
Upon reading the first few pages, it becomes clear that the first thing Chopra wants his readers to know is that this novel about Muhammad is not an authenticated biography of the Prophet of Islam. It’s based on an imagined historical narrative as told by those people in 7th century Arabia within close proximity to the Prophet: friends, enemies and family.
Continue Reading Arsalan’s September 2010 CNN Column Here…
