1. Why do you think the time is right for a novel about Muhammad?
For several reasons. I think people realize that being enemies with the Islamic world is not a choice they want to make. Globalism means that the world is getting smaller. It's time to close the gap that makes Muslims seem far away when the truth is that no one is far away anymore.
2. What did you learn about Muhammad that surprised you?
Among all the founders of the world's great religions, Muhammad is the most like us. He never described himself as a saint or as superhuman. He called himself a man among men.
3. Why isn't the story of Muhammad's life better known in the West?
A good question, I have had Muslim friends since childhood and yet never looked into the life of the Prophet. It's easy to forget to look past your own faith and upbringing.
4. How do you think Muslims will respond to your portrayal of the Prophet?
They may not see the Prophet they were taught about as children, but I think they will be surprised at how much empathy his life has created in this book.
5. Are you concerned that some Muslims may be offended by the book?
If I had that in mind, it would have been impossible to begin to write. I walked a path with Muhammad for a year while telling his story. Fundamentalist Muslims do the same thing every day, but they don't recognize that there are other paths besides theirs.
6. Why did you choose to write a fictionalized account of Muhammad's life instead of a straight biography?
To tell his story through the reactions of those who knew him. Since they have no voice in history, except for the sketchiest of facts, I wanted to give them a voice at last.
7. Do you feel that Islam is largely misunderstood in the West?
Sadly, the average person only knows Islam from the very worst side. Looking at the evening news with fear and anger is the worst way to understand anything, much less something as ancient, diverse, and complex as Islam.
8. How do you interpret the concept of jihad?
The word originally meant "spiritual striving," the quest for God. I went back to the source, but I was also realistic. Within the Prophet's lifetime jihad became holy war against the infidels. Every religion has to bear the weight of its past, for good and ill. Islam is no different.
9. Explain what you mean when you say "Islam has been branded with barbarity in a unique way."
We overlook the blemishes on our own faith, whatever it may be, while singling out Muslim extremists as if they stand for the beliefs of a billion people and a 1,500 year tradition.
11. Some elements of Islam can seem overly strict, even harsh, to outsiders. Is that an unfair assessment?
All assessments are unfair when seen from the outside without empathy, especially when they carry the weight of moral condemnation. As with every faith, Islam is strict and lenient at the same time, depending on how you choose to live it. For the average Westerner, it's not so much the strictures of Islam as the desire to reject modernism that is so baffling and alien.
12. You write that "Modernism has met with stubborn resistance in the Islamic world." Do you think the two will ever be able to co-exist peaceably?
This is the next big challenge for Islam, because the world is shrinking. Many moderate Muslims have had a double identity, trying to balance a faith that arose in the Middle Ages with life in the twenty-first century. We cannot dictate how they should resolve this schism, but I know that they worry about it every day.
13. Why do you think Islam has become the fastest-growing religion in the world?
It offers rules handed down by God, orderliness in daily life, and absolute faith that a righteous life leads to Paradise. In a turbulent world, millions of rootless people are attracted to that.
14. What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
A cure for us-versus-them thinking.
15. You've written novels about Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. Who's next?
Believe it or not, God Almighty. The novel is called "When God Spoke" and traces the epiphanies of ordinary people from ancient times to the present. My motto is, it's never too late for your own epiphany!