- This is the first paperback edition of this important work, which sold 7,500 copies in the cloth edition- The Muslim population of the U.S. is on a strong growth curve. It is estimated that there are now between 4 and 7 million Muslims in the U.S.This is the definitive, objective biography of the Prophet, drawn from primary Arabic sources of the 8th and 9th centuries, and includes passages never before translated. It owes its freshness and directness of approach to the words of the men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.