NEW YORK -- The two-hour documentary Mohammad (S): Legacy of a Prophet, airing on U.S. public broadcasting stations today, charts how Mohammad (S) became one of the most important figures in world history, Reuters reported.

A few years ago, filmmaker Michael Schwarz embarked on a project to chronicle the life of Mohammad (S), presenting the story of the Prophet of Islam to an American audience largely unfamiliar with the religion he founded. But Schwarz and his co-producers encountered some barriers to traditional biography. They couldn't show the face of Mohammad (S) because many Muslims believe such images are an affront to Islam. They also couldn't film in some places in modern-day Saudi Arabia that were key sites in his life. "We thought it might be the end of our project," Schwarz said. "We thought that there might be such hostility to Islam that nobody would want to hear another word about it."

According to Islamic belief, Mohammad (S) at the age of 40 was struck by a revelation from God.

Over the next 23 years he brought peace to warring tribes of Arabia and established Islam. "Islam aside, the life of Mohammad (S) has been called one of the great biographies of the world", said co-producer Michael Wolfe, who along with another co-producer, Alexander Kronemer, is an American convert to Islam.

The documentary weaves the story of Mohammad (S) with interviews with scholars and modern-day U.S. Muslims.

Mohammad's (S) name often is invoked in discussions about Islam, but many Americans know little about who he was, Schwarz said.

"Editorially it was very challenging because we were trying to tell a story about Mohammad (S) and it was hard enough to keep that focused," Schwarz said. The filmmakers decided to address Sept. 11 by interspersing biographical details of Mohammad's (S) life with the interviews with U.S. Muslims that touch on the attacks. The documentary tells the stories of Muslim Americans including a New York City fire marshal, the chief of staff for a U.S. congressman, and a critical care nurse in Dearborn, Michigan.

Mohammad (S) opposed idolatry and did not want to become an object of worship himself. Presenting the stories of modern-day Muslims turned out to be a good way to demonstrate Mohammad's (S) continuing influence, Schwarz said. "People would say to me, 'If you want to understand who I am as a Muslim, the best place to start is with the story of Mohammad (S), because he's the person I emulate, he's the person I revere,'" he said. "That opened up this approach of telling the story through contemporary American Muslims who look to him for guidance."