In Chapter 38:21-25, the Qur'an relates a very short narrative about the biblical King David's seeking and receiving God's forgiveness. The earliest Muslim exegetes interpreted the qur'anic verses as referring to the Hebrew Bible's story of David's adultery with Bathsheba, as related in 2 Samuel 12:1-13. Later Muslims, however, having developed the concept of prophetic impeccability, radically reinterpreted those verses to show David as innocent of any wrongdoing since, in the Muslim tradition, he is not only a king, but a prophet as well. David in the Muslim Tradition: The Bathsheba Affair outlines the approach of the Qur'an to shared scriptures, and provides a detailed look at the development of the exegetical tradition and the factors that influenced such exegesis. By establishing four distinct periods of exegesis, Khaleel Mohammed examines the most famous explanations in each stratum to show the metamorphosis from blame to exculpation. He shows that the Muslim development is not unique, but is very much in following the Jewish and Christian traditions, wherein a similar sanitization of David's image has occurred.

After 9/11, many writers have posited the relationship between Islam and violence as either elemental or anomalous. Khaleel Mohammed defines Islam as transcending the usual understanding of religion, being instead like a 'sacred canopy' that provides meaning for every aspect of life. In addition, he shows that violence has both physical and psychological dimensions and expounds at length on jihad. He traces the term's metamorphosis of meaning from a struggle in any worthy cause to war and finally to its present-day extension to include martyrdom and terrorism. Finally, he covers the dimensions of violence in the Islamic law and the institutional patriarchy.