This paper aims to examine the ways in which the scholar Muḥammad al-Ġazālī (1917-1996) has elaborated and interpreted the role of the Prophet Muḥammad in contemporary times. In particular, it will consider how al-Ġazālī conceives of Muḥammad as a salvific element in the face of the crumbling of the Islamic umma. The significant decline that al-Ġazālī identifies as a defining feature of the twentieth century encompasses not only the dissolution of the Ottoman Caliphate but also the dissolution of the Islamic community as a whole. This decline was attributed by al-Ġazālī to the advent of colonialism and imperialism. The author's sole response is a return to the origins, in which the prophetic figure plays a pivotal role. In order to gain insight into the contemporary interpretation of the prophetic example, this analysis will primarily focus on two key texts: Fiqh al-sīra (1954) and Naḥwa tafsīr mawḍū'ī li-suwar al-Qur'ān al-karīm (1995). Furthermore, the sermons delivered by the preacher at the ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ mosque in Cairo, which were collected and published posthumously under the title Ḫuṭba al-Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Ġazālī (1988), will be considered.