Imaging Prophet Mohammed and the Orient Prototype in English Biographies

Abstract

From the Crusades to the present, generations of Western scholars and writers have presented and portrayed Prophet Mohamed in their writings. Many claim to be objective, while others do not hide their bias views and animosity. Many episodes from the prophetic biography were highlighted and frequently depicted in Western writings and were demonstrated in English literature as examples of the Orientals from the East to simply fit the Romanticim prototype of the Orient. Nevertheless some less bias writings and portrayal of the Prophet appear from time to time in English writings. Michel Hart's ranking of Prophet Mohammed as the first of the top 100 most influential men in history is one of these examples. Hart's purely secular choice was justified as he viewed Prophet Mohammed as a successful personality both as a religious and war leader. During the last two centuries, some other research based writings like those of Sir William Muir, D. S. Margoliouth, Montgomery Watt and Karen Armstrong are also considered as slightly deviant from the traditional prototype of the prophet. This paper overviews the development of the image making of Prophet Mohammed in English biographic writings. Through the lights of Edward Said's Orientalism, a qualitative reading of Montgomery Watt's Mohammed in Mecca 1953 and Karen Armstrong's Mohamed a Prophet for Our Times 2006 are critically examined as examples. Introduction: Islam as a subject in the Western writings has greatly developed in recent years. In addition to the traditional topics of philosophy, history theology and culture, the scope of Islam-related topics covered by Western media and writings has increased to include politics, economics, military and social matters. Yet this increasing interest is not necessarily a positive indication. In the last few years, for instance, Pope Benedict's XVI remarks about jihad, the Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed as a violent and bloody leader and he most recent presentation of the Prophet in the French Carlie Hebdo cartoons are only examples of a long history of Western Islamophobia i which roots goes back to the middle ages. The first attempt to translate the Qur'an in English in 1649 was an inaugural start to a long history of interest in Islam and its Prophet in England and the West forming a then new branch of research interest and study to be known as Orientalism. Despite their drawbacks, numerous translations continue to appear stimulating English researchers and readers' curiosity about the religion of Islam and its Prophet. However, as noticed by Gunny and others, since the late seventeenth century onward the Orientalist ii scholarly attention has shifted from Islam to Mohammed himself (Gunny, 2010, p. 22). Such interest was mainly fueled by the increasing Romanticism attentiveness given to the "Other" or the "Orient" as Europe struggled to get over the spelling of the Ottoman Empire. Later on the motives behind the interest of studying and writing about Islam and Muslims vary from scholarly and religious curiosity to imperial and political authority. Such interest was later developed to become a branch of study in itself, it attracted academics and scholars across the globe to examine the complex relation between the East and the West with the special focus on Islam and its Prophet at the core, Edward Said's magna opus Orientalism is only an example of the towering attention. Eventually such curiosity and attention crossed the boundaries of academia and became the occupation of an increasing body of writers. Prophet Mohammed