Prophecy and As a Prophet : Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h)

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EFFORTS OF THE COMPANIONS TO MEMORIZE And WRITE DOWN THE QURAN

EFFORTS OF THE COMPANIONS TO MEMORIZE AND WRITE DOWN THE QURAN

Muhittin Akgul, PhD

Here we attempt to identify the reasons how the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were able to protect the Quran and the sunnah (practices of the Prophet) and pass them on to the next generations without any omissions or additions.

• Most of the Companions were illiterate. Their illiteracy meant that they memorized those things that were important. There were a few Companions who were able to read and write. The Prophet assigned some of these literate ones as his revelation clerks. Not only was the Quran memorized by many people, the clerks wrote down the revelations in order to protect them. Even in the earliest days the Prophet prohibited the writing down of hadiths (sayings of the Prophet), because he was concerned that people might later confuse the Quran with his words, and thus, he wanted the clerks to focus only on writing the verses of the Quran; another factor was the limited amount of writing materials. His following saying proves this:

"Do not write down anything from me. Whoever writes down anything from me other than the Quran, he should erase it. There is no sin in your transmission of what I say to other people. But whoever refers a lie to me should prepare his place in hell." Thus, the writing down and memorization of the Quran began from the earliest times and has continued safely until today without any interval or confusion.

• The Companions were famous for their intelligence, powerful memories, and pure nature. These people, who lived in the desert, were able to quickly memorize anything, no matter how lengthy. Moreover, they kept records of historical events and the archives of their ancestors in their memories. After Islam, this ability was directed to protect the best word of all, the Quran, and the guidance of the best guide of all, Prophet Muhammad.

• The Companions had a simple way of life. They were not occupied with anything other than procuring their basic needs. Thus, they were satisfied with what they had and they had much free time. So, they used their pure thoughts and strong and sharp minds to memorize the Quran and hadiths.

• They had a true love for the Prophet. Their love became a faith for them. Naturally, when a person is fond of another, this love leads them to follow all the manners of the beloved one, to understand them, to listen to and transmit their words to others, and to imitate their behavior. Thus, the Companions' love for Allah and His Messenger was the greatest motivation for protecting the Quran and the sunnah. In fact, there is no need for evidence to prove their attitude toward the Quran and the sunnah. In the Prophet's words, they were the most auspicious of all humans:

"The most auspicious of humans are the ones in the century in which I live. Then, their successors and the successors of their successors."

Their love turned into a race to memorize the Quran and the sunnah. They memorized the Quran and followed the Prophet's words, deeds, and behavior. They even protected some of his physical features (for example, strands of hair or beard, or fingernail clippings).

• The Quran, which was sent by Allah Almighty to all humanity, had a miraculous eloquence. It stopped all the obstinate and the arrogant and made all opponents helpless because it would always remain as a miracle of His Messenger in this world. After the Quran, the most beautiful, universal, and sweetest words were being uttered by the Messenger of Allah, who was the most eloquent preacher. Arabs were fond of beautiful words and they used to compete with one another to memorize beautiful prose and poems. After the revelation of the Quran, they began to memorize the Quran, the most beautiful words of all words. They were also occupied with understanding the Quran. Naturally, their attitude was the same for the sunnah as well.

• There were many encouragements for people to learn the Quran and the sunnah, to put them into practice, teach, and disseminate them. On the other hand, there were many dangers inherent in disparaging or ignoring the Quran or the sunnah. Therefore, the Companions had to be meticulous about these sources.
  
• "Verily those who recite the Book of Allah and establish prayer and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly hope for a trade in which there is never loss. In order that He may give them their reward in full and give more out of His bounty. Verily He is Forgiving and Appreciating. (35/29-30)."
  "Those who conceal the clear (Signs) We have sent down, and the Guidance, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book,-on them shall be Allah's curse, and the curse of those entitled to curse. Except those who repent and make amends and openly declare (the Truth): To them I turn; for I am Oft-returning, Most Merciful (2/159-160)."
  "When a community comes together in a house of Allah, recite the book of Allah and talk about it among themselves, verily they have comfort and tranquility, mercy will be on them, angels surrounds them, and Allah remembers them among the auspicious communities before Him." (These are important encouragements to memorize the Quran.)
  "Take whatever the Messenger brings you as obligatory, sunnah, recommended, and manners and avoid whatever he prohibits." "Whoever obeys the Messenger he obeys Allah." (This is encouragement to learn the sunnah.)

• One of the reasons for the Companions' meticulousness on the matter of the Quran and the sunnah is the importance of both in Islam. The Quran is a unique book which guides humans to happiness in this world and in the Hereafter. It also establishes the relationships of humans with Allah and their environment. The sunnah is a secondary source which explains the Quran and gives specific details of generalities in Quran. The following verse of the Quran indicates this duty of the Prophet:

"With clear signs and Books (We sent the Messengers). And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad) the reminder and the advice (the Quran), that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them, and that they may give thought (16/44).
The Companions understood well the role of the Quran and the sunnah in Islam and they made the necessary efforts to preserve them.

• Most of the issues and problems that came up at that time were dealt with in the Quran or the Prophet's words. Thus, the Companions were more motivated to learn the Quran and the sunnah and their minds were always on the alert. They focused on the rules of Allah and His Messengers. As a result, the revelations and the words of the Messenger of Allah were better placed in their minds.

• The Quran and the Messenger of Allah had a divine wisdom in training and instructing people. They followed a perfect way of inviting people to Islam. Although the Quran caused people to abandon wrong actions and ordered goodness, a gradual method was followed. Therefore, the Quran was completed over a period of 23 years. This was Allah's mercy on them:
  "...Allah does not want to make difficulties for you, but He wants to purify you and complete His blessings on you for you to be thankful."

Moreover, the Companions witnessed the coming of the revelations. It was the same for the sunnah. The Prophet made them into a perfect society with this message and in later times the Companions were remembered as the people of the Era of Happiness. The Prophet warned them about evil things, showed them the right way, asked questions to clarify matters, and often provided answers to his own questions. The Messenger used every opportunity to guide them.

Here is an example of a hadith reported by Abu Hurairah in which the Prophet asked a question and answered it himself:

"The Prophet asked, ‘ Who is a miserable person?' The companions answered, ‘the miserable among us is he who does not have any money or any goods." Upon this answer, the Prophet said, "In fact, a miserable person in my community will be the person who comes with his prayers, fasts, and alms. But he will have cursed some, accused some of adultery, killed or beaten some. Some of his good deeds will be given to others. If his good deeds finish before his trial is over, the sins of those he harmed will be put on him, and then he will be thrown into hell."

• Both the Quran and Prophet Muhammad used methods of encouraging and warning. In other words, there are many verses and hadiths that promise some good things or threaten bad things. The Companions learned these encouragements and warnings by heart.

• The Companions found the truth through the Quran and the sunnah. They were able to decide what is halal (religiously allowed) or haram (religiously forbidden)based on the Quran and sunnah. They were able to learn the rules and principles of Islam from the Quran and sunnah. Indeed, since they carefully practiced everything they learned through the revelations and the sunnah they were able to memorize them more easily. Therefore, as a natural consequence, they memorized and protected the Quran and the sunnah.

• The Companions were motivated to memorize because the Prophet was with them. The Messenger of Allah helped them to memorize the Quran and the sunnah with great patience, teaching them those things they did not know, answering their questions, and clarifying the things about which they felt unsure. He was always humble, gentle, and positive; he was never rude. He was sometimes like a father, sometimes like a person who served others. With such a good character, he approached people and spent time with them. He attracted all people with his lofty nature. He taught them the Quran and the sunnah and it was not possible to forget anything taught by such a good teacher.

The Quran was read in the daily prayers, at Jumaa prayers, among the Companions, by both the young and the old, and by men and women. Thus, it was easier to memorize it.

Because of the reasons mentioned above, the Companions of the Prophet were able to protect the Quran and the sunnah in the best way; they implemented these sources in their own lives and carefully transmitted them to the following generations.

 

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Referencesto Prophet Muhammad in Divine Texts

Referencesto Prophet Muhammad in Divine Texts


There can be no doubt about the difficulty in examining such a broad and extensive subject as the references to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in divine texts in a brief and rather limited article. For this reason, there is a need to clearly determine the limits of this study. Firstly, the efforts of Muslim scholars to establish the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with references to the Holy Bible will be mentioned, and their opinions and thoughts on this issue will be examined. To prevent any ambiguity that might arise by working on the subject in the framework of general history, related opinions and approaches will be mentioned through references to documents from the classical period. The first document that we will discuss is a dialogue text composed in Baghdad (in 165/781 or 166/782) between the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I (164-208/780-823) and the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (158-169/775-785). This document is of great importance, as it is one of the first examples of documents that reflect a Muslim-Christian dialogue. The text was written by the Patriarch Timothy and it is important in that it covers the reading method of the Holy Bible by the Muslims, represented by al-Mahdi. The second work that will be discussed is the Risala (treatise) of Ibnu’l-Leys. As the oldest extant Muslim work which compiles excerpts from the Holy Bible referring to the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) it is of great importance. This work is a letter written on behalf of Harun al-Rashid (reigned between 170/786-193/809) in the year 795 or 796 to the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI (780-797). The third work that we will examine is the well-known Kitab al-Din wa al-Dawla, written in a period that is close to the first two works by Ali bin Rabban al-Tabari (240/855), who converted to Islam from Christianity. The common feature of these three works is that they include examples of Muslims reading and contemplating the holy books of the Christians to learn statements about the coming of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
The Holy Qur’an and the Holy Bible

The Holy Quran mentions Christians in terms of their religious beliefs and their holy books. Throughout history, Muslim scholars who placed the Holy Quran in the center of their thought-system established a perspective of other religions, particularly Christianity, within the framework of the Holy Quran. Accordingly, theological debates and arguments that have resulted from Muslim-Christian encounters are Quran-centered and involve arguments based on the teachings of the Holy Quran. The opposition of several Christian beliefs, such as the Trinity, the incarnation of God, the divinity and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which are generally seen to be in contradiction of Islamic beliefs, as well as issues that are indirectly related to the Christian point of view occur in the Quran in the context of proof that the divine message had been corrupted, and that references by Jesus Christ to the coming of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had been changed. According to the Holy Quran, the prophethood was a continuous chain. The teachings of different prophets were not in contradiction to one another; in fact, quite the opposite, they confirmed one another. For instance, Jesus Christ confirms the validity of the Torah and mentions the prophet that would succeed him (Al-Saff 61/6). The chain of prophethood that continued in this manner was completed with Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who was the seal of prophets (hatamu’l anbiya). As a matter of fact, his being the last prophet implies that the Holy Quran confirms the divine messages that came before it, indicating that they too are from a divine source, and accepts the veracity of their provisions; in addition, the existence of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) validates the previous books and prophets. In other words, the coming of the prophet and the holy book he brought were means for the confirmation and verification of earlier prophets. The statement by Ali bin Rabban al-Tabari: “If Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had not come, the messages of the previous prophets would have lost their validity” is an example of such an approach.

According to this author, “Allah keeps His promise and does not reverse His messages” (Kitab al-Din wa al-Dawla, p. 66).
Muslims’ Approach to the Holy Bible

Muslims started to read and analyze the Old Testament and the New Testament when they first encountered Christians. One of the main reasons behind this was the need to generate an argument against several principles of Christian faith that contradict Islamic beliefs. For instance, one important method was to prove that basic Christian beliefs, such as the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus Christ, are not supported by the Holy Bible. Another reason was the verses of the Holy Quran that gave reference to the fact that previous divine texts contained references to the coming of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Particularly, the verses of the Holy Quran which state that the coming of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was depicted in both the Torah and the Holy Bible (Al-Araf 7/157), and the statement by Prophet Jesus that mentions the prophet who will follow him, who would be called Ahmad (Al-Saff 61/6), compelled Muslims to search for corresponding statements in the Torah and the Holy Bible. It was the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) who had converted to Islam that first turned to this method due to their familiarity with the Holy Bible. These converts wrote texts that compiled the references found in the Holy Bible (al-Vafa bi-ahvali’l-Mustapha, v. I, p. 73).

As mentioned above, the Holy Quran speaks of previous divine texts in terms of confirmation. It emphasizes that the texts revealed to the prophets were divine and that there was no difference between them. For that reason, the believers are ordered to believe in all prophets “without making distinction between any of them” (Al-Baqarah 2/136, 285).

Although the issue is concluded in this way for the source of the divine texts, the Quran adopts a critical approach in view of the process that these divine texts underwent over the course of history. The term “corruption” has an important place in Quranic terminology in terms of the People of the Book. In many verses of the Quran the People of the Book are accused of corrupting and altering the divine message. There are accusations directed towards the People of the Book that they “concealed the truth on purpose” (Al-Imran 3/71) and the issue of corruption of the texts is closely related to references of the advent of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). For instance, al-Tabari (310/923), a well-known interpreter of the early period, regards the term “concealing the truth” to refer to the concealment of texts from the Torah and the Holy Bible that speak of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his prophethood (Jami‘u’l-bayan, v. I, p. 189; v. II, p. 274-275, 375). Indeed, it is possible to say that this comment is based on the Holy Quran. The verses that state that the People of the Book were aware of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (or the revelation that was to be given to him) as well as their own children, yet purposefully concealed the truth (Al-Baqarah 2/146; Al-Anaam 6/20) seem to have had an affect on this issue.

While criticizing the approaches of Jews and Christians to their sacred books, the issue of the corruption of divine texts became an important concept for new Muslims. Thus, it was emphasized that the text of the Holy Bible, which is believed to have been subjected to corruption and alterations, was not binding for Muslims. It can be seen that the concept of corruption came to be effective in this controversy after the 2nd century of the Hijra (the 8th century according to the Gregorian calendar). The Caliph al-Mahdi, in his meeting with the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I, emphasizes that the divine texts of the Christians in fact contained numerous references to the coming of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), yet the Christians had made alterations to them and destroyed the texts concerned (Mingana, “The Apology of Timothy”, p. 35, 55). On the other hand, the Caliph provided examples from existing texts of the Holy Bible, which can be interpreted in this context. Consequently, the phrase “Your Lord will reveal among your own brothers a prophet like me,” which was attributed to Prophet Moses in the Torah (Tasniya 18:15, 18) is interpreted as referring to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). As a matter of fact, as has been stated, the prophet mentioned here was to come from among the Israelites and this was seen as evidence that this prophet was to be an Israelite. Moreover, the terms riding on a “donkey” or a “camel” (Isaiah 21:7) were conceived of as being a skill belonging to Prophet Jesus, initially, and then a skill of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The term paraclete (Arabic form, faraklit), which refers to the coming of Jesus and heralds the divine wisdom and the bringing of people to the truth (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7), was among the evidence put forward by the Caliph al-Mahdi to prove the prophethood of Holy Muhammad (pbuh). (Mingana, “The Apology of Timothy”, p. 33-39, 50-52).

It is possible to see the same understanding and approach within the Risala of Ibnu’l Leys. Ibnu’l Leys states that the miracles performed by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), his extraordinary personality, his success in conveying the message, and the conquests of his Companions all support the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh), and his advent and prophethood were foreseen in both the Torah and Holy Bible. However, the author suggests that the Jews and the Christians misinterpreted and perverted the true meanings of these texts. In this context, Deuteronomy, the Psalms, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Habakkuk and the Gospel of John are the texts to which he referred and from which he quoted and conveyed verses. Ibnu’l Leys equates the words of Prophet Moses and the Paraclete heralded by Christ with the name “Ahmad” that appears in the Holy Quran. From these phrases; “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shone forth from Mount Paran” (Deutronomy 33/2) Ibnu’l Leys sees Mount Sinai as indicating Prophet Moses, Seir Prophet Jesus and Paran Muhammad (pbuh). He defined these three locations respectively as places where the Torah, the Bible and the Quran were imparted unto the prophets (Ibnul Leys, Risala, p. 308-313).

The work of Ali bin Rabban al-Tabari (d. 240/855), Kitab al-Din wa al-Dawla, begins with references to Ishmael and his lineage, interprets and presents certain statements from Prophet Moses, Isaiah, Hosea, Mika, Habakkuk, Jeremiah and Daniel as references to the advent of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This work, just like the two previous texts, interprets the prophet who is heralded by Prophet Moses as being Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (Deutronomy 18/15, 18) and the term “Mount Paran” (Deutronomy 33/2) to refer to Mecca. He also assessed the terms derived from the word hamd in the Psalms and the book of Isaiah as indicating the names “Ahmad” and “Muhammad (pbuh)” in accordance with the context (Kitab al-Din wa al-Dawla, p. 66-118). As for the New Testament interpretations of al-Tabari, he states that the term paraclete (John 14:26), that is “one who will teach everything,” uttered by Prophet Jesus refers to none other than Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Apart from this, he followed a new method and calculated the numerical value of the term paraclete with the abjad calculation method, and compared this term with calculation of the phrases Muhammad (pbuh) bin Abdullah an-Nabiyyul-Hadi (Muhammad (pbuh), son of Abdullah, the one who leads to the right path) and Muhammad (pbuh) Rasul Habib Tayyib (Muhammad (pbuh), Cherished and Clean Prophet), stating that the results corresponded. Al-Tabari not only states that the words of Jesus in the New Testament, but also gives accounts from Saint Peter (Petrus I, 4:17) and even from Saint Paul (Galatians 4:22-26) (ibid., p. 118-124). In addition to this, even the Old Testament texts that were used by the Christians as evidence for the advent of Prophet Jesus are interpreted within this context and used as a reference (ibid., p. 117-118). As a matter of fact, he believed that the Christians had misinterpreted these statements and perverted their true meanings. Thus, he criticizes the interpretation of these statements by the people of the book in a rather harsh manner (ibid., p. 17, 111-112, 121, 123-124).

As can be seen from the examples we have presented in this short article, Muslim authors have developed a defensive method, influenced by verses in the Quran, and have read the revealed texts of the People of the Book and interpreted them according to Islam in their debates and dialogue with the People of the Book. In the same way that Christians refer to the Old Testament and use it as evidence to prove the mission of Jesus Christ, Muslims refer to both the Old Testament and the New Testament to prove the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This condition led to the formation of a new field of writing, known as the dala’ilun-nubuvve or basha’irun-nubuvve. The aim of such works is to prove the prophetic mission of Muhammad (pbuh). This was achieved by referring to his unprecedented personality, by describing the miracles he performed, by mentioning the occurrences which he announced before they happened, and by emphasizing the higher qualities of his community. Moreover, the sections which contain and analyze references to the Holy Bible make up a significant part of these works. Genesis, Isaiah, the Psalms, and the Gospel of John are the documents most often referred to on this issue. The statements which derive from the word Hamd, texts which mention the names of places that can be connected to Mecca and its environment, and the term paraclete, mentioned by Jesus, are all considered as proof of the advent of Islam (see Lazarus-Yafeh, Intertwined Worlds, p. 83-110; Adang, Muslim Writers, p. 139-162; 264-266). Furthermore, as has been seen in our last example, among other things, even the abjad calculation method has been used as a means. In this way, a relationship has been formed between the numerical values of certain words in the Old Testament and the New Testament and the numerical values of names and titles of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to form an analogy.

This article has been written for Lastprophet.info.

WorkCited

Adang, Camilla, Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996.
Demiri, Lejla, Muslim-Christian Dialogue in the Eighth Century: The Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I and the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdî, Roma: Pontificia Università Gregoriana (ubpublished M.A.Thesis), 2004.
Dunlop, D. M., “A Letter of Hārūn al-Rashīd to the Emperor Constantine VI”, In Memoriam: Paul Kahle, eds. Matthew Black and Georg Fohrer, Berlin: Alfred Töpelmann, 1968, s. 106-115.
Ibnü’l-Cevzî, el-Vefâ bi-ahvâli’l-Mustafâ, ed. Mustafa Abdü’l-Vâhid, Kahire: Dârü’l-Kütübi’l-Hadîse, 1966.
Ibnü’l-Leys, “Risâle”, Cemheretü resâ’ili’l-‘Arab fī ‘usūri’l-‘Arabiyyeti’l-zâhire, ed. Ahmed Zeki Safvet, Kahire: Mustafa el-Bâbî el-Halebî, 1356/1937, c. III, s. 252-324.
Lazarus-Yafeh, Hava, Intertwined Worlds. Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
________, “Tawrāt”, EI², c. X, s. 393-395.
Mingana, A., “The Apology of Timothy the Patriarch before the Caliph Mahdî”, Woodbrooke Studies (Bulletin of the John Rylands Library), 12 (1928), s. 1-162.
Taberî, Ali b. Rabben, Kitâbü’d-dîn ve’d-devle, ed. A. Mingana, Manchester: University Press, 1923. İng. Terc. A. Mingana, The Book of Religion and Empire, Manchester: University Press, 1922.
Taberî, Ebû Câfer, Câmi‘ü’l-beyân ‘an te’vîli âyi’l-Kur’ân, ed. Beşşâr ‘Avvâd Ma‘rûf ve ‘Isâm Fâris el-Harastânî, Beyrut: Mü’essesetü’r-Risâle, 1994.
Watt, Montgomery W., “The Early Development of the Muslim Attitude to the Bible”, Glasgow University Oriental Society Transactions, 16 (1955-6), s. 50-62.

 

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Image of Prophet Muhammad in the West

Image of Prophet Muhammad in the West

Ozcan Hidir, PhD
From the 12th century on, works by non-Muslims about the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) began to appear alongside the works of Muslim scholars and researchers.

Since the 19th century, with the help of the orientalists, a wide literature in this field has appeared, and in line with the different methods and techniques in social sciences, a methodology has been developed as well as a point of view about Prophet Muhammad that is usually based on secular logic.

The views of the orientalists on Prophet Muhammad actually constitute the base point in general for their opinions and claims about Islam and particularly about the Holy Quran and the sunnah (practices of the Prophet). It is extremely important that we understand their views and opinions about Prophet Muhammad and their perception of Islam. In other words, it is important to understand how they understand Prophet Muhammad: was he a spiritual leader, a social improver and a reformist, an intelligent observer who watched and personalized the customs, practices and traditions of the places he visited that did not exist in his own society, or was he a person who acted reflexively with sociological and psychological motives that evolved within himself?

When the studies conducted by the orientalists on the Prophet are examined, we see, in addition to these attitudes, portrayals and opinions in which some vicious remarks are included. As a matter of fact, according to such opinions, the Holy Quran is book written by Prophet Muhammad and consequently Islam is a religion that was established by the Prophet. It is clear that such a point of view is an outright denial of the fact that Islam is a religion based on revelations and that the Prophet was a prophet guided by revelations.

Events in the 20th century, particularly with the effects of political developments, have caused Islam to become an important phenomenon in the West. In line with this issue, Westerners began to search for the foundation, basis and establishment of this phenomenon called Islam with a literal method.

The publication of "Mohammed and the Rise of the Islam" by D. S. Margoliouth paved the way for works written by orientalists on Prophet Muhammad and his prophethood, and the number of works on this issue have increased greatly since that time.

It can be observed that orientalists who researched Prophet Muhammad from different aspects generally evaluated him via two different approaches. The first group of orientalists studies the Prophet from a reductionist point of view and as a result they ignore the religious identity of Prophet Muhammad, rather showing him to be nothing more than a social reformist. It is obvious that this understanding is a denial of the prophethood and the revelations, and thus leads to the conclusion that the Holy Quran is a book written by a human being. The second approach represents a phenomenological point of view. According to this, the religious identity of Prophet Muhammad is recognized and examined from an Islamic point of view. Unfortunately, the researchers' preconceived notions in both approaches affect their objectivity and this is reflected in their methods.

When we examine the many works of the orientalists on the life of Prophet Muhammad we can see that they claim that neither Islam nor the Holy Quran has any originality and that the Quran is a book which was written by Prophet Muhammad. The typical example of this understanding shows itself in the claims of R. Bell, who studied the foundations of Islam in Christianity in his book "The Origins of Islam in Its Christian Environment". As a matter of fact, orientalists usually try to find an answer as to how Prophet Muhammad created the Holy Quran and accordingly Islam, and while doing so, they set forth their views and opinions on this issue. Accordingly, there are orientalists who assert that the Prophet's own genius played a great role in the formation of the Holy Quran and Islam. However, some orientalists state that this formation had political and psychological causes. This approach puts forward the assertion that Prophet Muhammad lived among the society not with a religious identity but as a social reformer and formed his religious identity through experiences he gained later on.

According to this approach, which is generally explained with the term cultural-reductionism, conclusions are drawn by considering the Prophet within the context of the socio-cultural environment of the Arabian Peninsula and Mecca at that period.

Other than the theories and claims related to the religious identity of the Prophet and the formation of the Quran and Islam, a different claim is introduced by the orientalist W. M. Watt. The basic characteristic of the theory developed by Watt is that he does not deny the religious identity of the Prophet and he accepts Prophet Muhammad's religious sincerity. As a matter of fact, Watt considers the Prophet not as a figure that displays religious reactions after being affected by external religious-cultural factors, but as someone who actually showed a religious reaction to a social environment.

However, it is very difficult to say that the view of Watt on this issue is consistent. He tries to identify the sincerity of the Prophet and the basis of the information he acquired from the sources and lists three probabilities. According to this, the Prophet either combined the information he acquired from human sources with ones conveyed to him through revelations and eventually might have evaluated all of this information as revelations, or he acquired his information through various supernatural ways which constitute a telepathic aspect, or finally the term "nuhyi = we reveal" should be understood to mean "we inspire".

According to this last possibility, it is clearly stated that Prophet Muhammad received the divine messages not through revelation, but through inspiration, which brings us back to the external religious-cultural intervention theory. This is actually in line with Watt's general view related to the Islamic revelation.

As can be understood, Watt is not open-minded on this issue and what separates him from the other orientalists is that he does not completely associate the religious function of the Prophet with other religions and cultures but rather considers his function on the revelation level. However, he never ignores the external religious-cultural affects on the personality, thought structure or religious messages of Prophet Muhammad.

Despite the general negative approaches towards the orientalists and their studies in the Islamic world, Watt's studies, which manage to penetrate deeply into such issues while maintaining respect towards Islam and Prophet Muhammad, gained praise from the scholars and researchers concerned. In the introduction of Watt's work Islam and Christianity Today, Ahmed Zeki Yemani placed Watt on a different level than the other authors writing about Islam in the English language: "Professor Watt did many things to save the Western mentality from the animosity and prejudices of the authors of the Middle Ages against Islam, which for a long time influenced the Western world. Despite the phenomenological difficulties resulting from his compromising attitude on issues that are hard to compromise, Watt prevented himself from acting with insular prejudices and succeeded in reaching the zenith of open mindedness."

Actually, in the introduction of his book Muhammad at Mecca Watt addresses Muslim readers and states that he has said nothing that will require the denial of their faith nor is there a need for a wide gap to exist between the Islamic faith principles of Muslims and the Western studies, and finally, that to date the views of western researchers have been unacceptable to Islam. He further adds that these researchers have acted in such a way not because they actually believe in the research principles they have established, therefore the conclusions at which they have arrived need to be reconsidered. However, immediately after this, he writes that the doctrine of Islamic faith should be held subject to a re-formulation; it is this last that gives us a clue to Watt's attitude towards Islam and Muslims, which although objective, is perhaps influenced by political statements.

Watt states that the Prophets of the Bible are mentioned in the Quran, however he adds that this is not an indication that the Quran or Prophet Muhammad were under the influence of Judaism-Christianity, and expresses that the introduction of these Prophets is completely different in the Quran. He also reports that in the Quran there are many references to other issues that are related in the Bible and the Jewish-Christian culture; however, he states that this could lead us to an incorrect conclusion if we were to claim that the Quran in fact introduced Judaism.

Watt expresses that the elements that are existent in the Quran that belong to the Jewish-Christian culture overlap with the information found in canonical or apocryphal books. As a result, for him Prophet Muhammad learned this information and these parables from his society and without having subjected them to criticism, adapting them to the Quran.

 

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The orientalist view of prophet muhammad

THE ORIENTALIST VIEW OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD

Orientalism is the "scientific discipline" that deals with the material and spiritual culture of the East, as well as the history and languages of the region; these studies reach back to the beginning of history and follow their development through modern times. The ‘Orientalist' is a person who studies the East, practicing this ‘science'. The emergence of Orientalism as an academic discipline goes back to the Ecole speciale des langues orientales founded in France by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1795 (before Napoleon's Egyptian campaign); this was followed in Germany by the establishment of the Deutsche Morgenlaendische Gesellschaft in 1845, with other institutions in Europe being set up later. Orientalism developed, as the greatest critic of it, Edward W. Said remarked, in the service of colonialism. According to the sociologist Wolf Lepenies, the recipient of the 2006 the German Publishers Association Peace Prize, Orientalism emerged as "Rivalry Studies" (Gegnerforschung). In fact, the founders of Orientalism themselves made it clear that in its emergence it was based on the mentality of "helping the friends, harming the enemies". This was stated by the famous German statesman Bismarck when opening the department of Orientalische Sprachen (Eastern Languages) in 1887 -this department would later be affiliated with the Auslandswissenschaften, which was occupied with the "cultural ideologies of foreign communities" during World War II. In the post-war period, the center of Orientalism moved to the United States where it did not take on a more humane direction; rather it came more and more under the influence of political projects and different ideologies. The best example of this situation today is the Orientalist and historian Bernard Lewis, who is one of the ideologues of what is known as the neo-conservative movement (neo-cons).

In terms of the historical development of Orientalism, we know that well before it emerged as an academic discipline, Westerners had been interested in the emergence of Islam as a civilization and its history, as well as the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). However, this interest had in general stemmed, with few exceptions, from polemical purposes and had overwhelmingly been based on slander and denigration, rather than being scientific research or an attempt at a search for the truth.

Orientalist academics would later use these early sources, and approached Islamic history and religion, including in particular the Quran and the hadiths (sayings of the Prophet), by drawing upon these non-scientific polemical works. For this reason, it would be useful to first look at these earlier developments in Orientalism before analyzing their views on the Prophet of Islam.

Since the very beginning studies on Prophet Muhammad in the West have been based mostly on various prejudices and calumnies. The biased views about Islam and its Prophet were initially produced and disseminated by the religious establishments and politicians of the Judeo-Christian world, who had lost their power to a large extent due to the expansion of Islam, in response to the conversion of large numbers of people into this new religion. The main purpose of these incorrect statements was to mislead people into staying away from Islam by creating a false image of the religion and Prophet Muhammad. Thus, such denigrated images of the Prophet as being "mentally ill", a "liar", a "fake prophet" and an "anti-Christ", none of which had any factual historical basis, were produced and re-produced throughout the centuries in the West. In fact, there has emerged a substantial literature under this heading (see Alphandery). Montgomery Watt, a leading Orientalist himself, says that among all the greatest men in history, no one has been denigrated as much as Prophet Muhammad (Muhammad at Madina, p. 324). In this sense, the history of what has been said and written about Prophet Muhammad is fascinating if one examines it as a history of calumnies, slander and misunderstanding. For example, for a long time Prophet Muhammad had been misnamed "Maphomet", "Baphomet" and "Bafum", all of which are laden with negative meanings, and Muslims were said to be pagans with "Mahomet" being one of the idols that they worship -a few examples of the widespread and deep misconceptions about Islam and its prophet.

One of the leading figures who initiated the campaign of denigration against Prophet Muhammad was John of Damascus (d. 750 AD), a Christian priest. In the last sections of his book, De haeresibus, John discusses Prophet Muhammad and sees him, just like those Orientalists who followed him throughout the entire Middle Ages did, as a "heretic" or a "fake prophet" who deceived the people around him by using Christian sources with the help of an Arian priest, rather than the prophet of a new religion. Moreover, Prophet Muhammad's marriages and the wars he fought are discussed in this book in a biased way; these baseless criticisms later became the (sole) basis of other Orientalists who for the most part simply repeated what John had said before them. In fact, this still continues today.

The biography of the Prophet of Islam also concerned the priests and others who lived in the Byzantine Empire. Some of the important sources from this era include Refutatio Mohammedis (which is also mentioned in some sources as Refutation du CoranConfutatio Alcorani), written by Nicetas Byzantium in the 9th century, and the Chronographia, which was written by Theophanes the Confessor (758 - around 816) and discovered and compiled by Anastasius Bibliothecarius.

On the other hand, the Christians and Jews in Spain also played an important role in the dissemination of negative views and misunderstandings about Islam and Prophet Muhammad in the West.

Despite the fact that these groups had access to correct information about the Prophet and the truth about Islam, as they had lived under the administration of Muslims, they created a literature full of lies, denigration and false stories, possibly due to their enmity against their Muslim administrators. For example, the Eulogius of Cordova's Liber Apologeticus Martyrum, written in the 9th century, basically drawing on Latin manuscript, is one such work.

Another important factor that led to the further dissemination of the misconceptions about Prophet Muhammad and Islam in the West is, of course, the Crusades. Within this framework, the studies of the Bishop of Cluny, Petrus Venerablis (d. 1156, also known as Peter the Venerable or Peter of Montboissier) aimed to provide a foundation for many previously written refutations against Islam; these are now known as the "Toledo-Cluny collection". One of the earliest examples of its kind, this collection includes such ‘studies' as Liber generationis Mahumet, Doctrina Mahumet and Summa totius haeresis Saracenorum as well as a Latin translation of the Quran, and a Latin translation of an apologetical pamphlet (Epistola Saraceni or Rescriptum Christiani) written in the 3rd (AH) / 9th (AD) century by Abulmasih ibn Ishaq al Kindi in order to defend Christianity.


Vincent de Beauvais (d. 1264), too, drew on this pamphlet in composing his compilation, Speculum Historiale (Vol. XXIII, Chapters XXIV - LXVIII), where he brought together different stories regarding Prophet Muhammad that were found in various monastic chronicles and transmitted across generations -a compilation which had great influence on later generations in the West. This important pamphlet was later published in English as The Apology of al Kindî by a leading Orientalist, Sir William Muir (London 1882).
The very long poem (consisting of thousands of lines) written by the priest Konrad in the middle of the 12th century, known in Europe as Chanson de Roland, Rolandslied, or the Song of Roland,is a very important work in terms of the cultural history of Europe. It describes how a close companion of Roland betrayed and killed Charlemagne during the war he conducted against Muslims in Andalusia in 778. This long poem contains a lot of negative -and untrue- stories about Muslims, among which is the particularly interesting claim that Muslims worshipped three major idols by the names of Muhammad, Apollin and Tarvagant.

Similarly, the famous Italian writer Dante Alighieri, in his work, The Divine Comedy (La divina commedia), which he wrote in 1306 - 1321, depicts Prophet Muhammad on the 9th floor of the hell, along with Ali.

In European Renaissance literature, Islam is defined as the religion of the Turks, and Prophet Muhammad is also discussed in this context. Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, wrote many books and delivered a number of sermons about the Turks and ‘their' beliefs. In his work entitled Eine Heerespredigt wider den Türken, he sees the Turks as the "worshippers of Satan" and as a curse sent by God to punish the Pope. Moreover, in many other works written in this period, Prophet Muhammad is described as the prophet of the Turks and the author of the Quran.
The 17th and the 18th centuries witnessed a rapid increase in the number of books on Prophet Muhammad and Islam in Europe. However, these books were mostly a repetition of earlier works written by previous generations, which were full of calumnies and lies about Islam and its prophet.


It is thus difficult to understand and explain the assertions about and denigrations of Prophet Muhammad in Western sources and books which insulted Muslims and presented them as pagans that were prevalent during the Middle Ages without understanding the history of the Church, as well as the political and social history of the West in general. The European Middle Ages, a period that covers many centuries, was a time that was not unfamiliar with paganism; a large portion of Europe did not encounter Christianity until the 12th century. With the process of the re-christianization of Spain as a result of the collapse of the Umayyad Empire in Andalusia, a process called "reconquista", there occurred an increase in the publications against Islam and Prophet Muhammad in Europe. Furthermore, with the Crusades, the literature that accused Prophet Muhammad of being the anti-christ and depicting Muslims as pagans also expanded considerably. The enmity against Muslims went so far as to blame them for the killing of Christians, when they had actually died at the hands of pagans or other Christian groups in Europe. In 12th century Europe, it was the church officials in particular who were responsible for inventing and disseminating the (false) idea that Muslims were pagans in their verbal and written culture. Furthermore, the characterization of Muslims as pagans in the Christian and Western literature of the Middle Ages had some social and political consequences as well. For instance, killing Muslims and the confiscation of their property were actions justified in religious terms, and Muslims had to undergo an intense process of religious, social and political oppression, which included being sent to exile or executed, as in the case of the Moriskos (the Muslims in Spain) during the reconquista. In addition, Christians used the image of the Muslim ‘pagans' as the external common enemy to unite and solve the conflicts among themselves. In the entire literature of the Middle Ages, Prophet Muhammad was depicted mostly either as an "idol of Muslims" or as a heretic.

Another reason why members of the Christian Church invented so many untrue allegations about Prophet Muhammad and Islam is because most Christians often perceived Islam as a rival religion. The fact that the geography of Islam expanded in a very short period of time on several continents as a result of the large numbers of people choosing Islam as their religion -even the Mongols who invaded and destroyed the Islamic world in the 13th century converted to Islam shortly after their invasion- led to a great reaction and anger within the Catholic Church. So, in order to maintain their congregations, many leading Christians started denigration campaigns against Islam and Prophet Muhammad, claiming that Islam was an extremist religion that had nothing to do with God's word.
On the other hand, with the emergence of Orientalism as a "scientific" field in the 19th century and its development as such in the 20th century, many of the classical works on the history of Islam, including books in the sirah (traditional Muslim biographies of Prophet Muhammad) and maghazi (a genre of prophetic biography in Islamic literature), which were written by such leading figures as Ibn Hisham, Waqidi, Ibn Sa'd, and al Taberi, were translated into Western languages. Despite the fact that the early Orientalists had access to these classics, which they made extensive use of in early studies, they did not hesitate to twist the truth by distorting many important topics and facts about Islam and Prophet Muhammad. The Islamic classics in sirah, hadith, tafsir (the interpretation of the Quran) and others were interpreted freely and in a manner that was not accurate or consistent with reality by these Orientalists in the name of ‘criticism'. A leading example of this attitude is the fact that they assumed that it was the Prophet who had written the Quran; as a result, they often reduced the latter to an autobiographical account of Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, these Orientalists assumed -and even explicitly argued- that the hadiths did not belong to Prophet Muhammad, but were "fabricated" later on by different groups and individuals. Instead of listing every opinion put forward by the Orientalists, some of which went so far as to be nonsensical allegations, we will try to summarize them in terms of their general characteristics.

First of all, in Orientalist studies it was assumed (and argued) that what Prophet Muhammad had brought was not original; rather he ‘composed' this religion as a collage of Judaism, Christianity, and even Mandaeanism, receiving different ideas from each of these older religions. In his book, What has Muhammad Received from Judaism? (Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?, Bonn 1833), Abraham Geiger claims that Prophet Muhammad copied many things from Judaism, including different concepts, beliefs and stories, and tries to prove this by comparing the Quran with different Judaic texts.

On the other hand, Alois Sprenger polemically discusses the Prophet's name, claiming that the name "Muhammad" had not been given to him when he was born, but that he later adopted it after the migration. He also speculates about the early years of the prophethood, and claims that Prophet Muhammad learnt many things about God and religions which he later synthesized into the Quran. He explains the moments of trembling that the Prophet sometimes experienced when receiving revelation -like many other Orientalists, as a symptom of epilepsy, and even goes so far as to claim that they were an indication of his "religious madness". Finally, Sprenger interpreted the account of Archangel Gabriel, who disguised himself as a man and brought the revelation to the Prophet, as a person who was deceiving and exploiting Muhammad.

Sprenger also claimed that when he was in his forties Prophet Muhammad emulated the Christian priests by withdrawing into solitude; that when he "wrote" the 35th verse of the Surat Al-Nur (the Light) he was inspired by the lights of the churches he had seen during his travels in southern Arabia. Moreover, Sprenger asserted that in his later years Prophet Muhammad "inserted" the stories of Prophet Moses and the Pharaoh into the Quran after he learnt the details; however, according to Sprenger, he did not completely understand this story!

On the other hand, Sir William Muir, the author of a four-volume biography of Prophet Muhammad which has been influential within Orientalist literature since the middle of the 19th century, is one of those Orientalists who practiced Orientalism as "Rivalry Studies" (Gegnerforschung). A diplomat and missionary working as an officer in the British colonial administration in India, Muir's primary purpose was to convert Muslims to Christianity. He even founded a city called "Muirabad", inspired by the city "Allahabad" in India. In his book on Prophet Muhammad, The Life of Mahomet (I-IV, London 1858-1861), which he wrote drawing on classical Islamic biographies of the Prophet, he simply repeated the lies and allegations that had been attributed to the Prophet by earlier Orientalists.

Despite the fact that he does mention in the book some positive aspects of the Prophet, which were unavoidable, such as his trustworthiness, his sense of justice, and his struggle against pagan values in the Arabian Peninsula, he directs serious accusations against the Prophet during the post-prophethood period, since his essential aim is to ‘prove' that Prophet Muhammad was not a real prophet, but a liar. For example, he repeats the insults and denigrations about Prophet Muhammad, claiming that he used to talk to himself and that he often experienced epileptic seizures etc. Towards the end of the second volume, he discusses, entirely on the basis of speculation, the possible sources of the information that Prophet Muhammad -whom he sees as the author of the Qur'an- had gathered about Christianity. When it comes to the Medinan period in particular, Muir intensifies his speculations and allegations about the Prophet in order to insult him further.

However, it should also be noted that the ideas that Sprenger and Muir put forward about Islam and its prophet are not entirely negative. At the beginning of his work, Sprenger emphasizes the significance of studying Islam in terms of the fact that Islam is the only universal religion whose emergence phase is known by historians. For this reason, he says, the emergence of Islam as a universal religion should concern all those who would like to know how a religion first emerges. He also notes that Muslims have made great contributions to the universal culture of mankind via their valuable studies and the cultural products of their civilization. Likewise, Muir acknowledges the fact that there is no doubt about the authenticity of the transmission of the Quran (i.e. it has never been changed since the beginning); he even disproves, through a discussion of several examples, those who express doubts about the authenticity of the Quran.

Some Unbiased Studies on the Prophet Muhammad in the West

Though the exception, there are some unbiased studies about Prophet Muhammad in the West as well.

The first work known in the West that contained a positive interpretation and positive arguments about Prophet Muhammad is Henry Stubbe's An Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism with the Life of Mahomet and a Vindication of Him and His Religion from the Calumnies of the Christians, (ed. by Hafiz Mahmud Khan, London 1911, references below are to the Lahore 1954 edition of the book). A close friend of the famous philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Stubbe wrote his book in 1671, shortly after the 30-year wars (in which Europeans fiercely fought against each other), but could not publish it when he was alive for a variety reasons. Therefore, a book that was written to defend Islam and Prophet Muhammad against the false accusations of the Christians was not available to the reader for many years. In the first two chapters of the book, Stubbe gives general information about the first centuries of Christianity and Judaism; then in the third chapter, he presents a description of the history and geography of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as giving some information about the Saracens (Muslims). In the rest of the book other chapters (4 - 10) include the following titles:

"Developments after the Birth of Muhammad", "Migration to Medina", "The Wars", "Muhammad's Farewell Pilgrimage and his Death", "Muhammad's Character and the Accusations of the Christians", "The Quran and Muhammad's Miracles", and "The Justice of the Wars of Muslims". In the book, Stubbe says that Prophet Muhammad was an extraordinary individual; he also presents a description of the physical features of the Prophet based on the classical, authentic sources of Islam (p. 149 ff). He also notes that the Prophet had a superior talent and capacity in the art of both war and peace, not in line with descriptions found in Christian accounts. Furthermore, he gives information about the genealogy of the Prophet and indicates to some misunderstandings that arose from the misreading of his name by some Orientalists (p. 151). Stubbe also argues that the teachings of Prophet Muhammad are entirely consistent with the laws of nature, just like the original Christian and Jewish teachings in their earlier phases (p. 183). Moreover, he says that the claim that Prophet Muhammad disseminated his teachings by the sword is a calumny; the wars he fought were aimed at re-storing the old, original religion, rather than instituting a new one (p. 192). According to Stubbe, Prophet Muhammad's teachings were centered on the idea that paganism should be eliminated all over the world, that God is one and has no partners. Again, according to Stubbe, when Muhammad sought to end paganism, he never forced anyone to enter Islam; in fact, Muhammad himself wrote some letters that sanctioned the protection of Christians and Jews in the Arabian Peninsula (p. 193).

The second important figure who discussed Prophet Muhammad in a positive manner is the great German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Author of the West - East Diwan (West - Östliche Diwan), Goethe expressed his positive feelings and interpretation of Islam and its prophet in poetic form. In his poem entitled Muhammad's Song (Muhammeds Gesang), which he wrote in 1773, he praises the Prophet; he also uses the phrase "Muhammad, the best of the mankind" (Oberhaupt der Geschöpfe - Mohammed). Goethe also started to write a book on Prophet Muhammad, but was not able to finish it before he died. Due to the very positive view of Islam and the Prophet in this work, some have argued that Goethe had converted to Islam before he died.

Another figure who was able to stay away from the denigration campaign and calumnies against the Prophet Muhammad in his studies was the British historian and author Thomas Carlyle, who, though much younger than Goethe, corresponded with the latter and translated his work into English. In his book, entitled On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History, which he wrote in the 1840s, he analyzes Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) within the category of the great leaders who changed the history of the world. Carlyle argues that none of the allegations put forward against the Prophet of Islam up until that time were true, for his incredible achievements in creating a great civilization, as well as the fact that there were many wise men with a great characters who were followers of Prophet Muhammad, is enough to disprove the negative allegations against him. He also notes that accusing the Prophet of being a ‘fake prophet' creates more problems than it solves.

In the 20th century there was an abundance of publications on Prophet Muhammad. Those accounts that tried to be "fair and objective" also inherited the general argument and the essential (negative) view of the Orientalists about the Prophet and Islam, although it is also a fact that these more academic studies, particularly in the second half of the 20th century, contain fewer of the denigrating allegations that were so common in earlier works. However, the reason why there was a decrease in the negative accounts of Islam and Prophet Muhammad in the West has more to do with the Cold War, which took up the entire second half of the last century, than with ‘academic honesty'. The fact that in the post-Cold War period there was a great increase in the number (and circulation) of publications and media images that reflected the classical negative view on the basis that Muslims were the enemy of the West attests to this fact. This is particularly true for Anglo-American Orientalism in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy that had nothing to do with Islam or Prophet Muhammad.



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