Encyclopedia of Islam

Muhammad

---

with the doctrine of the p

erFect

  m

an

, the first 

thing God created, and his last messenger, who 

mediated between himself and his creation.

Since the l2th–13th century Muslims have cel-

ebrated the anniversary of Muhammad’s birth and 

death, known as the Prophet’s 

mawlid

, although 

religious conservatives have condemned this holi-

day as an illegitimate innovation (

bidaa

). His 

mosque in Medina became a major shrine shortly 

after his death, and most pilgrims who go to Mecca 

still visit it during their journey. It is considered 

to be the second most holy place after Mecca. 

The pious believe that blessing the Prophet and 

visiting his grave will win them his intercession 

on Judgment Day. Muhammad has been praised 

in poetry and songs, including modern composi-

tions recorded by leading performing artists. Many 

Muslims claim to have had visions of him in their 

dreams

, thus giving whatever the dream revealed 

validity. Turkish calligraphers have assembled 

Quran verses and hadiths about the Prophet to cre-

ate verbal portraits known as hilya, which people 

display in mosques and homes in order to imbue 

them with divine blessing (

baraka

). In the face of 

growing Euro-American influence and Christian 

missionary activities, modern Muslim writers have 

portrayed Muhammad variously as a unique sym-

bol of Islamic civilization, a revolutionary hero, 

and a brilliant politician and military strategist.

Muhammad has usually been judged harshly 

by non-Muslims, especially in Europe and North 

America. With some exceptions, authorities in the 

medieval Latin church regarded him as a magi-

cian, false prophet, power-hungry charlatan, and 

hedonist. Crusaders depicted Muhammad as a 

pagan god, while Dante Alighieri (d. 1321), the 

famous Italian poet, consigned Muhammad and 

Ali to the level of hell reserved for heretics. The 

legacy of these medieval views has continued until 

the present. In the Age of Reason he was seen as 

an imposter, and even as the Antichrist in some 

polemical works. During the 18th century some 

scholars began to regard him in a more favor-

able light. One of the most positive non-Muslim 

interpretations written during this period was that 

of the Victorian historian and essayist Thomas 

Carlyle (d. 1881). His book On Heroes, Hero Wor-

ship, and the Heroic in History (1859) included 

an essay that refuted the medieval stereotypes 

about Muhammad and portrayed him instead as 

a thoughtful and upright man of religion. Nev-

ertheless, negative views have persisted, as made 

evident in William Muir’s Life of Mahomet (1858), 

which explained Muhammad’s experiences as a 

result of epileptic seizures. More recently, Salman 

Rushdie’s fictional portrayal of Muhammad as 

a doubt-ridden man in his book Satanic Verses 

(1987) and derogatory cartoon images of him 

published in a Danish newspaper (2006) sparked 

widespread controversy and protest around the 

world. Such incidents will no doubt arise on occa-

sion. At the same time, however, Muslim and non-

Muslim scholars in North America and Europe are 

contributing to the growing body of knowledge 

about Muhammad’s role in early Islamic history 

and the significance of his standing in Muslim 

devotional life in different times and places. Inter-

religious 

dialogUe

 between Muslims and non-

Muslims is also contributing to less polemical 

understandings of Islam’s prophet.

See also 

adab

;  a

rabian

 

religions

, 

pre

-i

slamic

; 

c

ompanions

 

oF

 

the

  p

rophet

;  h

ashimite

 

dynasty

; 

holidays

; 

hypocrites

; 

idolatry

; J

Udaism

 

and

 i

slam

; 

m

ohammedanism

; 

pbUh

;  p

eople

 

oF

 

the

  b

ook

; 

prophets

 

and

 

prophecy

; 

revelation

;  s

atanic

v

erses

; 

sayyid

: s

hiism

; s

UFism

.