Criticism of Muhammad

The first to criticize the Islamic prophet Muhammad were his non-Muslim Arab contemporaries, who decried him for preaching monotheism, and the Jewish tribes of Arabia, for what they claimed were unwarranted appropriation of Biblical narratives and figures^[7] and vituperation of the Jewish faith.^[7] For these reasons, medieval Jewish writers commonly referred to him by the derogatory nickname ha-Meshuggah (Hebrew: מְשֻׁגָּע‬, "the Madman" or "the Possessed").^[8]^[9]^[10]

During the Middle Ages, various^[3]^[5]^[6]^[11] Western and Byzantine Christian thinkers considered Muhammad to be a deplorable man,^[3] a false prophet,^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] and even the Antichrist,^[3]^[5] as he was frequently seen in Christendom as a heretic^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] or possessed by demons.^[2]^[6] Thomas Aquinas criticized Muhammad's handling of doctrinal matters and promises of what Aquinas described as "carnal pleasure" in the afterlife.^[6]

Modern criticism has concerned Muhammad's sincerity as a prophet, his morality, his marriages, his ownership of slaves and his psychological condition.^[3]^[12]^[13]^[14] Muhammad has also faced accusations of cruelty towards his enemies, including in the invasion of the Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina.^[15]^[16]

^ Inferno, Canto XXVIII Archived 4 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, lines 22-63; translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Buhl, F.; Ehlert, Trude; Noth, A.; Schimmel, Annemarie; Welch, A. T. (2012) [1993]. "Muḥammad". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 360–376. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0780. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Quinn, Frederick (2008). "The Prophet as Antichrist and Arab Lucifer (Early Times to 1600)". The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 17–54. ISBN 978-0195325638.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hartmann, Heiko (2013). "Wolfram's Islam: The Beliefs of the Muslim Pagans in Parzival and Willehalm". In Classen, Albrecht (ed.). East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Transcultural Experiences in the Premodern World. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Vol. 14. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 427–442. doi:10.1515/9783110321517.427. ISBN 9783110328783. ISSN 1864-3396.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Goddard, Hugh (2000). "The First Age of Christian-Muslim Interaction (c. 830/215)". A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 34–49. ISBN 978-1-56663-340-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f
Criticism by Christians [...] was voiced soon after the advent of Islam starting with St. John of Damascus in the late seventh century, who wrote of "the false prophet", Muhammad. Rivalry, and often enmity, continued between the European Christian world and the Islamic world [...]. For Christian theologians, the "Other" was the infidel, the Muslim. [...] Theological disputes in Baghdad and Damascus, in the eighth to the tenth century, and in Andalusia up to the fourteenth century led Christian Orthodox and Byzantine theologians and rulers to continue seeing Islam as a threat. In the twelfth century, Peter the Venerable [...] who had the Koran translated into Latin, regarded Islam as a Christian heresy and Muhammad as a sexually self-indulgent and a murderer. [...] However, he called for the conversion, not the extermination, of Muslims. A century later, St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa contra Gentiles accused Muhammad of seducing people by promises of carnal pleasure, uttering truths mingled with many fables and announcing utterly false decisions that had no divine inspiration. Those who followed Muhammad were regarded by Aquinas as brutal, ignorant "beast-like men" and desert wanderers. Through them Muhammad, who asserted he was "sent in the power of arms", forced others to become followers by violence and armed power.
— Michael Curtis, Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India (2009), p. 31, Cambridge University Press, New York, ISBN 978-0521767255.
^ ^a ^b
The Jews [...] could not let pass unchallenged the way in which the Koran appropriated Biblical accounts and personages; for instance, its making Abraham an Arab and the founder of the Ka'bah at Mecca. The prophet, who looked upon every evident correction of his gospel as an attack upon his own reputation, brooked no contradiction, and unhesitatingly threw down the gauntlet to the Jews. Numerous passages in the Koran show how he gradually went from slight thrusts to malicious vituperations and brutal attacks on the customs and beliefs of the Jews. When they justified themselves by referring to the Bible, Muhammad, who had taken nothing therefrom at first hand, accused them of intentionally concealing its true meaning or of entirely misunderstanding it, and taunted them with being "asses who carry books" (sura lxii. 5). The increasing bitterness of this vituperation, which was similarly directed against the less numerous Christians of Medina, indicated that in time Muhammad would not hesitate to proceed to actual hostilities. The outbreak of the latter was deferred by the fact that the hatred of the prophet was turned more forcibly in another direction, namely, against the people of Mecca, whose earlier refusal of Islam and whose attitude toward the community appeared to him at Medina as a personal insult which constituted a sufficient cause for war.
— Richard Gottheil, Mary W. Montgomery, Hubert Grimme, "Mohammed" (1906), Jewish Encyclopedia, Kopelman Foundation.
^ Norman A. Stillman (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Jewish Publication Society. p. 236. ISBN 978-0827601987.
^ Ibn Warraq, Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism, p. 255.
^ Andrew G. Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, p. 21.
^ John of Damascus, De Haeresibus. See Migne, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 94, 1864, cols 763–73. An English translation by the Reverend John W. Voorhis appeared in The Moslem World, October 1954, pp. 392–98.
^ Cimino, Richard P. (December 2005). ""No God in Common": American Evangelical Discourse on Islam after 9/11". Review of Religious Research. 47 (2). Springer Verlag on behalf of the Religious Research Association: 162–174. doi:10.2307/3512048. ISSN 2211-4866. JSTOR 3512048. S2CID 143510803.
^ Willis, John Ralph, ed. (2013). Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa: Islam and the Ideology of Enslavement. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge. pp. vii–xi, 3–26. ISBN 978-0-7146-3142-4.; Willis, John Ralph, ed. (1985). Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa: The Servile Estate. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge. pp. vii–xi. ISBN 978-0-7146-3201-8.
^ Spellberg, Denise A. (1996). Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of 'A'isha Bint Abi Bakr. Columbia University Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0-231-07999-0.
^
The messenger of God went out into the marketplace of Medina and had trenches dug in it; then he sent for them and had them beheaded in those trenches. They were brought out to him in groups. Among them were the enemy of God, Huyayy b. Akhtab, and Ka’b b. Asad, the head of the tribe. They numbered 600 or 700—the largest estimate says they were between 800 and 900. As they were being taken in groups to the Messenger of God, they said to Ka’b b. Asad, "Ka’b, what do you understand. Do you not see that the summoner does not discharge [anyone] and that those of you who are taken away do not come back? By God, it is death!" the affair continued until the Messenger of God had finished with them.
— Al-Tabari, Victory of Islam, Volume 8, translated by Michael Fishbein (1997), State University of New York Press, pp. 35–36, ISBN 978-0791431504.
^ Watt, W. Montgomery (July 1952). "The Condemnation of the Jews of Banu Qurayzah". The Muslim World. 42 (3). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell: 160–171. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1952.tb02149.x. ISSN 1478-1913.

[1] Inferno, Canto XXVIII Archived 4 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, lines 22-63; translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867).

[Buhl1993-2] Buhl, F.; Ehlert, Trude; Noth, A.; Schimmel, Annemarie; Welch, A. T. (2012) [1993]. "Muḥammad". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 360–376. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0780. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.

[Quinn2008-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Quinn, Frederick (2008). "The Prophet as Antichrist and Arab Lucifer (Early Times to 1600)". The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 17–54. ISBN 978-0195325638.

[Hartmann_2013-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Hartmann, Heiko (2013). "Wolfram's Islam: The Beliefs of the Muslim Pagans in Parzival and Willehalm". In Classen, Albrecht (ed.). East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Transcultural Experiences in the Premodern World. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Vol. 14. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 427–442. doi:10.1515/9783110321517.427. ISBN 9783110328783. ISSN 1864-3396.

[Goddard2000-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Goddard, Hugh (2000). "The First Age of Christian-Muslim Interaction (c. 830/215)". A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 34–49. ISBN 978-1-56663-340-6.

[Curtis2009-6] 
Criticism by Christians [...] was voiced soon after the advent of Islam starting with St. John of Damascus in the late seventh century, who wrote of "the false prophet", Muhammad. Rivalry, and often enmity, continued between the European Christian world and the Islamic world [...]. For Christian theologians, the "Other" was the infidel, the Muslim. [...] Theological disputes in Baghdad and Damascus, in the eighth to the tenth century, and in Andalusia up to the fourteenth century led Christian Orthodox and Byzantine theologians and rulers to continue seeing Islam as a threat. In the twelfth century, Peter the Venerable [...] who had the Koran translated into Latin, regarded Islam as a Christian heresy and Muhammad as a sexually self-indulgent and a murderer. [...] However, he called for the conversion, not the extermination, of Muslims. A century later, St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa contra Gentiles accused Muhammad of seducing people by promises of carnal pleasure, uttering truths mingled with many fables and announcing utterly false decisions that had no divine inspiration. Those who followed Muhammad were regarded by Aquinas as brutal, ignorant "beast-like men" and desert wanderers. Through them Muhammad, who asserted he was "sent in the power of arms", forced others to become followers by violence and armed power.
— Michael Curtis, Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India (2009), p. 31, Cambridge University Press, New York, ISBN 978-0521767255.

[JE2-7] 
The Jews [...] could not let pass unchallenged the way in which the Koran appropriated Biblical accounts and personages; for instance, its making Abraham an Arab and the founder of the Ka'bah at Mecca. The prophet, who looked upon every evident correction of his gospel as an attack upon his own reputation, brooked no contradiction, and unhesitatingly threw down the gauntlet to the Jews. Numerous passages in the Koran show how he gradually went from slight thrusts to malicious vituperations and brutal attacks on the customs and beliefs of the Jews. When they justified themselves by referring to the Bible, Muhammad, who had taken nothing therefrom at first hand, accused them of intentionally concealing its true meaning or of entirely misunderstanding it, and taunted them with being "asses who carry books" (sura lxii. 5). The increasing bitterness of this vituperation, which was similarly directed against the less numerous Christians of Medina, indicated that in time Muhammad would not hesitate to proceed to actual hostilities. The outbreak of the latter was deferred by the fact that the hatred of the prophet was turned more forcibly in another direction, namely, against the people of Mecca, whose earlier refusal of Islam and whose attitude toward the community appeared to him at Medina as a personal insult which constituted a sufficient cause for war.
— Richard Gottheil, Mary W. Montgomery, Hubert Grimme, "Mohammed" (1906), Jewish Encyclopedia, Kopelman Foundation.

[Stillman-8] Norman A. Stillman (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Jewish Publication Society. p. 236. ISBN 978-0827601987.

[9] Ibn Warraq, Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism, p. 255.

[10] Andrew G. Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, p. 21.

[John_of_Damascus-11] John of Damascus, De Haeresibus. See Migne, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 94, 1864, cols 763–73. An English translation by the Reverend John W. Voorhis appeared in The Moslem World, October 1954, pp. 392–98.

[Cimino-12] Cimino, Richard P. (December 2005). ""No God in Common": American Evangelical Discourse on Islam after 9/11". Review of Religious Research. 47 (2). Springer Verlag on behalf of the Religious Research Association: 162–174. doi:10.2307/3512048. ISSN 2211-4866. JSTOR 3512048. S2CID 143510803.

[Willis2013-13] Willis, John Ralph, ed. (2013). Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa: Islam and the Ideology of Enslavement. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge. pp. vii–xi, 3–26. ISBN 978-0-7146-3142-4.; Willis, John Ralph, ed. (1985). Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa: The Servile Estate. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge. pp. vii–xi. ISBN 978-0-7146-3201-8.

[14] Spellberg, Denise A. (1996). Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of 'A'isha Bint Abi Bakr. Columbia University Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0-231-07999-0.

[15] 
The messenger of God went out into the marketplace of Medina and had trenches dug in it; then he sent for them and had them beheaded in those trenches. They were brought out to him in groups. Among them were the enemy of God, Huyayy b. Akhtab, and Ka’b b. Asad, the head of the tribe. They numbered 600 or 700—the largest estimate says they were between 800 and 900. As they were being taken in groups to the Messenger of God, they said to Ka’b b. Asad, "Ka’b, what do you understand. Do you not see that the summoner does not discharge [anyone] and that those of you who are taken away do not come back? By God, it is death!" the affair continued until the Messenger of God had finished with them.
— Al-Tabari, Victory of Islam, Volume 8, translated by Michael Fishbein (1997), State University of New York Press, pp. 35–36, ISBN 978-0791431504.

[16] Watt, W. Montgomery (July 1952). "The Condemnation of the Jews of Banu Qurayzah". The Muslim World. 42 (3). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell: 160–171. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1952.tb02149.x. ISSN 1478-1913.

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Criticism of Muhammad

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