Post 9/11 Portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the Western Literature

An Analysis of Prejudiced and Sane Voices

Abstract

The incident of 9/11 changed the practical politics and international relations of the world. At the same time, it influenced the thinking patterns and intellectual movements around the world. Thus, it exerted its influence on different sort of scholarships as well. A general survey of the historiography on Prophet Muhammad PBUH in the West reveals the influences of the incident of 9/11 on this genre of historiography too. On a closer examination it was revealed that some of the works produced after 9/11 are focused on inherent differences and enmity between the Christian and the Muslim community and have built their new narratives based on that old hatred. These works began to level new kind of sacrilegious charges against the Prophet PBUH and associated him with the phenomenon of terrorism. The present study has critically analyzed this literature by evaluating the biased views of the western authors along with pointing out and highlighting the weaknesses in the sources and arguments of these writings. The analysis has been further strengthened by adding some western works produced in the same period highlighting the merciful nature of the Prophet PBUH and treating his teachings as a continuity of the legacy of all earlier prophets. These works produced by western authors reflect those sane voices which must be promoted in order to flourish tolerance, peace and harmony in the world. The study is based on the methods of historiographical research and has analyzed particular works from the western sīrah writing. The analysis has been done by using primary sources of sīrah and tārīkh along with consulting secondary literature.