Images of the Prophet Mohammad in English Literature

168 Pages·2018·1.559 MB·English

by  Abdur Raheem Kidwai

K P E T E R L A N G
i
d
w
a
i
I
Images of the Prophet Muhammad in English Literature seeks to promote a better m
Images of
understanding between the Muslim world and the West against the backdrop of a
g
the Danish cartoons and the deplorable tragedy of 9/11, which has evoked a general
e
interest in things Islamic. This book recounts and analyzes the image of Prophet s

o
Muhammad, as reflected in English literary texts from the twelfth to nineteenth
f
t the Prophet
centuries. It will be of much interest to students of English literary history, cultural h
e
studies, Islamic studies, and literary Orientalism.

P
r
o
p
Muhammad in
h
e
t

Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Professor of English and Director M
of the UGC Human Resource Development Centre at u
h
English Literature
Aligarh Muslim University, has a PhD from the Aligarh a
m
Muslim University and a PhD from the University of
Leicester, United Kingdom. He has been the Honorary m
Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Department of English, a
d
University of Leicester, and has delivered lectures on liter-
i
n
ary Orientalism at the universities of Oxford, Mauritius,

E
Sunderland, and Leicester. Some of his books include Orientalism in Lord Byron’s n
Turkish Tales, Stranger Than Fiction: Image of Islam/Muslims in English Fiction, and g
l
i
Orientalism in English Literature: Perception of Islam and Muslims. s
h

L
i
t
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
P
E
T
E
R
LA
N
G ABDUR RAHEEM KIDWAI
www.peterlang.com
K P E T E R L A N G
i
d
w
a
i
I
Images of the Prophet Muhammad in English Literature seeks to promote a better m
Images of
understanding between the Muslim world and the West against the backdrop of a
g
the Danish cartoons and the deplorable tragedy of 9/11, which has evoked a general
e
interest in things Islamic. This book recounts and analyzes the image of Prophet s

o
Muhammad, as reflected in English literary texts from the twelfth to nineteenth
f
t the Prophet
centuries. It will be of much interest to students of English literary history, cultural h
e
studies, Islamic studies, and literary Orientalism.

P
r
o
p
Muhammad in
h
e
t

Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Professor of English and Director M
of the UGC Human Resource Development Centre at u
h
English Literature
Aligarh Muslim University, has a PhD from the Aligarh a
m
Muslim University and a PhD from the University of
Leicester, United Kingdom. He has been the Honorary m
Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Department of English, a
d
University of Leicester, and has delivered lectures on liter-
i
n
ary Orientalism at the universities of Oxford, Mauritius,

E
Sunderland, and Leicester. Some of his books include Orientalism in Lord Byron’s n
Turkish Tales, Stranger Than Fiction: Image of Islam/Muslims in English Fiction, and g
l
i
Orientalism in English Literature: Perception of Islam and Muslims. s
h

L
i
t
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
P
E
T
E
R
LA
N
G ABDUR RAHEEM KIDWAI
www.peterlang.com
K P E T E R L A N G
i
d
w
a
i
I
Images of the Prophet Muhammad in English Literature seeks to promote a better m
Images of
understanding between the Muslim world and the West against the backdrop of a
g
the Danish cartoons and the deplorable tragedy of 9/11, which has evoked a general Images of
e
interest in things Islamic. This book recounts and analyzes the image of Prophet s

o the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad, as reflected in English literary texts from the twelfth to nineteenth
f
t the Prophet
centuries. It will be of much interest to students of English literary history, cultural h
in English Literature
e
studies, Islamic studies, and literary Orientalism.

P
r
o
p
Muhammad in
h
e
t

Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Professor of English and Director M
of the UGC Human Resource Development Centre at u
h
English Literature
Aligarh Muslim University, has a PhD from the Aligarh a
m
Muslim University and a PhD from the University of
Leicester, United Kingdom. He has been the Honorary m
Visiting Professor/Fellow at the Department of English, a
d
University of Leicester, and has delivered lectures on liter-
i
n
ary Orientalism at the universities of Oxford, Mauritius,

E
Sunderland, and Leicester. Some of his books include Orientalism in Lord Byron’s n
Turkish Tales, Stranger Than Fiction: Image of Islam/Muslims in English Fiction, and g
l
i
Orientalism in English Literature: Perception of Islam and Muslims. s
h

L
i
t
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
P
E
T
E
R
LA
N
G ABDUR RAHEEM KIDWAI
www.peterlang.com
This book is part of the Peter Lang Humanities list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Abdur Raheem Kidwai

Images of
the Prophet Muhammad
in English Literature

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kidwai, Abdur Raheem, author.
Title: Images of the Prophet Mohammad in English literature / Abdur Raheem Kidwai.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2018.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017044490 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4748-7 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4749-4 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4750-0 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4751-7 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Muhammad, Prophet, –632—In literature.
English literature—History and criticism.
Islam in literature.
Classification: LCC PR428.M75 K53 | DDC 820.9/2829763—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044490
DOI 10.3726/b13294
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2018 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Dedicated to my teacher,
Mr Anwar Ahmad Siddiqi
Daryabadi

Contents Contents
Preface xi
Chapter One: The Distorting Mirror: Representation of Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in Medieval and Other Writings in the West 1
From the Earliest to Medieval Period 1
Chanson de Geste 2
La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) 3
The Prophet as an Idol in Romances 6
Middle English Mystery Plays 8
The Prophet as God 9
The Prophet as the Heresiarch 9
Italian Literature 10
Dante’s Divine Comedy 10
Medieval Misconceptions about the Prophet 13
Peter the Venerable 16
Thomas Aquinas 18
Raymon Llull 19
Higden’s Polychronicon 19
Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) 20
John Mandeville’s Travels 20
viii | images of the prophet muhammad in english literature
Some More Misperceptions about the Prophet 21
Representation of the Prophet in the Reformation Period
(Sixteenth Century) 23
Alexander Ross 25
Henry Stubbe 27
Humphrey Prideaux (1697) 28
Lady Montagu 29
George Sale 29
Edward Gibbon 30
Voltaire 30
Goethe 31
Chapter Two: The Crescent in the West: Representation of Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in the Literary Works 36
William Langland (ca. 1332–1400) 36
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) 41
John Lydgate (ca. 1370–1449) 43
William Dunbar (1456–1513) 48
Sir Walter Raleigh (1554–1618) 49
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) 52
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) 57
Elizabethan Turk Plays 63
Robert Greene’s Alphonsus 63
Robert Daborne’s A Christian Turn’d Turk 66
Philip Massinger’s Renegado 68
Fulke Greville’s Mustapha 69
John Donne (1572–1631) 70
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) 71
Samuel Butler (1613–1680) 72
Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) 73
John Dryden (1631–1700) 74
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) 77
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) 78
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) 79
William Cowper (1731–1800) 81
Robert Southey (1774–1843) 81
Southey’s Sketch of the Poem, “Mohammed” 86
Southey’s Notes on the Poem 87
The Early Believers 87
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) 92