Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making
"Generations of Western writers from the Crusades down to the present day have claimed to depict the life and personality of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Over the course of thirteen centuries, biased and stubbornly negative representations have persisted, presenting images which bear no resemblance to the noble figure familiar to Muslims. Muhammad in Europe traces this consistent tradition of distortion and provides an account of the reasons behind it."--BOOK JACKET.
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Generations of Western writersfrom the Crusades to the present dayhave written portraits claiming to depict the life and personality of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Over the course of thirteen centuries, stubbornly biased and consistently negative representations have persisted, presenting images which bear no resemblance to the noble man familiar to Muslims. Muhammad in Europe traces this consistent tradition of distortion and provides an account of the reasons behind it. Drawing on works dating from the Middle Ages to the last decade of the twentieth century and spanning Latin, Italian, French, German, and English language sources, the book culminates with a critical analysis of Salman Rushdie's controversial novel, The Satanic Verses. Jewish Currents Jonathan Birnbaum and Clarence Taylor have plumbed historical documents to produce a study that has both truth and urgency.....You could not do better than this book.
AcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroduction11Muhammad the Prophet of Mecca92Muhammad's Rule in Medina: The Making of Islam313Muhammad's Quest for Spirituality574Muhammad as Mahound: Medieval Europe and the fear of Islam735The Turkish Threat: Muhammad in the Europe of the Renaissance996Muhammad as an Anti-Christ: The fate of Muhammad and Islam in the Reformation1197Humanist or Fanatic? The Enlightenment divided1398Hero or Impostor? Muhammad in the age of hero worship1759Fantasies of Sensuality and Cruelty: Muhammad and Islam in nineteenth-century European imagination20310The Return of the Crusades and Jihads: Islam at the end of the Ottoman Empire24111From Reverence to Travesty: Muhammad in the twentieth century271Bibliography301
\ Book News“Reveals rivalry and confrontation, but also fascination for the exotic as she points out clichés and distortions that have shaped western views of Islam and its founder.”\ \ \ \ \ Jewish CurrentsJonathan Birnbaum and Clarence Taylor have plumbed historical documents to produce a study that has both truth and urgency.....You could not do better than this book.\ \ \ BooknewsReeves was international secretary to Queen Farah at the time of the Iranian Revolution, has since written books on the Peacock throne and women in the revolution, and now lives in London. After setting out as objective a life of Muhammad as credible sources allow, she traces the portrayal of him in European writing for the past 13 centuries. She reveals rivalry and confrontation, but also fascination for the exotic as she points out cliches and distortions that have shaped western views of Islam and its founder. She has not indexed her work. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \ \ \ \ From the Publisher“Reveals rivalry and confrontation, but also fascination for the exotic as she points out clichés and distortions that have shaped western views of Islam and its founder.”-Book News, Inc.\ ,\ “A deep study of “the veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety” . . . This scholarly work renders high service in promoting understanding not only internationally but in plural societies which have a Muslim presence.”\ -Frontline\ ,\ “Reveals rivalry and confrontation, but also fascination for the exotic as she points out clichés and distortions that have shaped western views of Islam and its founder.”\ -Book News, Inc.\ ,\ “In this well-written and timely work . . . Reeves makes a serious effort to be fair to the authors surveyed in her work regardless of the views held.”\ -Choice\ ,\ “An engaging and enlightening book. It does a superior job of showing how the West has contributed to the current clash of civilizations.”\ -Sixteenth Century Journal\ ,\ \ \
