Analysis Of Following Muhammed: Rethinking Islam

THE PORTRAYAL OF ISLAM THROUGHOUT HISTORY AND IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Westerners tend to think of Islamic societies as backward- looking people oppressed by religion and dictatorships, comparing them to their own enlightened, progressive and secular democracies. Many of these negative portrayals pertaining to the Islamic religion can be dated back to medieval times. These negative portrayals of Islam have often resulted in an irrational hostility towards Muslims in the contemporary world. Drawing on ideas expressed in the book Following Muhammed: Rethinking Islam in the contemporary World by author Carl Ernst, this essay seeks to explore some of the major political, ideological and historical dynamics that influence the representation of

According to Ernst throughout the medieval period all characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad that established his legitimacy in the eyes of Muslims was “reversed by Christian authors and turned into defects” (Ernst 14) Ernst suggest that Christians were in absolute defiance of the idea of a new prophet after Christ. According to Islamic faith, the belief that Muhammad was an illiterate was evidence to the divine origin of the scripture he transmitted. However, Christians took this belief to be evidence that Muhammad was a fraud. The belief that the Muhammad was descendent of Abraham’s son Ishmael served as further confirmation of the prophet’s authenticity, however Christians took this belief to be completely false. When challenged by the pagan Meccans to produce miracles, Muhammad proclaimed that his only miracle was the Qur’an. Christian antagonists took this response to be further confirmation to the fact that Muhammad was not who he claimed to be. Ernst suggests that much of the anti-Muslim attitudes held by European Christians in the Middle Ages were fundamentally motivated by the Crusades (16). The attempts made by the Crusaders to conquer holy lands that were occupied by the Arabs and Turks proved ultimately unsuccessful and this resulted in much anger and resentment towards the Muslim

Huntington’s thesis on the “Clash of Civilisations” is a renowned theory pertaining to Islam and its relation with the West. The “Clash of Civilisations” thesis is based on a superficial reading of history and centres on the supposition that there are a number of civilisations that will inevitably clash until one emerges triumphant. After eliminating the weakest of the civilisations, Huntington concluded his thesis by prophesising and ultimate death struggle between the progressive West and the conservative Islamic world. Huntington suggests that the different and opposing beliefs held by the different civilisations will most likely be the foremost source of the conflict. According to Huntington, as interaction between the civilisations increases, people will become increasingly alert to their differences. Huntington asserts that some groups such as the Confucious and Islamic groups, who have always been strongly opposed to Western culture, will establish an alliance with each other and create a significant threat to Western interests through their increased numbers and