Mohammedan
Encyclopedia
Mohammedan is a Western
term for a follower of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
. As an archaic English language
term, it is used as both a noun
and an adjective
, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhammad or the religion, doctrines, institutions and practices that he established. The word was formerly common in western usage, but the terms Muslim
and Islamic are more common today.
Muhammedanus, while Wyclif has Macamethe (c.1380).
In Christian
Western Europe
, down to the 13th century or so, there was a mistaken belief
that Muhammad
had either been a heretical
Christian or that he was a god worshipped by Muslims. Some works of Medieval European literature
referred to Muslims as "pagans
" or by sobriquet
s such as the paynim foe. Depictions, such as those in the Song of Roland, depict Muslims praying to a variety of "idols
", including Apollo
, Lucifer
, Termagant
, and Mahound
. When the Knights Templar
were being tried for heresy
, reference was often made to their worship of a demon Baphomet
, which was notable, by implication, for its similarity to Muhammad's name when transliterated in to Latin
, "Mahomet", that was used by contemporary Christian authors, given that Latin would be for another 500 years the language of scholarship and erudition
for most of Europe.
These and other variations on the theme were all set in the "temper of the times" of the Muslim-Christian conflict as Medieval Europe
was becoming aware of its great enemy in the wake of the quickfire success of the Muslims through a series of conquests
shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire
, as well as the lack of real information in the West of the mysterious east.
, Moslem or Islamic, but was commonly used only in Western literature until at least the mid-1960s. (See for instance the second edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
by HW Fowler
, revised by Ernest Gowers
(Oxford, 1965)). Muslim is more commonly used today than Moslem, and the term Mohammedan is widely considered archaic or in some cases even offensive.
is the name of an orthodox reforming movement, which has adapted Western institutions, e.g. Boy Scouts, to Muslim ends).
and not Muhammad. It is often held and argued by non-Muslims that Allah was an alter-ego of convenience for Muhammad, which he used to satisfy his lust for wealth, women, and power, as evidenced by the divine sanctions for Muhammad's taking his adopted son's wife (in direct contradiction to his earlier laws), his taking of a minimum of eleven wives (directly breaking the law that the Koran says Allah revealed for the entire community which established a maximum of four wives), a total of one-eleventh of the Koran being spent discussing Muhammad's sex life, wives, and domestic disputes, and the doctrine of abrogation, or naskh
, by which polar-opposite contradictory verses are reconciled in traditional Islamic thought (by establishing a chronology, and having later verses cancel earlier ones) thus making the worship of Allah very much the worship of Muhammad, or "Muhammadanism".
However, Muslims insist that "Mohammedan" is a misnomer. Muslims believe that "Islam" is the divinely-verbalised name of the final form of Allah's commandments (lit. "submission to [Allah's] will") revealed through a series of Prophets of Islam, which are generally the same as the Judaeo-Christian ones, except for some genealogical differences (i.e. Jesus
is said in the Koran to be the son of Miriam, sister of Aaron and Moses, daughter of Imran
[Eng. Amram
], thus making Jesus a contemporary of Moses), and the addition of a few prophets (i.e. Alexander the Great and/or Cyrus the Great
are considered Prophets of Islam and are spoken of in the Koran, using legendary stories and apocryphal material from the genre of Alexander romance
, called Dhul Qarnayn and/or al-Khidr
- see Alexander the Great in the Qur'an and Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an
). Muslims claim that all of the Judaeo-Christian prophets preached Islam - including Moses and Jesus - and none were Jews or Christians, and all denounced Judaism and Christianity as being corruptions of Islam, the religion Muslims claim they preached, which they also hold to be the primordial religion
, of which all others are corruptions. The historical evidence for this - the preaching of anything resembling Islam by the Biblical prophets - is completely absent, and in all cases contradictory: it is established by all reliable sources and non-Islamic scholarship that Jesus was a Torah-observant Jew, that Ezra was a Jewish priest and scribe, and that Alexander and Cyrus the Great were both Pagans, although Cyrus the Great was instrumental in ending the Jewish exile.
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
term for a follower of the Islamic prophet
Prophets of Islam
Muslims identify the Prophets of Islam as those humans chosen by God and given revelation to deliver to mankind. Muslims believe that every prophet was given a belief to worship God and their respective followers believed it as well...
Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. As an archaic English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
term, it is used as both a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
and an adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhammad or the religion, doctrines, institutions and practices that he established. The word was formerly common in western usage, but the terms Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and Islamic are more common today.
Etymology
The OED cites 1663 as the first recorded usage of the English term, along with the older term Mahometan that dates back to at least 1529. The English term is derived from New LatinNew Latin
The term New Latin, or Neo-Latin, is used to describe the Latin language used in original works created between c. 1500 and c. 1900. Among other uses, Latin during this period was employed in scholarly and scientific publications...
Muhammedanus, while Wyclif has Macamethe (c.1380).
In Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, down to the 13th century or so, there was a mistaken belief
Medieval Christian view of Muhammad
Medieval Christian views on Muhammad were largely antagonistic. During the Middle Ages, the Christian world was actively in opposition to or showed hostility toward Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. The earliest Christian knowledge of Muhammad stems from Byzantine sources, written shortly after...
that Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
had either been a heretical
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
Christian or that he was a god worshipped by Muslims. Some works of Medieval European literature
Medieval literature
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
referred to Muslims as "pagans
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
" or by sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
s such as the paynim foe. Depictions, such as those in the Song of Roland, depict Muslims praying to a variety of "idols
Cult image
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents...
", including Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
, Termagant
Termagant
In Medieval Europe, Termagant was the name given to a god that the Europeans believed Muslims worshipped.-Origin of the concept:European literature from the Middle Ages often referred to Muslims as pagans, with sobriquets such as the paynim foe...
, and Mahound
Mahound
Mahound or Mahoun is a variant form of the name Muhammad, often found in Medieval and later European literature. This version of the name, or variants of it, came to be strongly associated with anti-Muslim attitudes in Western Christendom...
. When the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
were being tried for heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
, reference was often made to their worship of a demon Baphomet
Baphomet
Baphomet is an imagined pagan deity , revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. It appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century...
, which was notable, by implication, for its similarity to Muhammad's name when transliterated in to Latin
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
, "Mahomet", that was used by contemporary Christian authors, given that Latin would be for another 500 years the language of scholarship and erudition
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
for most of Europe.
These and other variations on the theme were all set in the "temper of the times" of the Muslim-Christian conflict as Medieval Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
was becoming aware of its great enemy in the wake of the quickfire success of the Muslims through a series of conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
, as well as the lack of real information in the West of the mysterious east.
Current usage
The term has been largely superseded by MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, Moslem or Islamic, but was commonly used only in Western literature until at least the mid-1960s. (See for instance the second edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
Fowler's Modern English Usage
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage , by Henry Watson Fowler , is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing...
by HW Fowler
Henry Watson Fowler
Henry Watson Fowler was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language...
, revised by Ernest Gowers
Ernest Gowers
Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE Hon. D.Litt Hon. ARIBA was a British civil servant, now best known for work on style guides for writing the English language.-Life:...
(Oxford, 1965)). Muslim is more commonly used today than Moslem, and the term Mohammedan is widely considered archaic or in some cases even offensive.
Other uses
al-Muḥammadīya (‘Muhammadians’) are members of sects regarded as heretical by mainstream Islam (though in Indonesia, MuhammadiyahMuhammadiyah
Muhammadiyah is an Islamic organization in Indonesia. Muhammadiyah, literally means "followers of Muhammad"...
is the name of an orthodox reforming movement, which has adapted Western institutions, e.g. Boy Scouts, to Muslim ends).
Criticism
Many Muslims have objected to the term, saying that the term was not used by Muhammad himself or his earlier followers, and that the religion teaches worshiping AllahGod in Islam
In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe. Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular . God is unique and inherently One , all-merciful and omnipotent. According to the Islamic...
and not Muhammad. It is often held and argued by non-Muslims that Allah was an alter-ego of convenience for Muhammad, which he used to satisfy his lust for wealth, women, and power, as evidenced by the divine sanctions for Muhammad's taking his adopted son's wife (in direct contradiction to his earlier laws), his taking of a minimum of eleven wives (directly breaking the law that the Koran says Allah revealed for the entire community which established a maximum of four wives), a total of one-eleventh of the Koran being spent discussing Muhammad's sex life, wives, and domestic disputes, and the doctrine of abrogation, or naskh
Naskh
Naskh has the following meanings:* Naskh is a type of script for the Arabic language* Naskh is an exegetical theory in Islamic law...
, by which polar-opposite contradictory verses are reconciled in traditional Islamic thought (by establishing a chronology, and having later verses cancel earlier ones) thus making the worship of Allah very much the worship of Muhammad, or "Muhammadanism".
However, Muslims insist that "Mohammedan" is a misnomer. Muslims believe that "Islam" is the divinely-verbalised name of the final form of Allah's commandments (lit. "submission to [Allah's] will") revealed through a series of Prophets of Islam, which are generally the same as the Judaeo-Christian ones, except for some genealogical differences (i.e. Jesus
ISA
Isa is the name by which Jesus is known in the Muslim world.Isa may also refer to:* Isha Upanishad, Hindu religious text* Isa , 2004 album by Enslaved* Isa , common Arabic and Turkish male name...
is said in the Koran to be the son of Miriam, sister of Aaron and Moses, daughter of Imran
Imran
Imran is an Arabic male given name. It means prosperity or long lived.The name may refer to:-Art:* Imran Hashmi, Indian actor* Imran Khan Imran is an Arabic male given name. It means prosperity or long lived.The name may refer to:-Art:* Imran Hashmi, Indian actor* Imran Khan (actor) Imran is...
[Eng. Amram
Amram
In the Book of Exodus, Amram Arabic عمران Imran, is the father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam and the husband of Jochebed.-In the Bible:In addition to being married to Jochebed, Amram is also described in the Bible as having been related to Jochebed prior to the marriage, although the exact...
], thus making Jesus a contemporary of Moses), and the addition of a few prophets (i.e. Alexander the Great and/or Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
are considered Prophets of Islam and are spoken of in the Koran, using legendary stories and apocryphal material from the genre of Alexander romance
Alexander Romance
Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great. The earliest version is in Greek, dating to the 3rd century. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to Alexander's court historian Callisthenes, but the historical figure died...
, called Dhul Qarnayn and/or al-Khidr
Al-Khidr
Khidr or Al-Khidr is a revered figure in Islam, whom the Qur'an describes as a righteous servant of God, who possessed great wisdom or mystic knowledge, represented iconically by a fish...
- see Alexander the Great in the Qur'an and Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an
Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an
Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an is a theory that holds that the character of Dhul-Qarnayn, mentioned in the Qur'an, is in fact Cyrus the Great. Dhul-Qarnayn is mentioned in the Qur'an. The story of Dhul-Qarnayn appears in sixteen verses of the Qur'an, specifically the 16 verses 18:83-98...
). Muslims claim that all of the Judaeo-Christian prophets preached Islam - including Moses and Jesus - and none were Jews or Christians, and all denounced Judaism and Christianity as being corruptions of Islam, the religion Muslims claim they preached, which they also hold to be the primordial religion
Fitra
Fitra, or fitrah , is an Arabic word meaning ‘disposition’, ‘nature’, ‘constitution’, or ‘instinct’. In a mystical context, it can connote intuition or insight...
, of which all others are corruptions. The historical evidence for this - the preaching of anything resembling Islam by the Biblical prophets - is completely absent, and in all cases contradictory: it is established by all reliable sources and non-Islamic scholarship that Jesus was a Torah-observant Jew, that Ezra was a Jewish priest and scribe, and that Alexander and Cyrus the Great were both Pagans, although Cyrus the Great was instrumental in ending the Jewish exile.
See also
- InfidelInfidelAn infidel is one who has no religious beliefs, or who doubts or rejects the central tenets of a particular religion – especially in reference to Christianity or Islam....
- OrientalismOrientalismOrientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
- SaracenSaracenSaracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...