The Men Who Murdered Mohammed
Encyclopedia
"The Men Who Murdered Mohammed" is a science fiction
short story by Alfred Bester
; it was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October 1958. It has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, and has been reprinted nine times, most recently in Virtual Unrealities
(1997).
for Best Short Story, and The New York Review of Science Fiction
describes it as a "final development" to the theme of time travel.
Connie Willis
described it as "very funny" and one of her favorite time-travel stories (while misattributing it to Harry Harrison
), and Jo Walton
categorized it as "excellent" and "thought provoking", and specified that it is "Very clever, very funny, and quite chilling when you think about it."
in the then-future year of 1980, catches his wife in the midst of committing adultery
and decides to kill her. However, he finds simple murder to be intellectually unsatisfying, and so "in 7 1/2 minutes (such was his rage)" he invents a time machine "(such was his genius)".
He uses the time machine to go back to 1902, where he kills his wife's paternal grandfather-to-be as a young bachelor, expecting that the grandfather paradox
will eliminate his wife from existence. Returning to 1980, he finds that his wife is still committing adultery.
He then travels to 1901, where he kills his wife's maternal grandmother-to-be. His wife and her paramour remain unaffected.
He then travels to 1775, where he kills George Washington
. His wife and her paramour remain unaffected. Desperate to change history, Hassel travels randomly throughout time, killing Christopher Columbus
, Napoleon, Mohammed, and many others. His wife and her paramour remain unaffected, as does history as a whole. Furthermore, he is less and less able to affect anything: when he shoots Enrico Fermi
in the chest, Fermi merely complains of heartburn
.
After several more attempts, Hassel is approached by Israel Lennox, another time-traveler. Lennox explains that time is not a single continuum; rather, it is billions of individual continua, and therefore Hassel has eliminated nothing except his own personal history (and thus his own existence). They are now both adrift outside of time: while on a trip to the Pleistocene
, Lennox had stepped on an insect
, but discovered that history as a whole had remained unaltered; then, in increasingly desperate attempts to change history, Lennox had killed Marco Polo, Einstein, Mohammed (a year after Hassel had killed him), and several others, eventually becoming a ghost like Hassel.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story by Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books...
; it was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October 1958. It has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, and has been reprinted nine times, most recently in Virtual Unrealities
Virtual Unrealities
Virtual Unrealities is a collection of short stories by science fiction author Alfred Bester. Published in 1997 by Random House ISBN 0-679-76783-5, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg.Virtual Unrealities contains the stories:...
(1997).
Critical reception
"Mohammed" was shortlisted for the 1959 Hugo AwardHugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Short Story, and The New York Review of Science Fiction
The New York Review of Science Fiction
The New York Review of Science Fiction is a monthly literary journal of science fiction that was established in 1988. It includes works of science fiction criticism, essays, and in-depth critical reviews of new works of fiction and scholarship. It is published by Dragon Press and the managing...
describes it as a "final development" to the theme of time travel.
Connie Willis
Connie Willis
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...
described it as "very funny" and one of her favorite time-travel stories (while misattributing it to Harry Harrison
Harry Harrison
Harry Harrison is an American science fiction author best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! , the basis for the film Soylent Green...
), and Jo Walton
Jo Walton
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004. Her novel Ha'penny was a co-winner of the 2008 Prometheus Award...
categorized it as "excellent" and "thought provoking", and specified that it is "Very clever, very funny, and quite chilling when you think about it."
Plot
Henry Hassel, a mad scientistMad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
in the then-future year of 1980, catches his wife in the midst of committing adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
and decides to kill her. However, he finds simple murder to be intellectually unsatisfying, and so "in 7 1/2 minutes (such was his rage)" he invents a time machine "(such was his genius)".
He uses the time machine to go back to 1902, where he kills his wife's paternal grandfather-to-be as a young bachelor, expecting that the grandfather paradox
Grandfather paradox
The grandfather paradox is a proposed paradox of time travel first described by the science fiction writer René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent . The paradox is this: suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's...
will eliminate his wife from existence. Returning to 1980, he finds that his wife is still committing adultery.
He then travels to 1901, where he kills his wife's maternal grandmother-to-be. His wife and her paramour remain unaffected.
He then travels to 1775, where he kills George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. His wife and her paramour remain unaffected. Desperate to change history, Hassel travels randomly throughout time, killing Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, Napoleon, Mohammed, and many others. His wife and her paramour remain unaffected, as does history as a whole. Furthermore, he is less and less able to affect anything: when he shoots Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
in the chest, Fermi merely complains of heartburn
Heartburn
Heartburn, also known as pyrosis or acid indigestion is a burning sensation in the chest, just behind the breastbone or in the epigastrium...
.
After several more attempts, Hassel is approached by Israel Lennox, another time-traveler. Lennox explains that time is not a single continuum; rather, it is billions of individual continua, and therefore Hassel has eliminated nothing except his own personal history (and thus his own existence). They are now both adrift outside of time: while on a trip to the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
, Lennox had stepped on an insect
A Sound of Thunder
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. As of 1984 it was the most re-published science fiction story up to the present time...
, but discovered that history as a whole had remained unaltered; then, in increasingly desperate attempts to change history, Lennox had killed Marco Polo, Einstein, Mohammed (a year after Hassel had killed him), and several others, eventually becoming a ghost like Hassel.