Some Western Misconceptions about Islam
By Rachida El Diwani
Fulbright Scholar, Chatham College
Pittsburgh PA 15232
January 2003
Part One: Misconceptions about the Prophet Muhammad


I. Introduction


One could in fact say that, of the major elements of Islam, the real significance of the Prophet Muhammad is the least understood by the non-Muslims and his personality has not been often rightfully presented.

II. Reasons for the Misunderstanding


1. The fact that the message of Islam came after those of Judaism and Christianity made it unacceptable to the two preceding religions.
2. The Prophet Muhammad was generally presented as a false Prophet and an imposter - to say the least - in the Latin Christian literature and this continued in almost all the modern European ones.
3. The real personality of the Prophet as his mission and role were very different from those of Jesus who, for the Christians, was representing The Norm for the true founder of a religion. Any difference with this norm was unacceptable and rejected. These differences were obstacles to a better understanding of the personality of the Prophet.
4. The Islamic conquests of the Christianized Byzantine provinces caused an old-aged animosity with the Latin Church, which tried to fight Islam through the possible means: moral, intellectual, material, etc…
5. The Orientalists, “the experts on the Orient”, had built a strong hostile tradition about Islam and his Prophet, and this was, and still is, presented as a learned and scientific tradition, although it is more often than not based on pure personal biases and hate for Islam and its Prophet. It cannot be denied though that a small number of Orientalists tried to look at their object of study in an objective and scientific way.