Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture

Abstract

The figure of 'Mahomet' was widely known in early modern England. A grotesque version of the Prophet Muhammad, Mahomet was a product of vilification, caricature and misinformation placed at the centre of Christian conceptions of Islam. In Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture Matthew Dimmock draws on an eclectic range of early modern sources - literary, historical, visual - to explore the nature and use of Mahomet in a period bounded by the beginnings of print and the early Enlightenment. This fabricated figure and his spurious biography were endlessly recycled, but also challenged and vindicated, and the tales the English told about him offer new perspectives on their sense of the world - its geographies and religions, near and far - and their place within it. This book explores the role played by Mahomet in the making of Englishness, and reflects on what this might reveal about England's present circumstances.

Anglo‐Muslim relations in 18th‐century literature and culture

“…A useful alternate model is provided by Haefeli (forthcoming, 2020) in his discussion of the growing scholarly consensus that anti‐Catholicism (“an animus to Roman Catholics and their religion”) should be distinguished from the related but distinct practice of anti‐popery (“an ideology deriving from hostility to the religious and political example of the Roman Catholic papacy”). Similarly, in light of Dimmock's (2013), Arjani's (2015), and Malcolm's (2019) analyses of the polemical uses of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam, and what was perceived as Ottoman despotism, it might be advisable, in the 18th century context, to distinguish strict Islamophobia (irrational prejudice against Muslims) from the related but distinct and virtualized polemical configuration of Mahometanism (a set of flexible, mobile stereotypes). Such a distinction would enable a more textured recognition of how individual perceptions of Islam could change over time (as they did for Voltaire, for instance) while still acknowledging that individuals and groups could engage in pro‐Mahometan or anti‐Mahometan rhetoric, whatever their personal views about Islam.…”

The converting sea: Religious change and cross‐cultural interaction in the early modern Mediterranean

“…Lastly, pan-European literary and artistic celebrations of the victory over the Ottomans at Lepanto underscore the ways in which literary culture intersected with the Mediterranean as an imperial, martial, conversionary, and cross-confessional space (Cacheda Barreiro & Novoa, 2018;Grootveld, 2018;Wright, 2016;Wright, Spence, & Lemons, 2014 (Adelman, 2008;Dimmock, 2017;Henke & Nicholson, 2016;McJannet, 2006;Smith, 2009;Vitkus, 1997;Vitkus, 2000;Vitkus, 2003). Beyond theater, the English produced a wide array of writings that exposed a deep-seated anxiety about religious change and the reformulation of English society stemming from interactions with religious others (Bassi, 2016;Dimmock, 2013;Grogan, 2014;Holmberg, 2016;MacLean, 2007;Robinson, 2007;Stanivukovic, 2007;Stanivukovic, 2016).…”

“…One need only think of the fearful fascination with converts, renegades, Jews, and Turks, as well as Catholics (an additional Mediterranean Other for Protestants) that pervaded English plays: Shakespeare's Othello and Merchant of Venice ; Daborne's A Christian Turn'd Turk ; Greene's Selimus ; Massinger's The Renegado ; Marlowe's The Jew of Malta (Adelman, ; Dimmock, ; Henke & Nicholson, ; McJannet, ; Smith, ; Vitkus, ; Vitkus, ; Vitkus, ). Beyond theater, the English produced a wide array of writings that exposed a deep‐seated anxiety about religious change and the reformulation of English society stemming from interactions with religious others (Bassi, ; Dimmock, ; Grogan, ; Holmberg, ; MacLean, ; Robinson, ; Stanivukovic, ; Stanivukovic, ).…”

The 'Idol' of Prophet Muhammad in Greene’s Alphonsus

“…Prophet Muhammad remains to have a vigorous attendance in the lives of Muslims across the world as 'comforter, friend, intercessor' and 'family member' (Dimmock 2013: xii). His biography 'reminds the faithful of God's presence' (Dimmock, 2013: xii). Muhammad's condemnation in the Christian ethnicities is influenced by an assumption of his significance within Islam.…”