The Issue of Blasphemy

ISLAM IN WESTERN LITERATURE missionaries carried preconceived biases, often interacting primarily with Oriental Christians who were unlikely to offer unbiased perspectives. Unconsciously, missionaries painted a darker picture of Islam, aiming to generate sympathy and support for their cause. Even specialized professors struggled to overcome the weight of inherited tradition. In 1784, Reverend Joseph White, a successor of Pocock, delivered the renowned Bampton lectures, which aimed to confirm and strengthen the Christian faith while refuting heretics and schismatics. One of his lectures focused on Islam, specifically addressing “Mahomet’s imposture.” More recently, distinguished scholars such as William Muir, author of “The Life of Mahomet and The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline and Fall,” David S. Margoliouth, author of “Mohammed and the Rise of Islam,” and “The Early Development of Mohammedanism,” and Henri Lammens, who wrote “Mahomet fut-il sincère?” at the Université Saint-Joseph of Beirut, have shown traces of outdated ideas. A New Trend Emerged in Recent Times Historians and essayists presented a more favourable view of Muhammad, the Koran, and Islam than theologians, novelists, and poets. One notable figure in this regard is Simon Ockley, a professor of Arabic at Cambridge University, who authored a two-volume “History of the Saracens” (17081718). Before Ockley, most historians focused on the Turks, often portraying them as the “terror of the world.” Ockley, however, began his history with the death of Muhammad,