news reviews Photo: Universitetsforlaget Title: “Muhammad of the Muslims – and everyone else’s” Author: Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen Translator: Sunnev Gran Genre: Nonfiction Publisher: Universitetsforlaget Number of pages: 472 Date: 27/02/2023 Muhammad is the central prophet in Islam and one of the most influential people in world history. 1,400 years after his death, he is still both loved and mocked, admired and criticized and everything in between. So who exactly was this man? The origin of the source Most accounts agree on the basics: He lived in the Middle East in the 5th and 6th centuries, and according to Islam, he received revelations from God. As a religious and political leader, he formed the basis of a new civilization. HIRA CAVE: Muhammad receives the first revelation from God at the beginning of the 6th century. In both the Ottoman and Persian empires, it was common to depict Muhammad visually in books. The Ottoman depictions omit Muhammad’s facial features.ON FILM: There are several popular films and TV series about Muhammad from recent years. The Iranian “Messenger of God” from 2015 shows Muhammad’s figure, but not his face. NOT FACED: The TV series “Banu Hashim’s Moon” by a Syrian director from 2008 does not show the physical Muhammad, only his staff on the way up to the cave of Hira. For those who want to hunt for the historical Muhammad, however, a formidable source problem quickly arises. There are no contemporary written sources that tell about Muhammad’s life. Admittedly, there is an oral tradition within Islam, but these were not written down until 200 years after Muhammad’s death and their authenticity is debated among researchers with an outside perspective. Skovgaard-Petersen’s book is also full of illustrations and shows how the ban on images in Islam has not always been practiced as strictly as one might sometimes get the impression. “50 shades of Muhammad” The Danish professor Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen formulates the project for the book as follows: Because the story of Muhammad has been written again and again. The Muslims have argued about him, the Christians have both criticized and honored him and each group has created Muhammad in its own image. DIFFERENT PRACTICES: Some Muslim groups have been concerned not to focus too much on the prophet, among other things there has been discussion about whether or not one should celebrate the prophet’s birthday. For most Muslims, Muhammad has been the object of devotion and strong feelings. Praises of Muhammad were common in finer houses from the Middle Ages. This is from an 18th-century ceiling carving in Damascus: “You are the light of all that is noble; without your light, no light would emerge.” Photo: Universitetsforlaget Throughout history, one can meet Muhammad as, among other things, an ardent revolutionary, statesman and legislator, dedicated family man, mystic, warmonger or war opponent, compassionate social worker or – as some of the critics have liked to portray him – as a cynical manipulator. THE LEGISLATOR: This frieze from the Supreme Court of the United States shows Muhammad as one of the great legislators in world history. On the right stands Charlemagne. MULTIPLE WIVES: Tradition says that Muhammad lived monogamously with Khadija for 25 years. After he became a widower at the age of 50, he remarried, eventually having up to 13 wives. The many marriages have often been criticized from the West. Then we fly up to Jerusalem The book is full of interesting perspectives. It was new to me that both Goethe and Napoleon admired Muhammad, and that Voltaire wrote a play about him. The multitude of information can in some places appear excessively overwhelming. Skovgaard-Petersen is at his best when he draws lines and helps the reader to see connections, and luckily he does that often. MUHAMMAD IN SCANDINAVIA: Scandinavian missionary companies were active in the Arab world during the colonial period, especially from the 1880s to around 1950. Skovgaard-Petersen says that the missionaries succeeded to a very small extent in converting Muslims. In contrast, Islamists were inspired to start up Muslim immigration in order to spread political Islam. Photo: Universitetsforlaget One of the book’s main concerns is to make visible how the Muslim biographies of Muhammad have entered into an interaction with Western criticism. Take, for example, the view of miracles: Western critics in the Middle Ages compared Muhammad to Jesus and believed that Muhammad did not perform large enough miracles. The Muslim apologists’ response was, among other things, to highlight Muhammad’s journey to heaven. FROM MECCA TO JERUSALEM: The story of the journey to heaven is mentioned in the Koran and links Muhammad to the holy city of the Jews and reinforces his authority as a prophet. Photo: Universitetsforlaget In Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, explains Skovgaard-Petersen, miracles went from being evidence of true faith to being evidence of superstition. This also influenced some of the Muhammad biographies. In a highly influential Egyptian book from the 1930s, the biographer argued that the ascension had to be understood as a spiritual experience fully in line with modern science and included phenomena such as radio waves and electricity: “Our contemporary science confirms the possibility of this spiritual nocturnal and celestial journey: When genuine, strong forces meet, the light of reality shines forth”. In a similar way, Skovgaard-Petersen demonstrates how the view of Muhammad’s marriage, his warfare and his relationship with the Jews is constantly changing. The professor’s choice of quotations and argumentation well bring out the complexity and nuances of the various representations of Muhammad. DANISH ACADEMIC: Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen is professor of Islamic studies at the University of Copenhagen. Photo: Universitetsforlaget Kontroversenes Muhammad There are plenty of sensitive points to address in a book about Muhammad, and Skovgaard-Petersen is not afraid to wade into the controversies. He includes, for example, the Muhammad of radical Islamists and jihadists, although, as he writes, some Muslims may take offense at that. Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses”, which had a tragic aftermath last year, is also properly described and placed in a larger idea-historical and theological context. The story of Muhammad being tricked by Satan and receiving false revelations dates back to the first Muslim biographies, but was omitted and dismissed by later theologians. Skovgaard-Petersen shows how the episode, which apparently cast Muhammad in a bad light, had an important theological function in early Islam. Rushdie’s novel plays on both the Muslim tradition and Western representations of it. In the photo, Rushdie stands with publisher William Nygaard (right), who a few years later was shot outside his home. Photo: Morten Holm / NTB In the same way, Skovgaard-Petersen writes insightfully about how the caricature controversy in 2005 was used politically in the Arab world. Changeable phenomenon In 2016, Karpe rapped about “The Islamic Elephant”: “I’m the Islamic elephant inside your room/I’m a suspicion, I’m a mascot, I’m politics.” Despite being the elephant in the room, Islam is still talked about and written about a lot. But the debate is often based on generalizations and, as Skovgaard-Petersen points out, debaters who claim to know who Muhammad really was, what Muslims really think and how the Koran should really be interpreted. This book provides insights that can help lift the conversation to a higher level. Through the many Muhammads, Skovgaard-Petersen brings out a diversity of mindsets. He shows how Islam, like all religions, is a very human and therefore changeable phenomenon.
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