Impact Of Ideological Disagreements On International Relations: A Study On Islam And The West

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After the Quraish infidels and the Jews of Medina, John of Damascus was one of the first people

who offended the Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, in the pre-medieval centuries. He said in his book, De

Haeresbius , that the prophet used religion for his personal interests. He mentioned that the Monk Bahira,

“Sergius the Monk”, helped him in writing the Quran. He also alleged that he quoted some of the writings

of Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who was a Nestorian priest who translated some distorted bibles into Arabic. In

some Byzantine resources, shortly after the death of Mohammad, one Jew wrote his brother a letter

saying: “a deceitful prophet appeared among the eastern.” Another wrote: “you will not discover anything

about this mentioned prophet but shedding human blood.”

In the medieval centuries, during the presence of Islam in Andalus, Eulogius, a Spanish

churchman, alleged that the prophet was a fake, claiming prophecy, because he considered the Christ as

just a human being, and that, as he was the last prophet, no prophet would follow; he focused on the

Islamic rejection of the triad concept. In his writings, he described the prophet as a wolf hiding between

sheep. From the ninth century onwards, extremely negative Latin biographies were written about the

prophet. For instance, Alvarus wrote a biography in which he alleged that Mohammad was the antichrist.

These two people had an enormous role in the emergence of the so-called Christian martyrs, who

performed suicidal operations against Muslims (Wolf, 1999).

The Spanish church promoted writings depicting the prophet as a devil-haunted man and

antichrist. These ideas spread throughout Europe and had a vital role in the unity of European troops

during the crusade campaigns. Later, in the twelfth century, Peter the Venerable considered Mohammad

as a form of antichrist and ordered the Quran to be translated into Latin and to gather information about

the Prophet Mohammad so that Christian scholars could refute Islam. During the thirteenth century,

European biographers completed their writings about the Prophet Mohammad through a series of

writings, such as those of Pedro Pascual, Ricoldo de Monte Croce and Ramon Llull. These works

depicted Mohammad as a juggler, and Islam as just Christian heresy. One of the most abusive writings

about the prophet is Martin Luther’s allegation that: “Mohammad is a devil and first-born child of Satan.”

He also claimed that the prophet was affected by epilepsy and the voices he heard were as a result of his

illness (Setton, 1992, pp. 4-15; Wikipedia, n.d. a).

Western medieval scholars and churchmen thought that Islam was a creation of Mohammad, who,

in turn, was inspired by Satan. Muhammad was frequently calumniated and made a subject of legends

taught by preachers as fact. An example showing their contempt of Islam is that they misrepresented his

name from Mohammad to Mahound, the devil incarnate. Others assured the Orthodox that he had a bad

death. According to one tale, they say that he was drunk when a group of pigs preyed upon him. This

myth was used to explain the prohibition of eating pork and drinking wine. Another story held that a

Christian criminal broke out of a church jail in the Arabian Peninsula and met the prophet. There, he

taught him the black arts, and the prophet selectively established a false religion through forging the

scripts of the Holy Bible and the Old Testament to establish Islam. Another explained the Friday holy day

of Muslims in terms of the day of the Greek goddess of love, instead of the Saturday (Sabbath) of Jews

and Sunday of Christians. This explanation was used to claim the immorality of Muslims through

polygamy. The Dutch Hugo Grotius even wrote an article about the Prophet Mohammad in which he

accused him of training pigeons to pick grains from his ears so he could create the illusion that the Holy

Spirit came to him as a pigeon to tell him the message of Allah, which he then wrote in his holy book

which he named the Quran (Birch, 2015, pp. 149-173).

A highly negative depiction of Muhammad as a heretic, false prophet, renegade cardinal or

founder of a violent religion also found its way into many other works of European literature, such as the

Chansons de Geste and Piers Plowman written by William Langland, and the Fall of the Princes written

by John Lydgate in the medieval centuries. It was common to depict the prophet as tortured by Satan in

hell, as mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy , where the prophet was put in the ninth ditch of the eighth

circle of hell, the realm of those who have caused schism and religious discord in spreading false

teachings in order to satisfy their own desires (Wikipedia, n.d. b).

Some Christians also believe that Muslims worship Mohammad, just as Christians worship the

Christ. This is the reason behind the spread of the term Mohammadians instead of Muslims in the west.

Muslims were denoted as heathens or paynim foe in the writings of European medieval centuries, such as

TheSong of Roland , which depicted Muslims worshipping Mohammad as if he was a god. Thus, they

were calling him Mahom or Mahumet. In general, medieval Europe embraced the concept of "the great

enemy" in the wake of the rapid success of the Ottoman through a series of conquests shortly after the fall

of the Western Roman Empire (Setton, 1992, pp. 4-15; Winn, 2004). The abuse did not extend to the Prophet Mohammad alone, but also Christianity and the Christ

himself, PBUH, especially during the period of conflict between the authority of the Church and the

authority of the state, as well as in the period before and during the French Revolution. One of the

philosophers and artists with atheist tendencies was Voltaire who, in his Fanaticism, or Mahomet the

Prophet , attacked the character of Mohammad. The play is just a sarcastic work with no knowledge value.

Thus, in his article Voltaire and Islam , published in Studia Islamica , Georges Henri Bousquet, said:

“Voltaire used Islam as an excuse to attack all religions, including Christianity and especially Catholics.”

In his article published in El País on 4 May, 2006, Juan Goytisolo says: “In fact, if we read the text

carefully, the attack on Muhammad conceals another one: the one aimed at the Messiah of Christians and

Biblical prophets.” The contemporaries of Voltaire themselves recognised that the concealed criticism in

the play was not directed at the prophet of Islam, but the Christian religion; as proof of this, of the

Jansenists aggressively fought the play when presented at the theatre of La Comedie Francaise in 1742, as

they recognised Voltaire’s true purpose (Wikipedia, n.d. a; Wikipedia, n.d. b).

Many other depictions of the Prophet Mohammad are evident in old historical books. Among the

famous depictions are the first page of The Life of Mahomet , ( La vie de Mahomet ) by Sieur De Ryer,

published in 1719 in London, a page in the La vie de Mahomet by M. Prideaux published in Holland in

1699, a depiction in the library of California State University in which a woman is cuddling a child,

resembling Amenah bent Wahab and the Prophet Mohammad, with no facial features, and a depiction

from 1570 in San Francisco Museum that resembles “Israa and Meraaj” but does not show facial features.

Another portrait from Iran goes back to the fourteenth century in which a winged person is talking to a

sitting man with no facial features. Another was a portrait painted in Tabreez, in Iran, in 1315 and can be

found in a book entitled Jamael Attawarikh in the library of Edinburgh University while there is a

depiction on page 13 of a booklet by Jack Chick published in 1988 with the title The Prophet (Chick,

1986; Chick, 1988; 123HelpMe.com). In 1997, an Israeli woman called Tatiana Soskin drew a cartoon of

the Prophet Mohammed as a pig with a head cover and the name of Mohammad on its back, holding a

pen writing on a book the word “Al Quran” in Arabic (Bruke. 2015; Aljazeera, 2008a; Aljazeera, 2008b).

Additionally, in the 1911 Italian silent film L'Inferno a character briefly in the role of the Prophet

Mohammad. There was also a picture of the prophet in the American animated series South Park on July

4, 2001 and another in a video game called Holy War in which symbols of all religions are fighting. There

were also different cartoons in the 1990s in various Dutch and French Press (Aljazeera, 2008a; Aljazeera,

2008b).

Following the collapse of the former USSR and the disintegration of socialism and the Warsaw

Pact in favor of the capitalist camp led by the United States and Europe, and a shift from a bipolar system

to a unipolar system, Willy Claes, the then Secretary General of NATO, declared that Islam was now the

first enemy of the West. Following the events of September 11, 2001, George Bush Jr. talked about a

crusade that had begun. A new wave of organized abuse directed at the character of Prophet Mohammad

has subsequently appeared and the world has witnessed an escalation in writings targeting his character.

There have been many books written on the matter, including Prophet of Doom by Craig Winn, who

described the prophet as a bandit, who oppressed people and committed assassinations and deception to

achieve absolute power (Winn, 2004). In 2004, the Dutch writer Ayaan Hirs Magan announced her intention to produce a film about the

life of the Prophet Muhammad that would, according to her, be “filled with colors”. She confirmed that

there would be an actor to represent the prophet and that she would mention aspects that she assumed

Muslims do not want to reveal about the Prophet Mohammad. She cited what she claimed to be his love

for his son’s wife, and how he went to the cave and came back with a magic solution to marry her.

On September 30, 2005 the famous Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published an article on its

third page titled “Muhammeds ansigt” that included 12 satirical cartoons (Aljazeera, 2008a; Aljazeera,

2008b). The article stated: "Some Muslims reject the secular society and demand a special treatment in

terms of dealing with their religious feelings, and this does not comply with the modern concepts of

democracy and freedom of expression imposed on everyone to accept criticism and satire.” The satirical

cartoons were chosen from a competition organised by the newspaper for artists when they heard about an

article posted in the famous Danish Politiken on September 17th under the title of “Intense dread of

criticism of Islam.” The latter article spoke about the difficulties that faced Kare Bluitgen who wrote a

children’s book about the Prophet Mohammad titled: Koranen og profeten Muhammeds , in an attempt to

encourage cartoonists to add cartoons about Mohammad to his book. The newspapers refused the request

of the Muslim community to stop publishing the sarcastic cartoons. The government and the Danish

Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, supported the newspaper under the pretext of freedom of

expression. Jyllands-Posten is a right-wing militant broadsheet specialising in spreading hateful

comments about others, with a negative view towards Islam and Muslim immigrants. It earlier led a three-

year aggressive campaign against them and, thus, the Federation of European anti-racism associations

accused the newspaper of marketing militant comments to create conflict between different ethnicities

and cultures (Aljazeera, 2008b.

In February 2008, 17 Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoons and showed the prophet as a

terrorist, including the pronounced conservative Berlingske Tidende . Crescent Moon Publishing published

a 26-page satirical booklet titled Mohammed's Believe It or Else ' by a cartoonist with the alias “Abdullah

Aziz” who portrayed the Hadith and the Sunnah in an offensive manner, not to mention cartoons which

depicted the prophet in a ridiculous manner in order to convince Afro-Americans not to convert to the

Islamic Nation organisation.

After that, many European and American news articles followed in the steps of Jyllands-Posten .

On January 10, 2006, the Norwegian Magazinet , the German Die Welt , the French France Soir and other

newspapers all reprinted these cartoons. As did five famous German newspapers, including Frankfurter

Allgemeine Zeitung , which reprinted one of these cartoons on November 3, 2005 and Die Tageszeitung ,

which reprinted two of these cartoons on January 31, 2006, while Die Welt and Berliner Zeitung both

reprinted all the cartoons in early February 2006. Die Zeit reprinted one of these cartoons the next day. In

addition, the Italian La Stampa , the Spanish El Periodico and the Dutch Volkskrant reprinted the cartoons

in early February 2006. The following day, the American New York Sun and the Belgian Le Soir both

reprinted two of the cartoons. On February 4, 2006, the New-Zealander Dominion Post , the Polish

Rzeczpospolita and the Danish Dagbladet Information reprinted these cartoons (Wikipedia, n.d. a;

Wikipedia, n.d. b).

With regard to the French press, the France Soir reprinted these cartoons and added a new one on

February 1, 2006. La Monde also reprinted the cartoons the next day. Charlie Hebdo , the weekly sharply

sarcastic political news magazine with an anarchistic leftist concern with guilds, religions, the extreme

right, political Islam, politics and culture, reprinted the cartoons on February 8, 2006 and added a new one

with a narration that read: ”It is hard to be loved by idiots” (BBC, 2015; Lefigaro, 2015). On November 3,

2011, on the front-page, they reprinted a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad and then reprinted the

cartoons later in 2015 (BBC, 2015).

Consequences

It is undoubted that abuse of the Prophet in this intensive manner by the West, resulting from the

disturbed vision of god and the contradicting understanding of the concept of prophecy and, then, the

focusing on the individual rather than god – has led to a continuous state of political tension and conflicts

as well as wars between the two parties. One of the modern aspects of that tension and conflict is the

reactions of Muslims towards people who committed the abuse, as well as their countries, as

demonstrated by denouncing and official condemnations, protests, strikes, recalling of ambassadors,

attacks against embassies, boycotts, bombing and killing, as well as reprisals (BBC, 2006a; BBC, 2006b).

This has led to a state of mutual tension between Muslims and the West, and consequently, upscaling in

the state of Islamophobia, as well as the escalation of racist reprisals against Islam and Muslims in an

unprecedented manner.

It is noticeable among this that there is a relative closeness between the reaction of political and

religious elites towards the abuse against the Prophet Mohammad and the reprisals it led to from the two

parties. On the part of Muslim elites’ statements, the Malaysian Prime Minister viewed the crises as

deliberate abuse against the Prophet Mohammad. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Prime Minister of Turkey,

considered it an attack on the spiritual values of Muslims. Singapore’s secretary of state mentioned the

need of the mass media to respect religious beliefs and racial attributes. Meanehile, among the western

elites, Bill Clinton considered the publishing of these cartoons to be a mistake that would negatively

affect intercultural dialogue. Additionally, Putin criticised the Danish government position, pointing out

that they had used the freedom of speech to defend the news article that offended Muslims, and that this

was an unethical act. The Polish Prime Minister affirmed that it is not right to hurt Muslims’ feelings

under the pretext of freedom of expression. The Vatican, on the Christian religious level, criticised the

issue of the cartoons, while the Patriarch Gregory III Laham considered it a crime (BBC, 2006b).

Contrary to this, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was supportive of the

magazine that had published the abusive cartoons, considering that freedom of speech covers cartoonists

too (BBC, 2008). European deputies also condemned the protests against the cartoons (BBC, 2006c).

However, the Rightist Italian Minister, Roberto Caldiroli, who is a member of the xenophobic and anti-

immigrant Northern League, distributed T-shirts with the satirical cartoons printed on them. He himself

was seen wearing one of these T-shirts (BBC, 2006a).

Instability

It is in the nature of countries and governmental systems to discriminate in terms of their practices,

behaviours and internal and external policies, as well as their ultimate goals, between what they do in

public, and essentially use every possible means to affirm it, and what they do in secret and keenly hide.

What happens in secret reveals the actual goals and intents, while what happens in public might be either

real or unreal, aiming at hiding the actual intended goals, as these might be linked to the supreme interests

of the nation and which may be harmed if revealed. Or they could simply be unreal because they may

unveil intents that are not accepted by others because they threaten their interests or just because they are

unethical. This can negatively affect the reputation of that nation and its position according to what they

perform in terms of practices unaccepted by others. Thus, they prefer to undertake their practices secretly

to avoid protests or harm to their interests, the interests of their political system, or their ruling elite. This

principle appears predominantly in international relationships, especially on the level of relationships

between nations that belong to a given culture and others belonging to another, different culture in terms

of cultural ideologies and political, economic and social values, or even in their view of the universe, live

and man fait, or it may be in complete contradiction to it. Then, the conflictual opposition nature

overrides collaborative dialogue, specifically from the strongest part or the part whose ideology or values

demand the necessity to maintain conflicts or oppositions with the other to sustain motivation for work,

evolvement, building power and superiority.

The relationship between Islam and the West, since the dawn of Islam till now, is a clear example

of this kind of international and intercultural dynamic in which conflicts are mixed with collaboration and

mutual benefit. Since the Byzantines and Romans lost their resources in the Arab world in the MENA,

and with the rise of Islamic conquests reaching Europe, expanding the Arabic Islamic nation until they

reached, within fifty years, from the Great Wall of China in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The

west and Europe hated the idea of Islam spreading in the world, and even to Europe itself through the

emergence of the Islamic nation in Andalusia and the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, coupled with, on

the other hand, the recession of their beliefs and the weakness of their political and social entities. As

such, they remained in continuous conflict with Arabs and Muslims. They initiated the Crusades,

eradicated the Islamic presence from Spain, and the western attack movement (Kaegi, 1969, pp. 139-149)

Then, they initiated their modern colonial attacks that were crowned by the collapse of the Ottoman

Caliphate which lost its possessions in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, in addition to planting the Zionist

entity in Palestine as a spine in the throat of the nation, controlling the Islamic world, occupying and

dividing the Arab region. This saw the emergence of malformed regionalities that the West controlled in

terms of structure, regulations, decisions and policies while keeping them politically, socially,

economically, militarily and culturally weak.

Thus, it is logical to understand that the different provocations and campaigns that aim at

provoking Islamic feelings by targeting its sacred symbols are based on political goals. Following the

incident of the satirical cartoons in Denmark, there were escalations in the provocations and campaigns

that provoked the feelings of Muslims through targeting their sacred symbols, including the Holy Quran

and the Prophet Mohammad. It is noticeable that whenever the fire of one campaign sets, another is

flamed, a fact that confirms that targeting Islam is not a mere arbitrary act, but rather part of a plan that

aims at setting a conflictual relationship between the West and the Islamic world. This plan is part of the

strategic vision that started to circulate in the 1990s, immediately following the collapse of the Socialist

camp, when actual enabling of Islamophobia started by conceptualisation of the so-called Green Peril that

the West must counteract following the collapse of the Red Menace! This clarifies that the campaign of

abuse against Islam is motivated by political factors not related to intellectual criticism or freedom of

speech or expression. They are, rather, mere provocative acts. The views of the American politician

Samuel Huntington in his article about the “Clash of Civilizations” published in 1993 in the American

magazine, Foreign Affairs, and then in his book, Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

concurred with the collapse of the former USSR, the twilight of communism in the world. A reason for

fame, renewed following the events of September 11, 2001, that were related to Al-Qaeda (Huntington,

1993; 2011).

The views of Huntington focus on the fact that the conflict will not be ideological or economic, as

these two conflicts ended with the collapse of the socialist camp. The next conflict will be cultural. The

main conflicts in international policies will flare up among a set of different cultures, and the main

tension borders between these cultures will become the main firing lines in the future. So, the West, from

Huntington’s perspective, should achieve the highest rate of unity and collaboration between its cultural

components as well as reinforcing the collaboration with Russia and Japan, while, at the same time, not

working on a reduction of weapons to maintain military superiority over the Chinese and the Islamic

League, whose spread should be limited by exploiting the dispute between the countries within it. In the

long run, the West should maintain economic and military superiority in order to stay secure and protect

its culture, while, simultaneously, working on the conquering and containment of these cultures by

penetrating them from both inside and from outside. In fact, Huntington addresses Islam as the major and

most dangerous threat. Inclusion of Chinese culture in his theory as an enemy to the West was a deception

to disguise the actual goal of this theory, of promoting the New Liberalists Anti-Islamic and Anti-Islamic

culture policy.

This would all clearly explain two things. First, the actual purpose of a clash of cultures is to

provide an external western policy built on the maintained presence of an enemy in western political

ideology, as mentioned above, and second, the frequent negative stance of Europe and the West towards

Islam and the Islamic culture throughout history. The abuse against the Prophet Mohammad, the Holy

Quran, and the Islamic culture, values and teachings is an important example of that abuse. It is

noticeable, herein, that the Zionists among Western Jews and non-Jews, especially the extreme

protestants, are always pushing in that direction.

Redressing

The West’s stance was not solely an abusive and satirical one, In fact, the source of abuse and

satire was either extremists who dealt with Islam in an aggressive, hostile manner or those with rightist or

Zionist attitudes. There have been, on the other hand, positive attitudes among some of the intellectual

elite philosophers, scientists, artists and poets, such as: Michael Hart, Thomas Carlyle, Karl Marx,

Lamartine, Maurice Bucaille, Gustave Le Bon, Bernard Shaw, Zwemer, Thomas Arnold, Edward Monte,

Hans Kong, John William Draper, Goethe, Jules Masserman, Homs, Letsin, Tolstoy, William Muir,

Gibbon, to Ittens, Carl Hirsch, Max van Berchem, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Pushkin.

Michael Hart is an American astrophysicist and author, most notably of The 100: A Ranking of the

Most Influential Persons in History (Hart, 1992, pp. 3-10; Alain, 2012). Hart discussed in his book the

persons most influential on humanity, depending on the degree of influence, describing them according to

their order of influence from number one to one hundred. He put the Prophet Mohammad in the first rank,

justifying that by saying: “Muhammad was the only man in history who was supremely successful on

both the religious and secular levels…. It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious

influence which, I feel, entitles Muhammad to be considered as the most influential single figure in

human history.”

In describing the Prophet Mohammad, Karl Marx said: “Anyone with a sane mind must recognize

his prophecy and that he was a Prophet from God on Earth”. He added: “With his message, this Prophet

inaugurated an era of light, science and knowledge. His sayings and actions should be written in a special

scientific way. And since his teachings were a revelation, he had to erase all the changes and alterations

of the previous messages” (Itani, 2012; Masserman, 1974).

Jules Masserman, an American psychoanalyst and professor at Chicago University, said: “Perhaps

the greatest leader of all time was Muhammad, who combined all three functions: provide for the well

being of the led, provide them with a set of beliefs, and provide a social organization in which people feel

relatively secure” (Masserman, 1974).

Thomas Carlyle said, in his book, Mahomet the messenger of guidance and blessing : “Fanatics and

atheists claim that Muhammad was after nothing but personal fame, luxury and power. By God! The heart

of this poor, hard-toiling man who had radiant eyes and a great spirit was so full of mercy, divinity,

tenderness and wisdom. His ideas were so far from worldly greed and his intentions were so far from

seeking any power or fame. This is a pure soul and a man of such character cannot help but be seriously

sincere!” He added: “Mahomet had been wont to retire yearly, during the month Ramadan, into solitude

and silence; as indeed was the Arab custom; a praiseworthy custom, which such a man, above all, would

find natural and useful. Communing with his own heart, in the silence of the mountains; himself silent;

open to the "small still voices:" it was a right natural custom! Mahomet was in his fortieth year, when

having withdrawn to a cavern in Mount Hara, near Mecca, during this Ramadan, to pass the month in

prayer, and meditation on those great questions, he one day told his wife Khadija, who with his household

was with him or near him this year, That by the unspeakable special favor of Heaven he had now found it

all out; was in doubt and darkness no longer, but saw it all.” He continues, “Alas, such theories are very

lamentable. If we would attain to knowledge of anything in God's true Creation, let us disbelieve them

wholly! They are the product of an Age of Scepticism: they indicate the saddest spiritual paralysis, and

mere death-life of the souls of men: more godless theory, I think, was never promulgated in this Earth. A

false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build a brick house!” (Sorensen, 2013, p. 10).

Regarding the topic of Islamic influence, he said: “Allah has directed Arabs to Islam, from

darkness to light, reviving a lifeless nation, who were nothing but roving nomads, idle, scouring the

deserted lands, since its existence, voiceless, motionless. Allah, then, sent them a messenger by his word,

and the message of his precedents, making laziness into fame, ambiguity into eminence, inferiority into

superiority, and weakness into strength. His light covered the earth. Not more than a century afterwards,

the Arab nation had presence in India as well as Andalus, in the light of virtue, nobility, chivalry, valor,

help, guidance and right Luster. The Arab world is still in advancement to the summits of glory as they

follow the doctrine of certainty and the curriculum of faith” (Almond, 1989, p. 69).

In On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, Carlyle (1841) laments his people’s

hostility towards Mohammad and their ignorance of his position: “shame it became on anyone these days

to listen to what is said that the Islam is false and that Mohammad is scheming Impostor or a Falsehood

incarnate. It is now the time for us to fight what is made popular of these ridiculous shameful says. The

message that the prophet held is still the lighting lantern for thirteen centuries.” Carlyle dismissed many

allegations about the Prophet Mohammad. He stressed that the sincerity of the Prophet is unquestionable,

that he was aware of the meaning of sincerity and honesty, as well as the great transparent soul, that he

was not a smooth-tongued man. About the allegation of deception, Carlyle said: “no false man can

establish a religion”. All crowns and sovereignties whatsoever, where would they in a few brief years be,

To be Sheik of Mecca or Arabia, and have a bit of gilt wood put into your hand, will that be one's

salvation? I decidedly think, not. We will leave it altogether, this impostor hypothesis, as not credible; not

very tolerable even, worthy chiefly of dismissal by us” (Carlyle, 1840).

The French poet, Alphonse de Lamartine, one of the greatest nineteenth century poets and French

Minister of Foreign Affairs, tried to conclude the genius of Mohammad saying: “If greatness of purpose,

smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare

compare any great man in history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and

empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away

before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions

of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the

religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. On the basis of a Book, the Noble Quran, every letter, which

has become law, he created a spiritual nationality, which blend together peoples of every tongue and race.

He has left the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality the hatred of false gods and the passion

for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the

virtue of the followers of Muhammad” (Lamartine, 1854, pp. 276-277; Ballandalus, 2012).

Dr. Homs said: “some people say that the Quran is the words of Mohammad, and nothing but pure

fabrication. The Quran is the words of Allah revealed on the lips of his prophet Mohammad, that illiterate

who cannot, in those ancient times, come up with words that dazzles that minds of the wise, guiding

people from darkness to light”. In response to those who questioned his attitude, he added: “you may be

astonished that a European man confesses to this truth. I studied the Quran, and found these supreme

meanings, elaborate systems, and rhetoric that I have never seen in my entire life, a sentence of which

weigh out folders of scripts, this is undoubtedly the biggest miracle Mohammad came with.”

The French writer, Dr. Maurice Bucaille, said: “the Quran is far beyond the beyond the level of

knowledge of Arabs of its time, the scientific level of the world, beyond the knowledge of scientists in the

latter era, and beyond our advanced scientific level in the era of science and knowledge in the twentieth

century, this cannot be the work of an illiterate, proving the prophecy of Mohammad and that he is a

messenger to whom revelation is made.”

In his book, La civilisation des Arabes , Gustave le Bon wrote “However, the achievements made

by Muhammad in the Arab territories went beyond those of all religions before Islam, including even

Judaism and Christianity. This is why the credit of Muhammad on the Arabs was extremely great.”

Describing the Prophet, George Bernard Shaw said, “Prophet Muhammad must be called the Savior of

Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would

succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it much needed peace and happiness”

(WikiIslam). In praise of Prophet Muhammad, Edward Monte, the French Philosopher, said:

“Muhammad was famous for his pure intents, amiability, fair judgment and clear and eloquent speech. In

a nutshell, Muhammad was the most faithful, religious and compassionate Arab of his time. He was the

best ruler that guided his followers to a life they never dreamt of before. He built for them a transient and

religious State that still exists today.”

In his book, Tracing the Way: Dimensions of the World Religions, Hans Kung, the author, priest, d

denier of the Catholic papal infallibility and a professor emeritus in ecumenical theology at the University

of Tuebingen, said: “It is wrong to renounce Islam on the grounds that it is a religion of hell and sword

without knowing its religious article, it is no doubt that the Arabs through the Prophet Muhammad may

have risen to high rank of morality and religion based on the belief in one God, humanity and basic

ethics.” He added: “There is no doubt that Muhammad was an authentic prophet, in many respects not

dissimilar to the prophets of Israel. But Muslims attach great importance to the fact that Muhammad does

not stand at the center of Islam as Jesus Christ stands at the center of Christianity. For the Muslims, God's

Word did not become a man but a book. And the Qur'an, which in its original version lies with God

himself, forms the center of Islam” (Kung, 2006).

John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882),an American (English-born) Professor of

Chemistry and Physiology in the University of New York, said: “Four years after the death of A.D. 569,

was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the

human race, To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human

race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God, Mohammed, by Europeans surnamed "the

Impostor". He raised his own nation from fetishism, the adoration of a metric stone, and from the basest

idol-worship; he preached a monotheism which quickly scattered to the wind the empty disputes of the

Arians and Catholics.” (Draper, 1875; 2016).

The great German poet, Goethe, said: “If this is Islam, then are we not all Muslims, but the

religion of Muhammad is a religion of sincerity, unity, morals and care of human.” He also added: “He is

a prophet and not a poet and therefore his Koran is to be seen as Divine Law, and not as a book of a

human being made for education or entertainment” (oocities.org, 2009).

“Undoubtedly, the Prophet Muhammad is one of the greatest reformers who served the social

community. It suffices him for pride that he guided an entire nation to the light of truth, made his people

inclined to peace and tranquility,” says Tolstoy, the most famous Russian novelist (asharqalarabi.org,

2003).

In 1882, British writer John Davenport, ashamed of the crimes of his people against Islam and

Muslims, authored a book titled An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran which was intended to dispel

hearsay about the prophet of Allah, PBUH. In the book he says: “It is foolish to think that Mohammed

propagated his religion by the sword, this religion forbids bloodshed, and enjoins what is good and

forbids evil, it has ordered advisory and forbade tyranny, it gave civil rights to humans, shall Europe

remember that they owe its whole civilization to Muslims themselves” (Hurgronje, 2016).

Dr. Grenier, a Dutchman, announced his converting to Islam and belief in Mohammad as he said:

"I thoroughly studied the Quranic verses that are relative to natural, health and medical sciences that I

studied during my youth, and understood them well, I found them all in accordance with our current

scientific knowledge. That is why I became Muslim, as I became sure that Mohammad PBUH came with

the absolute truth one thousand years ago, without being taught by humans” (asharqalarabi.org, 2002).

The Dutch scholar Hurgronje talked about the influence of the Prophet Mohammad in upgrading

the human mind saying: “So, Mohammad appeared five hundred seventy years after the Christ. His job,

too, was the upgrade of human minds by feeding them the fundamental of aspects and virtues, restoring

them to believe in one god and the afterlife. The Islamic religion made a great advancement in the

religious ideology throughout the world. Islam salvaged human minds from the burdens that confined

them around the temples in hands of clergymen’s various religious dogmas. Then, minds were upgraded

by Islam to believe in the afterlife; a faith that is more powerful than the materialistic human efforts, to

submit to one god who they can worship by themselves, without intercession between them and their

creator, and to ascend in the elevations of his mighty to the space of his glory without the intercession of

intermediaries” (Zwemer, 1932; Khilafatworld, 2011).

The British playwright and philosopher, George Bernard Shaw speculated that Islam would

become the religion of Europe after the latter exonerated Islam from the false accusations of European

medieval ecclesiastics. He wrote: “I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation

because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion, which appears to me to possess that assimilating

capacity to the changing phase of existence, which can make itself appeal to every age. I have prophesied

about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to

be acceptable to the Europe of today.

“The medieval ecclesiastics, through either ignorance or bigotry, painted Muhammadanism in the

darkest colours. They were in fact trained both to hate the man Muhammad and his religion. To them

Muhammad was Anti-Christ. I have studied him – the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being

an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity.

“I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would

succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness. To

proceed, it was in the 19th century that honest thinkers like Carlyle, Goethe and Gibbon perceived

intrinsic worth in the religion of Muhammad, and thus there was some change for the better in the

European attitude towards Islam. But the Europe of the present century is far advanced. It is beginning to

be enamored of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go further and address the benefits of

that religion in solving its problems and issues. With this spirit, you shall conceive my prophecy.

Currently, many of my people and of Europe have already entered the religion of Muhammad. Thus, it is

possible to say that the conversion of Europe to Islam has begun” (Zahoor, 1999; Laurence, 1988, pp.

305-306, 323; Al-Amal, 2006; Leow, 2008).

In his book, Islam: Its Present and Future, Edward Montet, the French orientalist and Professor of

Oriental Languages at the University of Geneva, said: “Mohammad was known for his honest intentions,

mildness, fairness, impartiality, an invariable purity and a note of sure conviction. With its sheer piety and

sincerity, the religious nature of Muhammad puzzles every scrupulous and honest scholar. Muhammad

was primarily a religious reformer with a staunch religious belief. He did not rise before much meditation

and reached a state of perfection with this great religion that made him one of the most pronounced

enlightenments in the human history. In fighting tyranny and oppression as well as ugly habits among his

contemporaries, he was in Arabia very like one of the prophets of Israel, who were highly important

figures in the history of their people. Many people did not recognize Muhammad, because he was a

reformer who introduced people to the details of phases of their lives.”

Dr. Wilson, in one of his lectures, mentioned: “If we do not consider Muhammad, peace be upon

him, a prophet, we cannot deny that he is a messenger of Allah, as there was and will not be anyone

except for him who explained the First Christianity in a great honest way. The religion he came with does

not oppose Christian religion, all he came with was good.”

In The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, in the chapter Fall In The East, Stanley Gibbons

wrote: “The creed of Mahomet is free from suspicion or ambiguity; the Koran is a glorious testimony to

the unity of god. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets.” To

sum up, the secrets of the creed of Mahomet are greater than our modern minds can apprehend.

Oppression of Mahomet or his religion is nothing but irrationality or fanaticism. The best quality of a man

is to be modest in his opinion and honest in his actions.

Carl Heinrich Becker, the Dutch orientalist and politician, wrote in his book, The Orientals, that:

“He made mistake who said that the Arab prophet was an imposter or deceitful because he did not

understand his higher creed. Muhammad is worthful of respect and his creed shall be followed. We

cannot judge without knowing. Mohammad is the best man who came to earth with the true religion and

faith of perfection. We also saw that the Islamic religion is not far from Christianity” (Hemaya, 2011, pp.

123-160, 157).

The Russian, Jouhan Michaelis, in his book Arabs in Asia , said: “Mohammad the prophet of Arab

was not imposter or deceitful as accused by the foolish in his era, he was a man of statesmanship,

leadership, management, championship, ethics, and doctrine. He preached to his religion with all

characters of perfections, and gave Arab what exalted them. We learned from his religion nothing that

cannot accommodate all times whatever developed they are. Whoever accuses him or his creed with the

opposite is stray of ideals and all nations shall follow his teachings.”

The British Army Colonel, Bodley, in his book The Life of Mohammad: Doctrine of Islam ,

summed up that it is a call for peace and recognition of the will of God and monotheism. He said: “One

greatest sin in Islam is Polytheism”, adding, “Mohammad did not claim a divine nature of himself; he

frequently declared that he is just a man with revelation. The reason for the rapid spread of Islam

compared to other creeds is that he did not claim divinity, and not ordering that he being worshiped, in

addition to the fact that Quran made it clear that other formerly revealed divine religions were true.”

Bodley, then, blames fanatic writers and the untruths and myths they have promoted since the Crusade

wars. He also describes them as not understanding Mohammad and his creed, summing up that the

Islamic doctrine is a call for Islam and peace and recognition of the will of God and monotheism

(asharqalarabi.org, 2003).

The Swiss orientalist, Max Van Brechem, in the introduction of his book, Arabs in Asia , said:

“Muhammad, the prophet of Arab is one of the great Philanthropists. Sending Muhammad to the whole

world is the effect of a divine mind, if Asia is to be proud of its people, they should be proud of this great

man. It is gross injustice to overlook Muhammad, who came from the land of Arab to the Arab, who was,

as we know, of obnoxious hatred before his mission, then, how their moral, social and religious status

changed following announcement of his prophecy. In general, as much one learns about his biography

and mission in promoting whatever can exalt humanity, there should not be mal attributions to him, as

well as understanding the reasons behind the admiration by millions to this man, and apprehend the

reason of their love to him and his glory in their eyes. Generally, Muhammad, peace be upon him, is a

pride of all humanity, he who came with the absolute mercy, so his mission was titled: “We sent, you not,

but as a Mercy for all creatures”” (slideshare.net, 2006).

Brenton said: "There is no sin greater than denying this divine man after I studied his contributions

to humanity” (Hemaya, 2011, pp. 123-160, 157).

Pushkin, the prince of Russian poetry, writes about the Prophet and his biography, quoting stories,

examples and phrases from the Holy Quran, swearing “by evens and odds, stars and dawn, till you may

think he is merely a Muslim or Sufi, and who can say he was not!” In a poem he follows the picture of the

Prophet, PBUH, telling him his spiritual burdens, following him while he follows Gabriel in the heart of

sky, or as he hugs or shakes, till he is exhausted, or as he opens his chest blowing the words of wisdom on

his tongue, washing his heart with light, putting the seeds of wisdom into it. Then, in a clear note of the

light that descended to the Prophet, PBUH, he said: “He the merciful has revealed, to Muhammad the

bright Quran, we shall too walk to the light, and remove the blurry from our eyes” (Pushkin, 2007;

Yaqout, 2007).

Solution

The condemnatory and denunciatory statements of the European Union, United Nations, the

Vatican, the Islamic Conference Organization and others are not the solution to the crisis. On the other

hand, the dialogue of civilisations can be the optimum solution to various dimensions of the crisis. This is

the mission of the rational, intellectual and political elite of the two sides of the crisis. Following the steps

of extremists, radicals and exaggerators is inappropriate. In this article, we point out three ways that can

help in overcoming the crisis between the Islamic world and the West; positive experiences, intellectual

projects and legislations.

A current positive experience is the Arab European Dialogue that commenced following the war

of October, and, two years ago, the European Parliament sponsored it with an initiative from Kuwaiti Al-

Babtain Cultural Foundation (Latif, 2013). Another is the Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogue from

which the Islamic-Catholic Liaison Committee emerged and included representatives of global Islamic

agencies and organisations. Also, the Representatives of the Pontifical Council for Interfaith Dialogue in

the Vatican (Islamic-Catholic Liaison, 2013), a committee which aims at reinforcing the dialogue

between civilisations, discusses issues concerning both Christians and Muslims and explores methods of

religious values participation in solving the difficult issues between them.

Another experience is the EUROMED partnership that focuses on the issue of hostility against

Arabs and Muslims, which has never been an issue between Islam and Christianity as two religions, but

rather a conflict occurred between the North and the South over interests and resources. In this conflict,

the cross and the crescent were used to recruit supporters. Some European literature and writings about

Arab and Islam became biased and hostile in the name of freedom of expression. It is noticeable that

those who attack Islam in Europe are not essentially Christians, but rather atheists who do not believe in

God or his prophets and messengers (Baioumi, 2015). The Gulf-European (GCC-EU) Aviation Dialogue

is another example of these experiences. This is a good start, as mutual collaboration in such aspects

represents a better way to overcome different aspects of dispute (Doha hosts, 2015).

The Dialogue of Civilizations Project, one of the purposeful intellectual projects introduced by the

political researchers in the Rand Graham Fuller Corporation, can be a positive idea for an acceptable start

in this context. The Fuller project focuses on three issues: reviewing the western values and concepts to

make them more compatible with new developments; leaving the third world countries to develop in the

way they each choose; and dealing positively with countries that approach economic improvement in the

western framework, and helping countries that cannot achieve such improvement so they do not drag the

international system into a conflict between the West and other systems. Despite the fact that the Fuller

project is still built on the very same basis that the future will witness the flourishing of an ideology that

discourses the West, it calls for dialogue rather than conflicts and wars (Amro, 2012).

Legislative methods to overcome the discourse include making laws against abuse of religious

symbols effective. Such laws exist in the criminal laws of Austria, Finland, Germany, Holland, Italy, the

UK and the USA. Another method is to use the legal pathways to prosecute those responsible for the

discourse. In addition, another method is to call for laws that prevent blasphemy; a defamation of

religions and prophets and religious sanctities law. The president of the World Islamic Council for Da'wa

and Relief demanded the United Nations and Security Council to sanction a law that prevents defamation

of religions and prophets and religious sanctities. He also asked the civil community organisations, as

well as various world populations, to stand against the fierce campaign against Islam and Muslims, taking

every peaceful step in order to sanction a law that incriminates whoever abuses any religion or prophet.