Enlightenment thinkers compared Muhammad to Alexander and Jesus
Evidence
In a few cases, Muhammad is compared to other famous historical characters. Two Enlightenment philosophers, Chevalier de Jaucourt and Voltaire, compare him to Alexander the Great. De Jaucourt is primarily known as an encyclopedist, and in his comparison with Alexander he writes, “He had a lively and powerful eloquence, stripped of reason and logic, which was necessary for the Arabs; an air of authority and insinuation, animated by piercing eyes and a good physique; the intrepidity of Alexander; the liberty, and the sobriety that Alexander needed to become a great man.” Voltaire, never one to mince words, compares Muhammad to Jesus in a biting critique of Christianity: “At least his lies were more noble, and his fanaticism more generous. At least Mahomet wrote and fought; Jesus did not know how to write nor how to defend himself. Mahomet had the courage of Alexander… and your Jesus sweated blood and water as soon as he was condemned.” — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 367
Categorization
- XREF: Voltaire’s Muhammad vs. Jesus comparison parallels the image-construction machinery the reader is tracing; connects to later depictions where Muhammad is measured against Christian heroes. — connects to: Boulainvilliers reframed Muhammad as an Enlightenment deist — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 165; Enlightenment philosophers wavered between rational and superstitious treatments of Muhammad — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 360; Enlightenment thinkers produced contradictory, instrumentally motivated views of Islam — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 91
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 367
Broader Connections
- Enlightenment thinkers produced contradictory, instrumentally motivated views of Islam
#exemplifies(0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 91